English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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tchrist

04:24

> A money-lender serves you in the present tense, lends you in the conditional mood, keeps you in the subjunctive, and ruins you in the future.

SmokeDetector

04:46

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Blacklisted user: Is it acceptable to use the phrase "more and more" in present perfect continuous? by Scott on english.SE

1 hour later…

Feeds

05:56

Q: A citizen of eSwatini

eSwatini (officially the Kingdom of eSwatini) is the new name of Swaziland. What should one call a citizen of eSwatini (in English)? A citizen of eSwatini is called a[n] _____. I can think of the following candidates: a liSwati, a Swati, an eSwatini, a Swazi.

Feeds

06:30

Q: Usage of "Trying" in a sentence to declare an attempt + will

I was going to move to a new house and I told my colleague that "during the weekend, I was trying to move to my new place", he responded by saying "trying? So are you moving or not?". Both of us are not native English speakers!! So, I wanted to ask if what I said is correct or should have rather ...

single-word-requests speech conversation

Feeds

07:22

Q: Single word for a pattern of behaviour where you keep swapping between possibilities

Some people don't have the ability to make up their mind. They keep swapping between two (or even more options). I'm not looking for a description of the type of person (like indecisive), but for a verb to describe this kind of behaviour.

single-word-requests

1 hour later…

terdon

08:39

@Jolenealaska Dammit! Like ships in the night! No, I'm afraid I don't. I could though.

4 hours later…

RegDwigнt

12:38

When Your E String Whistles

►

Robusto

13:17

@RegDwigнt Sounds like he's saying おまえは死んでいる。omae-wa shinde-iru "You're dying" (or "You're dead"). (Talking to himself in the 2nd person.)

Jolenealaska

13:34

@terdon We could just do hackchat or even a phone call. No worries about missing each other, I'm not going anywhere.

5 hours later…

KannE

18:46

@RegDwigнt Yes, I thought of several metaphors, too, but knew it was off-topic here. I wish I would've told her specifically that we can't offer writing tips here and directed her to a writers' site. Instead, she left with the one word I gave her (the only one offered) and closed her account...of course. I thought others could be more helpful based on the main reason I am here (to expand my vocabulary), but they couldn't or wouldn't. Thanks for looking into it, very nice.

Feeds

Q: What is the single word for something that is both lightweight and strong?

I'm looking for a word to describe a jacket that is very lightweight but also strong and durable. 'Efficient' is as close I've been able to get.

single-word-requests

RegDwigнt

19:06

@Robusto awesome thanks.

So I come into work today, and there's like nobody around, and the two people that are tell me that tomorrow's a day off. And I'm like why. And they're like it's the International Day of Work, dude. And I'm like, why we no work then.

What is this logic.

Hello bizzarro world, my old friend. Why do I talk to you again.

RegDwigнt

19:28

-3

Q: Very big problems with using gramma

My word resource is for me enough but when I have to use some grammatical and tenses I'm very shiftless. I know they structures and rules but i cant match them to situations. Of course i could think " Hm he said about weather and this is absolutely true so i should use present simple " But this...

grammaticality tenses

O ELU, the more you change, the more you stay the same.

KannE

@Feeds I buy a lot of jackets from a certain manufacturer because they are "efficient" (but in a different way than you mean). In the outerwear industry, I've noticed that efficiency usually refers to the insulating quality (i.e. less bulky but warmer is more efficient) not durability. You need a term that means...like ripstop, but not that particular fabric, just the quality of it. Good luck finding it...maybe fabric manufacturers have a term for it.

RegDwigнt

You are talking to a robot.
The future is now.™

KannE

@RegDwigнt Do you mean me? Am I not responding to a question posed by a real person?

RegDwigнt

Oh fuck got ninjaed by @Mitch.

What a low. What a low.

@KannE Feeds is a robot.

Mitch

@KannE @Feeds is a robot

RegDwigнt

19:40

It's not an Arab name or anything.

Mitch

RegDwight is a robot

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@RegDwigнt I hate Grammy too

Mitch

Gramma is the worst

she's a little gassy

RegDwigнt

@Mitch Yeah RegDwight is a robot. RegDwigнt, on the other hand.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Is a robot

Mitch

19:41

@RegDwigнt You kiss your gramma with that Unicode?

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Is a robot is a robot

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@Mitch No that's too meta

RegDwigнt

Seeing how both my grandmas were cyrillic, yes, that's very much what I kissed them with.

Mitch

@KannE I blocked @Feeds. Never has anything interesting to say. Robots are dumb

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ once you go meta there's always another level of meta

RegDwigнt

That's racist. Robots are Polish, and you're a racist.

It's metas all the way up.

KannE

Not a person at all...what is the point of that? I thought it was a link to a real question asked by a real person? I just wasted so much time on a crossword puzzle answer to a crossword puzzle that doesn't even exist.

Mitch

19:44

@RegDwigнt If that's what being a roboticist is, then I don't want to be not roboticist

RegDwigнt

The question is asked by a real person. The chat message was not posted by a real person.

Mitch

That said, I don't want to be a robotocist either way.

RegDwigнt

You don't want many things, honey, but we don't care.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Quit injecting reality into this

RegDwigнt

That's what she said.

tchrist

19:54

whoa

@RegDwigнt “Why can't we have nice things now?” —The Bees

KannE

20:16

OIC, well, I'm not going there anymore, the real place...the real stupid place...the real stupid not-nice place...are they leaning correctly? Or do I need a comma to indicate that stupidity and surliness may exist independently...theoretically, that is.[*a real person(.) not (?)]