English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

2:26 AM

@MetaEd I don't think you want to shuffle. I think you need that tool that you use to help bury a body.

MetaEd

2:40 AM

@Mitch Well let's call a spade a shovel. But I guess you were thinking of knights in old France.

Feeds

4:03 AM

0

Q: Writing Test in IELTS

I HOPE YOU EVALUATE FOR ME THIS EXERCISE. Question: Writing task 2 Education is very important. How can children who are disinterested in study be motivated to learn? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience. Write at least 250 words. ...

single-word-requests

Feeds

5:18 AM

0

Q: is there any word to describe a person (or a phenomenon) that can accomplish contradictory things?

For example, if someone is given to finish two contradictory things (or we can say task) and he/she would accomplish all at the same time. It's like oxymoron, but somebody can handle those kind of situation. Is there any word for that?

single-word-requests oxymoron contradiction

SmokeDetector

7:09 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword in link text in answer, bad keyword with a link in answer: What are the correct ways to express parenthetical comments? by Albert Thomas on english.SE

SmokeDetector

8:23 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with a link in answer, non-Latin link in answer: Are "commentable" and "categorizable" proper? by user268130 on english.SE

Feeds

10:02 AM

0

Q: Word or name for a person despised and denigrated by most people in the community

Looking for another word or name for someone who is hated? Any other terms or words to address a person despised and not liked at all by community? Another word or name for somebody who's reputation is denigrated and defamed entirely

single-word-requests

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer: 'Lodge a complaint' vs 'file a complaint' by zakitis5552 on english.SE

Feeds

10:49 AM

0

Q: What is a verb for something being the antithesis of something else?

I want to communicate that something is being the exact opposite, or the "antithesis" of something else. For example: The ice <antithesis verb> the fire Words I've thought of that come close in meaning, but don't fit: juxtaposes inverts contrasts

single-word-requests word-choice verbs

MetaEd

1:32 PM

@terdon Present.

terdon

@MetaEd Ah shucks, didn't delete in time. I was going to ask you to move a comment thread to chat because I wanted to keep asking Janus for some clarification, but he already gave me all I needed. Thanks though!

MetaEd

@terdon Looks like my timing is perfect :-)

terdon

That it is. Very modly of you :)

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer: Should "Los Angeles" rhyme with "cheese" or "mess" by James Wayne on english.SE

Feeds

1:53 PM

0

Q: Small open air space surrounded by a building

"In architecture, an atrium (plural: atria or atriums) is a large open air or skylight covered space surrounded by a building." "Skylight = an opening in a roof or ceiling, fitted with glass, for admitting daylight" How would you call very small open space inside the building which purpose is t...

single-word-requests

Færd

2:19 PM

This Thursday vs next Thursday.

They way I understand it, if we're past Thursday in the current week (eg, it's Friday), these two mean the same. But if we're not (say, it's Wednesday (which it is)), then they mean different days. Am I right?

Cerberus

2:54 PM

I seem to remember there were regional differences.

Færd

Hmm.

@Cerberus I'd have to look into that to hopefully reach a minutely comprehensive answer. I only wanted to point out that this singling out and labeling with terrorism of military groups like Hezbollah or Iran's Guardians of Revolution is more of a media manipulation, namely by vilifying Israel's opponents. If it were to be done in a meaningful and consistent way, some other armed forces might well be more deserving of these titles than H.

And I expressed hope that SA's flagrant and aggressive impositions on the affairs of other countries of the region (particularly and currently Lebanon and Yemen) would make for a shift in the global public opinion away from SA and its major allies, the US and Israel, and perhaps to some extent put right the biased treatment of Western governments mentioned above.

@Cerberus Yeah I never defend those kinds of activities.

Cerberus

@Færd Of course it is.

@Færd Those activities are kind of relevant, though.

Færd

and considering the immensity of the Palestinian diaspora residing in Lebanon and other countries, it seems that the fate of the neighboring countries are very much tied with Israel and they cannot act independently of each other and simply decide to get along well.

Cerberus

@Færd And on Qatar.

But public opinion of SA has been extremely negative in the West since forever.

It's just that several important political parties choose to overlook that.

Færd

Changes happen in due course. There was a time when the US supported the apartheid regime.

Cerberus

3:03 PM

Similarly, public opinion of Israel and also of America have been quite negative for a long time now in the West.

Excluding in America.

Færd

It withdrew its support and in a matter of years that regime collapsed.

Cerberus

I'm not sure about the conexion between those phaenomena, though.

Færd

Super powers don't change their policies overnight.

It takes a lot of time and civilian pressing etc.

@Cerberus What about compared to that of Iran or Hezbollah?

It was the biased opinion that I thought might be alleviating.

@Cerberus My point is they are not a definitional element of H.

Cerberus

@Færd I think most people don't care about Hezbollah very much.

I think SA and Iran are close.

Maybe SA is worse.

Certainly among educated people.

Incidentally:

@Færd How do you decide that, and what does it mean?

How would you guess Iranians would vote on the women above?

It really is a pity that they haven't included Iran, morocco, and Indonesia.

Færd

3:30 PM

@Cerberus It means H is not defined to be a terrorist group the way, say, ISIS is. I decide that by looking at its historical roots, representational value and popularity and legitimacy within the state it's based in, their manifesto, etc. Perpetrating some terrorist activities don't make a big organization a terrorist one.

@Cerberus It would depend on the region. What the state media presents as the norm is a mix of 3, 4, and 5. Neither of them are considered too immodest in Iran's TV of today.

Cerberus

@Færd Of course Hezbollah is completely different from ISIS, they're incomparable.

Færd

People's opinion would incline more towards 5 and 6 in big cities and 4 and 3 in more religious areas.

Cerberus

But I am not that interested in specific, but vague, labels such as "terrorist organisation".

Færd

Some minorities would prefer 2, I guess; eg some Arab tribes in the South.

Cerberus

@Færd I thought so.

And if you had to guess percentages for the whole country?

I know headscarves in Tehran morph into vaguely attached shawls in good times.

Færd

3:35 PM

Very hard to guess.

Cerberus

Færd

But since you usually don't geet more catholic than the pope, and our TV says 4 and even 5 are basically OK, I think the median would be somewhere around 5.

@Cerberus Yeah that's normal in Tehran.

And many other big and average-sized cities.

Cerberus

@Færd That's good to know, the median even outside the big cities.

This is what we image all Tehrani's look like.

Færd

Haha. Too ornate.

Cerberus

Or what's the proper plural?

@Færd Well, it is presumably a fashion ad. But still!

Færd

3:38 PM

Tehranis, I guess?

Cerberus

OK.

Færd

Yeah, young women seldom care for strict hijab in Tehran.

Cerberus

So the ending -i is common to Arabic and Persian?

Færd

Very common.

Cerberus

OK.

Its origin must be either Persian or Arabic?

pewglobal.org/2017/06/26/…

Færd

4:20 PM

@Cerberus They don't share the same root, not an obvious one at least, I think (and the pronunciation of the Arabic suffix is different actually). I could give more details if if you'd like. There used to be more suffixes in Middle Persian that did this job (eg one cognate with ic in democratic). Maybe the trend in Modern Persian toward almost exclusively using -i for this meaning was triggered by the influx of the Persianized Arabic loanwords that all had -i in the end.

@Cerberus Those two charts compare so strangely.

Cerberus

@Færd I see, that's good to know. So it is mostly coincidence.

Færd

I guess.

Cerberus

@Færd How so?

Færd

For example the countries that don't have a favorable opinion of the US and at the same time don't mind the US influence.

Vietnam, for example.

Cerberus

But the scores are very close for Vietnam?

Highly favourable opinion.

Færd

4:25 PM

Ah my mistake.

Cerberus

OK.

Mitch

4:42 PM

@MetaEd ooh nice, a chevalier is so dashing. But you were mistaken, I was thinking of someone who thanks heaven for little girls in a totally creepy French way.

@Cerberus Or Afghanistan where woman 1 happens it seems much more often

@Færd Really? Some women in Teheran go completely scarfless?

of course outside. At home it's totally different, right? majority 6, and less than 30% #5 or 4 at home?

Cerberus

5:06 PM

@Mitch Yes, indeed.

Although I think the majority are less orthodox than SA.

@Mitch A distinction should be made between what you view as proper attire, and what the government commands you to wear.

The government in Iran is much more orthodox than the city populations.

terdon

@Cerberus Saudi Arabia! Now I get it. I kept trying to understand how South Africa entered your discussion.

Cerberus

Oh, haha.

I shouldn't use abbreviations.

It's easy to get lazy in chat.

Mitch

5:44 PM

@terdon ZA is the abbrev for South Africa = Zuid Ehfrica

abbrev is the abbrev for ... that longer word

Færd

What's the point of abbr if you eventually have to defy your purpose and explain it in more words?

@Mitch Not really. You do occasionally see scarfless women on the street when they don't fear the monitors or the police though.

@Mitch I really can't estimate it. South Tehran, North Tehran, poorer areas, the different subclasses of the middle class... I'd be reckless to give a percentage like I know all about the demographic statistics.

Mitch

@Færd That's the distant impression that I have, that almost entirely every woman outside the house wears something (#5,4,3) (except for foreigners who are probably very uncomfortable appearance-wise). But also with most (50%) women in the cities wearing a loose scarf and 10% 'pushing the envelope' by having the scarf barely holding on.

@Færd I'm just going on pictures from news so totally unreliable

North Teheran is pretty upscale liberal right, but South Teheran quite the opposite?

Færd

One interesting factor is that poorer doesn't necessarily mean more religious. That's a popular myth with some who study Moslim societies.

Mitch

What's silly is that it is quasi government enforced. Just let people wear a scarf or not. Whatever is comfortable/their friends do/etc

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch that doesn't seem right... :D

Mitch

5:54 PM

@Færd They're not correlated?

there's always exceptions, I'm just wondering how off the general rule is.

Færd

@Mitch Maybe to some extent. But it's much more complicated. In the 2008 Green Movement most demonstrations took place on the belt of Tehran, Enqelab St, which virtually separates the North from the South.

@Mitch Zealotry and poverty don't really correlate. It's the middle class who get radical ideas about forcing a religion into a constitution etc, and it's them who revolutionary leaders really invest in.

From them it trickles downwards and then the wealthy have no choice but to follow.

Poorer people basically care more about their bread and butter.

But it really depends on the nature of the community we're talking about. I think what I said is generally true about the Middle East.

@Mitch I think the concept of "fun" is somewhat dangerous to any kind of totalitarian government or doctrine. Very interesting question to ask why.

Feeds

6:43 PM

0

Q: Word for being able to contain

Is there an adjective to qualify something as being able to contain physically other objects? Something like the quality of a container or a storage device. Normally when objects can be classified as storable, containable, holdable, etc, it is refered to their capacity of being stored, contained ...

single-word-requests

Cerberus

@Færd I would say the lower classes are generally conservative.

They don't like change.

Usually, in the last century, societies become less religious.

And the lower classes are the last to change.

But, when a society becomes more religious, then it will happen first in the middle classes.

Of course there are many exceptions, etc.

The Islamic Revolution was very much a middle-class affair, I believe, so it makes sense that the lower classes remained conservative and less religious.

MetaEd

@Mitch Some people call me Maurice, but I believe you might have felt this conversation was a bit short in the area of livestock tracking sounds.

Also, puppetutes.

Matt E. Эллен

7:11 PM

@MetaEd do you correct them when they do that?

MetaEd

@MattE.Эллен No, because I am a picker, a grinner, a lover, and a sinner.

Matt E. Эллен

:D

MetaEd

7:47 PM

I've been voluntold to make pumpkin pie.

Matt E. Эллен

a delicious chore

Feeds

0

Q: Looking for word or phrase that describes something that is beneficial, enjoyable, and pleasing?

I'm looking for a word or phrase that describes several properties: Very beneficial Enjoyable (to do / to experience) Pleasing (to view) Related is panacea. However, this is cure-all, which is good, but it doesn't imply enjoyable. Another related phrase is apple of my eye, which is what I che...

single-word-requests phrase-requests

0

Q: What do you call a person who repeatedly runs argument in mind to prove he's right or confront to leave other person dumbstruck?

We all know that our brain never stops thinking. What do you call a person who frequently thinks about the past bitter experiences which he faced in his life and runs an imaginary argument repeatedly in his mind about the same experiences with the same people involved in the scandal to prove he's...

single-word-requests

Feeds

9:33 PM

0

Q: Word that means having a choice between two options

Is there a word that means having a choice between two options? I can't use Binary Options as that is associated with a "financial option" or gambling. Example Mike got two job offers in one week after being unemployed for a month. He was happy for his _____ (adjective)

single-word-requests

Mitch

11:23 PM

@MetaEd bleurgh

Cleaning out the inside of a pumpkin is like doing abdominal surgery with you bare hands

@MattE.Эллен you're mad

Nest you'll be saying how tasty snails are

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…