English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

MetaEd

00:02

Well, I have added about as much closure sauce to this script as I can stomach for one day.

Cerberus

00:21

Was it necessary?

Mitch

00:35

@MetaEd Those words seem to form grammatically together but ... 'closure', 'sauce', 'script'... OK 'stomach' goes with 'sauce' I suppose... 'day' that's always a good one.

MetaEd

@Cerberus To avoid a maintenance nightmare, yes. Small script became big script and simple code turned into spaghetti code.

Cerberus

00:58

@MetaEd Ah, I see.

I'm still not up to using closures properly (or avoiding the problems they cause...).

MetaEd

I think they're easier to use than to explain.

Cerberus

Well, I've read about them, and they seem to be about static variables.

As opposed to global and local.

MetaEd

Well, they let you give yourself some privacy.

Cerberus

No doubt.

But they work in ways I didn't expect, I think—or at least I have had variable problems in the past where they weren't accessible where I wanted them.

MetaEd

In my case today they let me locate my data declarations and my code declarations together, which makes things much easier to read.

Cerberus

01:01

In Autohotkey, one simply does static UserVariable.

Hmm that may be above my level.

Feeds

03:23

0

Q: Is there a general word or phrase to describe the things you do after getting up, such face-washing?

I'm seeking for a more general word or phrase to describe the things like face-washing, tooth-brushing and gargling together. The word or phrase is to these things as doing sports is to playing basketball, playing football and so on. Is there such a word or phrase?

Færd

04:26

@Cerberus According to Wikipedia, we got rid of the triple-gender, triple-number, octuple-case grammar of Old Farsi in its transition into Middle Farsi.

Much less has changed from Middle to Modern Farsi, compared to that. You could work your way through Middle Farsi texts if Early Modern texts are not alien to you.

I'm glad we disposed of those complexities so early.

Feeds

08:51

0

Q: Word for "A useful word or idea from a random discussion or from the internet"

I am looking a word or an expression for 'A word, an equation or an idea that I come across randomly in a discussion or from the internet which I think will be useful for my personal development (personality, productivity, job, study etc.)'. For example, "Be very attentive to any discussion, you ...

single-word-requests

Feeds

09:08

0

Q: Best synonym for "keep" in this context

I want to describe a new product which is an improved version of an existing one. The new product has all the features from the existing product, and adds a few new features. I am looking for a nice way to phrase the above, specifically the verb which is used to say that the new products has all...

single-word-requests verbs synonyms

Færd

11:39

10-YEAR-OLD GIRL CRIES WITH JOY OPENING FIRST GUN

►

Faheem Mitha

13:16

@Færd I assumed, without actually viewing the video, that this was the United States. Where else could it be?

Mitch

13:50

@Cerberus Sure, but it looks like it would fall apart for many other things without that, like economics.

Cerberus

@Færd That's long ago!

@Mitch I meant the agreement England and Europe are supposed to conclude about the former's leaving the latter.

The Irish question may be too tough for the negotiators to handle.

@Færd Haha how endearing.

Feeds

14:33

0

Q: Looking for an adjective or noun that describes someone whose response to misfortune or adversity is passivity, resignation, an/or excuse-making

This thread offered a few leads: Word that describes someone that causes his own misfortune . "self-defeating" gets at part of the likely consequences of this character trait, but doesn't really necessarily connote that it is due to passivity or inertia on the part of the victim. "hapless" see...

single-word-requests word-choice pejorative-language

Faheem Mitha

14:58

@Cerberus I've come to the conclusion that words like left and right don't really mean much - in the political sense, that is.

In part it just gives legitimacy to the lunatics running things in places like the US.

Obviously, just my personal view.

Færd

@FaheemMitha Well, children are put to actual soldiering in some other parts of the world.

@Cerberus They wised up!

Cerberus

15:19

@FaheemMitha Well, it depends on how you define them.

@Færd Heretics!

Faheem Mitha

@Færd If so, I doubt they're as enthused about it.

@Cerberus That's the problem. Those words have been so abused they don't have much meaning any longer.

Cerberus

I think two general meanings are often used.

1. Socio-culturally conservative/reactionary versus progressive. This generally coincides with less personal freedom versus more personal freedom.

2. Less state intervention versus more state intervention. This generally coincides with less redistribution of wealth by the state versus more redistribution.

These two spectra are now often used in a bidimensional field to plot political parties in.

But, yeah, the terms right and left are often used ambiguously.

Hitler was reactionary (and against personal freedom), and wanted strong state intervention.

Etc.

But it's complicated.

The criteria only fit political parties up to a degree.

For example, some parties want a surveillance state (strong state), but little redistribution of wealth (strong capitalism).

There may also be conexions between the two spectra. E.g. for some socio-cultural agenda, you need a strong state.

Mitch

15:39

@Cerberus I think that's the main thing. At some level there's lots of correlation between one set of principles and the label 'right', and the counterpart to each of those principles labeled 'left', but that's just a correlation and there's al sorts of room for groups of people that mix and match those principles, and all sorts of room for individual variation despite nominally identifying with any larger group.

Cerberus

@Mitch All very true.

Mitch

and things have changed a lot over time

Cerberus

You do need to define "left" and "right" before establishing this correlation, though.

Mitch

the capitalism/socialism, fascism/communism square

Cerberus

Does that coincide with my square above?

Mitch

15:43

and now it's the square you alluded to, in the US labels: libertarian/democrat, republican/...??? I can't figure out what the right label is. also the dimensions. something like personal freedoms vs govt support maybe?

@Cerberus I think it is close to what you were getting at. or maybe you have different dimensions

Cerberus

OK.

I have tried to define the dimensions.

Mitch

economic control by gov is one dimension and personal liberty control by gov is another?

mabe I'm not matching yours, but trying to remember what I have seen

Cerberus

You may be fairly close.

Mitch

Cerberus

Also a good scheme.

It's mainly about personal liberalism and economic liberalism as the two dimensions.

The only thing it's missing is conservative/reactionary versus progressive, which often coincides with personal freedom, but it is a bit more comprehensive/general.

Mitch

15:49

That's what I was thinking of. But it looks so over simplified. and really communism and socialism are just not that close to each other and not that close to fascism, which is really sort of different from them all. Fascism doesn't even seem like it belongs on that chart at all, it's the philosophically empty politics of being a jerk.

I think your dimension of reactionary/stay the same/progressive change just doesn't fit on that graph.

Færd

16:04

Nor does anarchism.

Anarchistic endeavor towards dismantling the unjustifiable exercises of power in the hope of achieving more personal and communal freedom doesn't really fit in that plane.

Faheem Mitha

16:19

Political words are very abusable. Take a word like socialism, which is generally agree to mean something. Both the USSR and the Nazi party called themselves socialist.

Neither of them were, by any reasonable definition.

And the term socialist has a relatively clear meaning.

Far more so than terms like "left" and "right".

Mitch

16:45

@Færd I think it fits there. Anarchism is removal of as much government control as possible so it would be at the top of the diamond (100% personal and economic self-governing). The fact that the picture labels it as 'well-practiced capitalism' is just strange labeling by the people who made the picture.

Feeds

17:52

0

Q: A word for giving but not receiving

I'm looking for a word that that describes how someone might be giving and the other person is just taking and not giving nothing back

single-word-requests

Sid

18:17

I don't know if this question is on-topic. So, I am asking this on chat. "What's the difference between communism, Socialism and Capitalism?"

Andrew Leach

18:34

@Sid You might get a good response in chat on Politics.se -- or at least, advice on how to ask the question there. Comparative political philosophy would seem to be a better fit there than here.

Mitch

@Sid That's a question for history.stackexchange.com or politics.stackexchange.com

Sid

Got it. Thanks.

Mitch

we were just discussing that though here in this chat.

Also, I'm pretty sure the subject has been beaten to death elsewhere many times already.

Feeds

19:22

0

Q: American equivalent of "Flabbergasted"

I love to use the word "flabbergasted" when writing, but I realize I cannot really use it when it's an American talking, as the word is primarily used by British people. I know there's words like "shocked" and "surprised", but I want something with more flavor. The sentence I intend to use it in ...

single-word-requests american-english

NVZ

7

Q: What is the basic difference between Marxism, Socialism and Communism?

Along with the heading, it would be much appreciated if you paste useful links that go in depth of the differences. For this forums scope, I only need to hear the basic difference between these three political structures. I wouldn't mind if you elaborate.

political-system communism socialism marxism

18

Q: What are the main differences between different types of Marxism?

Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Maoism, etc are different political idioms with some similarities in ideology. But my question is about their differences: Question: What are the main theoretic and pragmatic differences between above ideologies?

ideology political-theory communism marxism socialism

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer: What is the difference between "peasant" and "villager"? by user284572 on english.SE

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Manually reported answer: What is the difference between "peasant" and "villager"? by user284572 on english.SE

MetaEd

20:34

@Cerberus So I looked at AHK's definition of static variables and yes, I can see the connection you're making between them and closures.

Feeds

21:55

0

Q: What is the word for a person who doesn't do what he says he will do?

Somebody who first says that he will do something, and later kind-of forgets, or assumes that people forgot. The Russian word for it is "необязательность". I guess I am looking for a translation.

single-word-requests

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…