English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Faheem Mitha

00:00

@MetaEd Is there such a thing as a SF expert?

MetaEd

@FaheemMitha You might've just proved my point.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd Hmm?

BTW, is it "an SF expert"? I seem to remember than usage of a vs an is phonetic.

MetaEd

Science fiction studies

Science fiction studies is the common name for the academic discipline that studies and researches the history, culture, and works of science fiction and, more broadly, speculative fiction. == History of the field as a discipline == The modern field of science fiction studies is closely related to popular culture studies, a subdiscipline of cultural studies, and film and literature studies. Because of the ties with futurism and utopian works, there is often overlap with these fields as well. The field also has spawned subfields, such as feminist science fiction studies. However, the field's roots...

tchrist

It's an ess-eff expert but a science-fiction expert.

skullpatrol

An internet "expert" :P

Tonepoet

00:03

Geeze, no wonder you guys are so dejected. The close vote review queue is like a parade of dishearteningly substandard effort. I have to avoid it in the future.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd I don't follow.

MetaEd

@FaheemMitha There are science fiction experts. People who study or create it for a living. You can get an advanced degree in science fiction studies.

skullpatrol

...when given lemons...

tchrist

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd Yes, I got that. So you are saying that people become experts in the area by getting a degree in it, but not otherwise?

MetaEd

00:06

And of course there are serious expert amateurs.

Not at all ^^^

But there's no doubt in my mind that there's such a thing as an SF expert.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd Fair enough.

Tonepoet

I'm skipping too many questions. I'm abandoning ship and just going to vote on an as seen basis.

Faheem Mitha

Anyway, SF (and/or fantasy) isn't a technical field. Unlike Math, say.

Very interesting. I didn't know there was a building in Rome that was 2000 years old and in continuous use.

MetaEd

However, anybody who's seen Episode IV a bunch of times might feel they're an expert when a question comes up about it. And maybe they're a trivia collector and could easily tell you what color the insignia are on Imperial uniforms. But they might not realize how much they don't know.

And that's not so true for science, mathematics, and programming.

Faheem Mitha

I wonder what kind of repairs it needs. In Bombay 30 year old buildings need repairs and maintenance.

@MetaEd I don't see what there is to know about Star Wars, frankly.

But hey, that's just my opinion.

MetaEd

00:11

@FaheemMitha Well, try telling that to a PhD in science fiction studies, or a leading author. Writing literature and analyzing it are highly technical fields (even though writing it is also highly intuitive).

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd Depends on the literature, I'd say.

For example, analyzing Edgar Wallace is probably a waste of time. He was a racist hack.

Though I suppose one could get some interesting insights into Western racism and colonialism from reading his stuff. He was pretty terrible.

Also like one of the best selling authors in English in the early 20th century. Now mostly forgotten, I'd say. I can't remember if I've ever seen him name mentioned in the Net.

MetaEd

@FaheemMitha Start with how it was intentionally built on what we know about myths and archetypes, which is largely why it was so successful. Do you know about the connection between Star Wars and the analysis of myth by Joseph Campbell?

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd I guess I should be frank here, and say that I consider Stars Wars to be uter rubbish, and unworthy of anyone's time. The original films were crap, but mildly entertaining. The Disney reboot is beyond awful.

Not meaning to offend anyone. But I also thought I might as well be up front about it.

MetaEd

@FaheemMitha This really isn't about whether you like it or I like it. My point is that there's plenty to know about it.

Faheem Mitha

Actually, it's interesting to see the difference between someone (Lucas) who actually "believed" in his source material, and people (Disney) who are just out to make a fast buck.

MetaEd

00:17

If you go to Google Search and put in star wars, the autocomplete will offer joseph campbell near the top of your choices.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd I suppose that's true of most things, if you dig down far enough.

@MetaEd You mean like the Hero's Journey and stuff?

MetaEd

@FaheemMitha Sure, but with that movie series, you don't have to dig very far. You just have to go the next step beyond screening the films.

@FaheemMitha Yes, exactly.

Faheem Mitha

Ok.

MetaEd

George Lucas consciously used those theories to make the movie series a success. You don't have to like the movies to be fascinated by how Lucas made them successful.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd I see.

MetaEd

00:19

Which is just to say that there are experts who have actually looked deeply at science fiction and those are the people who ideally would be answering questions over at scifi, because they're experts.

And the problem scifi faces is that someone who's seen the movies a bunch of times doesn't realize their knowledge is still very narrow.

And so they're experts, as far as they know.

Faheem Mitha

@MetaEd Being an expert in a non-technical field isn't as clearly defined as someone in a technical field.

MetaEd

And the same is true here and at other sites where the topic is something that billions of people know something about.

@FaheemMitha Isn't it?

Faheem Mitha

Maybe they exist, but it's hard to give specific criteria. I suppose one could ask for people with advanced degrees. But that's neither necessary nor sufficient, I think.

@MetaEd I don't think so. But again, just my opinion.

MetaEd

Right. It's not necessarily about degrees, or occupations. A determined person could become an expert philologist without going to school.

But then we have people whose answer is "never end a sentence with a preposition, my grammar school teacher taught me that years ago". And they don't realize that's not an expert answer.

This is the problem with more than a half a billion people using a technology.

All right, gotta head home. Y'all carry on.

Faheem Mitha

Have a good evening.

@MetaEd Agreed, that's not a great answer. But grammar is arguably a technical area.

I see the Doomsday Clock is now at 2 minutes to midnight. That's cheering.

Robusto

02:59

@MetaEd I'd rather deal with a professional than an expert. "Expert" is such a squishy term and often implies theoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge. A professional eats or doesn't by virtue of getting shit right.

Tonepoet

@MetaEd I have often thought about the preposition matter quite a bit and thinking of something along the gist of this:

Prepositions don't end complete declarative sentences, because they have a conjunctive effect which requires them to be placed prior to the prepositional object in order to render the sentence complete. This can be demonstrated by trying to end a sentence in a noun/preposition combination: "Who is the king of." Exemplified sentences which seem to end in prepositions often end in what are termed as phrasal verbs, or with an adjective/preposition function, suggesting more o…

However, I somehow doubt that it would be appreciated, and I fall just a little short of the conviction necessary to do it mostly just thanks to a couple of odd H.W. Fowler's examples. I have still been trying to avoid preposition stranding though, and sometimes resort to using adverbs of time as a prepositional object. Incidentally, most of the grammar I have read on the subject is from pro-stranders.

Some of the evidence I was going to use where alternative parsing and rewrites to what former chief editor for the Oxford Dictionary of English (which is not the O.E.D. proper, but rather a printed precursor to O.D.O.) Cathrine Soannes gave in her Oxford Blogs guest article Can You End a Sentence in a Preposition?, using those with the idea that a pro-strander wouldn't cherry-pick against their own position.

Granted, that's nothing along the lines of don't do this just because my teacher said it's wrong..., but just so long as the example was raised.

Mitch

03:24

@MetaEd math isn't a science? The one place where you actually know things?

I'm shutting this whole things down

pulling plugs

turning off lights

kicking over waste baskets

These are my last words

wait.. one more

feh

So long suckers!

Færd

05:20

So this is the first time I'm feeling drunk in my life.

Had tried alcohol before, but hadn't feel any noticeable impact. This time went a bit overboard (and on an empty stomach) to really see what it's all about. It's kind of like the first times I tried smoking: I expected more, frankly see no point in it, but still can imagine why people would get attached or addicted to it.

I'm feeling a bit dizzy, warm in the head, absolutely no more silly than usual, or less conscious about the usual harassing concerns of life.

I thought of whether I had my keys on me only after I'd shut myself out of the house to go buy milk (fortunately I had them in my hand), and dropped the plastic bottle two times on my way wobbling back home (almost unprecedented).

Surprisingly, I'm feeling no more inclined to party or have sex or sing or do foolish stuff than usual.

My attention span is narrowed in terms of both time and width. My hand is shaking and typing is getting harder, and it's a bit hard to keep my head straight and my gaze focued on the words, but this could partly because I haven't eaten for some hours.

I could continue, but I guess this is enough to capture the essence of the way I'm feeling right now. I'm going to come back later and and sea if it choo-choos differently than my usual sober trains of thoughts.

Færd

10:51

Hmm. Not that different. Perhaps I made mistakes more frequently.

Feeds

11:45

0

Q: What term means for something to be 'in place' in literature or screenwriting?

I am trying to recall a very specific word that.. Is typically used in the context of film/tv/screen writing Describes something that the writer has put in their imaginary world (usually but not necessarily physical) Means that this something is 'in-place', 'sympathetic to the imaginary world',...

single-word-requests

CowperKettle

12:13

Feelings determine from which side we embrace each other

sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180124085921.htm

Feeds

13:45

0

Q: What do you call someone that is fluent in metric and imperial units of measure

If you can switch from Spanish to English, you are bilingual, but is there a word that describes this moving between non metric and metric units of measure? .......other than nerd or scientist?

single-word-requests

Feeds

14:03

0

Q: Working independently where you should work collaboratively

What phrase or word is used to describe someone, specifically in a vocational context, who is making decisions without first discussing it with a superior or other members of the team?

single-word-requests phrase-requests idiom-requests

Feeds

14:36

0

Q: Asking people if they'd like to try a question.

Would it be correct to say, "Any take on this question?", when I ask any maths question in a group of people? Also, any alternatives to it? The reason I am unsure of this usage is that according to Cambridge Dicitionary, take on something means: to fight or compete against someone or som...

single-word-requests word-choice

Robusto

14:56

Someone must have installed a false-dichotomy question factory, which yields results like this: "Which is correct, I are smart or He are smart?" If we could just find the source code, do you think maybe we could fix it?

Feeds

15:48

0

Q: How can I understand ?

I’m not really good in English and if I’m watching a movie I cannot understand it well but I know the meaning of vocabularies which they use but I have problem in the speech and in comprehension. Should I speak with foreign (English) people? And also how can I understand The Whole English vocab...

single-word-requests meaning word-usage

Cerberus

16:45

@Færd If you were wobbling and dropping things, I'd say you've drunk too much!

For most people, drinking is only enjoyable in the company of others.

Were you drinking with others?

For some people, drinking serves to ease their mental pain. It's usually what alcoholics do. It can work when you drink alone.

But you need to drink a lot, and very frequently, for that to continue to work. Not very wholesome.

And most people don't experience the mental pain that makes them want to do this.

@MetaEd Luckily, we have voting to deal with this.

Good answers will go to the top.

So I don't think it is that much of a problem, really.

MetaEd

@Cerberus True to an extent. However voting expertise is also diluted by the same effect.

Which is why we get questions on the HNQ which should just have been closed.

skullpatrol

Heat doesn't always generate light w.r.t. HNQs.

in The Periodic Table, 23 hours ago, by Loong

Oh I hate HNQ so much. :-(

NVZ

HNQ lights up my screen. Sometimes even blinds me.

skullpatrol

17:01

blinded by the light?

MetaEd

So it's the highlight of your day?

NVZ

Among other things, yes.

MetaEd

There are worse things.

NVZ

The highlight of all my days is that I'm healthy and breathing.

MetaEd

I'm over 50. I have a great day every time my plumbing still works perfectly.

skullpatrol

17:02

Manfred Mann - Blinded by the Light

►

NVZ

If I may, what do you do for an income?

skullpatrol

then you remember that^ song?

NVZ

@skullpatrol Blinded in the sense, I go down that HNQ hole and waste my time instead of looking at the things I should be looking. Or maybe it was not a waste of time, or maybe not, or maybe it was, or maybe not.

@MetaEd When does an expert know they are an expert?

Tonepoet

Everybody's drunk on E.L.U. and apparently I have been infected with thier drunkenship. I don't even know what I'm doing...

MetaEd

@NVZ Tricky, isn't it.

Dunning–Kruger effect

In the field of psychology, the Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias wherein people of low ability suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their cognitive ability as greater than it is. The cognitive bias of illusory superiority derives from the metacognitive inability of low-ability persons to recognize their own ineptitude; without the self-awareness of metacognition, low-ability people cannot objectively evaluate their actual competence or incompetence. As described by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger, the cognitive bias of illusory superiority results...

Tonepoet

17:09

@MetaEd Oh god, that.

NVZ

@Tonepoet Doing you, you are.

MetaEd

@Tonepoet I'm an expert at the Dunning-Kruger effect.

NVZ

@MetaEd I sense that that is what is happening to me! NOO!!

Tonepoet

@MetaEd You've just reminded me of something is all.

Matt E. Эллен

@MetaEd I don't think I know enough about it to say I'm an expert

MetaEd

17:11

@MattE.Эллен Well then you are less deluded than I am.

Tonepoet

124

Q: What is it called when experts think they only know a small part of a topic and amateurs think they know almost all of a topic?

What is it called when experts think they only know a small part of a topic and amateurs think they know almost all of a topic?

expression-requests

8

Q: What is a word or term that describes the disparity between perceived versus actual capability?

There is a term or word that describes why people with average intelligence tend to be managers because their perceptions of their own capabilities are more in line with what they are actually capable of. As intelligence increases, the perception of one's capabilities tends to be underestimated ...

single-word-requests terminology

NVZ

At my job, I often go around seeing how others are doing. I think my presentations or submissions are more well-done than my peers', but I fail to know that I'm doing okay unless I take those rounds. Until then I feel like my work is bad, and lose confidence.

Tonepoet

My first duplicate flag aged away on those. V_V

MetaEd

@NVZ See now Matt's response is a great way to answer your question. Experts actually underestimate their expertise, so one way to know that you're not under the influence of Dunning-Kruger and could be an actual expert is ... you are skeptical that you know everything.

Tonepoet

I don't even know what should be done about it. I'm 100% sure those questions are duplicates. I kinda feel bad for Sam because his answer is effectively the same, but he got screwed over by the H.N.Qs. preferring the newer question.

NVZ

17:15

@MetaEd Which is another downside. Any interview I go, I am too honest about the things I do not know, while my peers, who often comes to me asking for help, pass interviews somehow, because they showcase such confidence even though they do not actually know much of the technical details. I should learn to lie at interviews.

MetaEd

@NVZ Sounds like you just need a more convincing sales pitch.

Matt E. Эллен

Just tell them that the people they interviewed before were over estimating their own abilities

and that you don't do that

NVZ

Yeah. I need to project more confidence in the things I do know, rather than be too humble about it.

MetaEd

@NVZ Q: Have you done XXXXX? A: No. bzzt

@NVZ Q: Have you done XXXXX? A: I've done something similar, I did YYYYY a few years ago and the customer gained an additional 2% market share as a result.

Boom.

NVZ

Aha. I see.

terdon

17:19

"The ignorant suffer from Dunning-Kruger effect, while experts fall prey to the Imposter Syndrome" ;)

Impostor syndrome

Impostor syndrome (also known as impostor phenomenon, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a concept describing individuals who are marked by an inability to internalize their accomplishments and a persistent fear of being exposed as a "fraud". The term was coined in 1978 by clinical psychologists Pauline R. Clance and Suzanne A. Imes. Despite external evidence of their competence, those exhibiting the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved. Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others in...

NVZ

I'm just under 25, and there's a lot to learn about this thing called "life".

terdon

@NVZ Show me anyone, at any age, who doesn't feel the same way and I'll show you an idiot.

NVZ

A distraction: chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/42509504#42509504

in The Awkward Silence, 11 mins ago, by NVZ

Does size matter? :P

@terdon My grandfather, who was 97 at his last moments, was very eager to learn new things, even at that age. There's always things to learn.

terdon

Yep.

NVZ

If I may, I'll plug some IPS here: Any thoughts on this one?

3

Q: Why does a man pay for the first date with a woman?

So, it still seems to be common etiquette for a man to pay for the first date with a woman. It's considered nice, but it's baffling me a little as to why it still exists nowadays because I think some of the reasons for it existing in the first place have now vanished: women can now get an educat...

relationships etiquette europe

Why do men do that?

Mitch

17:27

Why do they still do it? Or why did they ever do it?

More importantly, why aren't you planning your super bowl party?

skullpatrol

lol

Mitch

Spareribs? Bacon wrapped scallops? Deep fried mars bars?

skullpatrol

all of the above

Mitch

Why do men do that?

Eat a salad once in a while

Your future GI doc will praise you for it

skullpatrol

salad is for commies :P

Mitch

17:30

Your future GI surgeon will be annoyed at his lower bill

@skullpatrol salad...feh

skullpatrol

it was a joke

Mitch

Coleslaw is ok because ther's very little salad in it

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch I only have regular bowls

Mitch

Who moved my bowel?

terdon

@MattE.Эллен moves his bowls regularly.

Matt E. Эллен

17:31

@Mitch ... you? 🤞

NVZ

@Mitch Both.

Mitch

Nice. You found the right emoji

NVZ

@Mitch cuz I don't follow it. I'm way over here in Dubai. We care about football, not handeggs.

Mitch

Come for the food, stay for the concussions

Sports in the desert? Finding shade

skullpatrol

ikr

Matt E. Эллен

17:34

It's A Knockout (The Best Of) BBC Video 2000

►

MetaEd

@Mitch And you put them in a bowl? Ah, I always wondered what a super bowl was.

@NVZ Mating costs women much more than it costs men. Consequently men have to pay up.

NVZ

@Mitch A desert going green by the day.

Matt E. Эллен

@NVZ patriarchal societal norms

Mitch

Foucaultian power dynamics

NVZ

@Mitch Salads and McDs are my daily driver.

Unhealthy lifestyle, I know. Stuck in this loop for a while.

Mitch

17:38

I ride a bicycle instead

McDs has the best desserts

Matt E. Эллен

lol

I was wondering where my dessert was

NVZ

Or does the bicycle ride you?

Mitch

Oh Stalin.

NVZ

~~McD time. Bye.~~ Oh, wait. Today it's fried chicken.

Mitch

The professor and the margarita, one of them was finished by the end of the date

Wait is that a pizza or an alcoholic drink?

NVZ

17:43

Is there a way to subscribe to new questions?

I wish to be notified on phone, via the app/email.

If I have a custom font installed locally on my PC, how do I use that in my Chrome browser's Stylish extension to replace a website font? Where do I ask this? Or does anyone here know?

I'm already replacing some fonts with Google fonts. I want to place system installed ones instead now.

Feeds

0

Q: Is there a male equivalent of "dowager" with regard to British titles?

I was thinking about the British Royal Family, particularly the Queen Mother and why she had that title. I started wondering if Queen Elizabeth II died before Prince Phillip (and Charles became King) would Phillip get an equivalent title (at least in the Press, which loves short nicknames for ev...

single-word-requests phrase-requests gender-positive

MetaEd

17:59

@Mitch Ooh, are we doing business buzzwords of the 18th century?

Matt E. Эллен

cake!

MetaEd

To advance, or not to advance, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the workplace to suffer
The competition and hostile takeovers of outrageous fortune,
Or to take stock options against a Sea of troubles,
And by investing end them: to retire, to work
No more; and by retirement, to say we end
the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
that employment is heir to? 'Tis a termination
devoutly to be wished.

Feeds

0

Q: What is the name of a place where you send your car for a mechanical fix?

Is it body shop? I have trouble when I have to mention this kind of car repairment place to convey the meaning that I am not using my car now because it is at the _____________.

single-word-requests word-choice phrases adjectives synonyms

Matt E. Эллен

18:14

@Feeds I want to create a "Queen Elizabeth II" account and just answer "no".

user598527

I'm not certain why this question is closed: english.stackexchange.com/questions/380642/…

Matt E. Эллен

when people press me for more details I'll say "It's my bloody English. I'll tell you how it works and you'll like it."

terdon

Reminds me of that wonderful line of Victor Borge's when someone (validly) corrected his English: "It's your language, I'm just trying to use it"

user598527

And why "ðiː ˌɪŋkɒmpɹɨˈhɛnsɨbəɫ ˈɻʷuːm" is the general english.stackexchange.com chat room title?

NVZ

@user598527 it's one of the unsolved mysteries of life.

@user598527 It is unclear as to how it is a question about the English language.

terdon

18:29

@user598527 it is a phonetic representation of "The incomprehensible room" written in the international phonetic alphabet.

International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by lexicographers, foreign language students and teachers, linguists, speech-language pathologists, singers, actors, constructed language creators and translators. The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are part of oral language: phones, phonemes, intonation and the separation of...

MetaEd

18:50

ð  iː ˌɪ ŋ k ɒ m p ɹ ɨˈ h ɛ n s ɨ b əɫ ˈɻʷ uː m
th e   i n c o m p r e  h e n s i b le  r  oo m

Mitch

@user598527 I read it as 'dee ingk kahm pree hen sih bul rum'

When read aloud, it sounds like @Færd when he types drunk.

@MattE.Эллен How does she know that word? I thought you weren't ever supposed to say a negative to the Queen? How has she ever heard that then?

Is it like when adults when they tub their toe and yell out an expletive, and then the kids go running around telling all the other kids 'S--t! G----m m-----rf-----r'?

Excuse my F-----h

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch She over heard a butler saying "no", he was executed

Mitch

no, H you

Matt E. Эллен

19:05

Jesus H H

Mitch

cheese and aitches

Matt E. Эллен

:D

Mitch

for the record, cheese and rice is a really quick easy and tasty meal

Sunday brunch?

Matt E. Эллен

Tuesday elevenses

Mitch

I was alluding to communion

Matt E. Эллен

19:08

oh! :D

I thought communion was a cracker

Mitch

when in doubt, it's a cannibalism joke

The vicar really knows how to crack a joke

Matt E. Эллен

@user598527 the best way to get a question reopened is to post on English Language & Usage Meta, and ask the community to reopen it, based on your argument for why it should be reopened.

Færd

@Cerberus Yeah, I guess I did, :) as I'm constantly being reminded by the nagging headache.

@Cerberus Not this time, but I'd done that a few times before, the latest occasion being the other night where I got to talking with this Dutch girl at a party...

Long story short, she said, to my amazement, that they never hung out and had fun without drinking! So I drank half a glass of this strong spirit called Arak, and yet continued to enjoy everything (the people, the music, the dance) as I would have without touching the bottle.

I didn't know whether to attribute the slight fuzzy dizzy feeling to the drink or the smoke hanging in the air.

But I get it. It's a feeling. It's different. Custom and culture can develop around it. It can grow some sort of meaning for people and individuals.

Heck, the first few days I started smoking I could not for the life of me get what the fuss about it was. But I was curious and continued till I got addicted and shared some of the most emotionally intense and vulnerable moments of my youth with those cigs.

MetaEd

19:25

@Færd Arak. Yeah. I remember a Laz guy telling me that stuff makes people do crazy things.

Færd

It's made of raisins.

High alcohol content. I'm not sure about the crazy things. :)

Mitch

@MetaEd What's a Laz guy?

terdon

Nothing particularly special about it, it's just a version of Eau de vie.

Færd

@terdon Yeah, I'd just dramatized it in my head.

terdon

I believe that in most of the middle east they flavor it with liquorice, in Greece we keep it pure.

Færd

19:31

What with all the poetry and stuff.

terdon

@Færd Of course you did! It's very heavy stuff and you don't drink! I was telling @MetaEd that it isn't anything really weird, like the old hallucinogenic absinthes or anything like that. Just strong distilled liquor.

Færd

Yes.

@Mitch I'm always drunk man. I just didn't realize it until today.

MetaEd

@Mitch it's a cultural group in the general area of the Black Sea

@terdon and it's yummy.

terdon

19:50

That it is.

MetaEd

@terdon Also I have read that absinthe isn't weird either. The effects people reported were pretty much alcohol poisoning.

Yes, wormwood, but apparently not enough to actually cause what was reported.

I actually had an Artemisia absinthium I was going to use to flavor neutral spirits, but it died.

And anyway the right way to use it is distillation and I wasn't going to get into that. I would have done a cold extraction with a grain neutral spirit.

terdon

@MetaEd My understanding is that the stuff we have now is completely different. What Van Gogh and his ilk were guzzling had a much higher content of the hallucinogen.

MetaEd

I've done that with fresh fennel and the result was BRILLIANT.

terdon

What I've had is just a perfectly nice strong spirit. Nothing that special.

@MetaEd Mmmmm

@terdon Can't find a reference for that with a 5min search, but that's what I had always been told. shrugs. Pinch of salt may be needed.

MetaEd

> Absinthe has often been portrayed as a dangerously addictive psychoactive drug and hallucinogen.[8] The chemical compound thujone, although present in the spirit in only trace amounts, was blamed for its alleged harmful effects. [...] Although absinthe was vilified, it has not been demonstrated to be any more dangerous than ordinary spirits. Recent studies have shown that absinthe's psychoactive properties (apart from that of the alcohol) have been exaggerated.[8]

excerpted from Wikipedia

terdon

20:05

Huh. That doesn't preclude that the old stuff was much stronger though.

Feeds

0

Q: Word for the descending levels underneath a Manager/Senior Manager

What is a word for the levels of hierarchy underneath an employee? This question is very similar to this but I'm looking for a general term for the levels themselves. In a phrase the word would convey, "Tier levels underneath". Used in a sentence would be, "George the associate is 2 tier levels ...

single-word-requests

Educ

Hi

MetaEd

@terdon Except it wasn't. Actually some of the stuff made today is substantially higher alcohol concentration. The real problem with the old stuff wasn't traces of thujone, it was adulteration with metal compounds that made production cheaper and the product more toxic.

Educ

20:21

What about soju

terdon

20:51

@MetaEd Ah, that does indeed sound reasonable.

MetaEd

21:07

@Educ Another rakı cousin, all the way in Korea. Interesting!

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Q: Is there a word for an opponent who ends up defining a person's identity through their conflict?

I've been thinking about both nemesis and foil, but the problem is that 'nemesis' implies the opponent inevitably wins (or at least that the struggle is endless) and 'foil' (at least in terms of how it's used in philosophical discourse) implies that the opponent is being used to present oneself i...

single-word-requests

Feeds

23:42

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Q: A name for a website category that contains different type of video files

Please help me to find the right word that can be used to name a category on a website of an investing company. The company makes videos time to time and publish them on their website (using build-in video player) along with transcriptions. The videos are about financial world, mostly market over...

single-word-requests

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…