English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

The Shoveller: If we had a billionaire like Lance Hunt as our benefactor...
Mr. Furious: That's because Lance Hunt IS Captain Amazing!
The Shoveller: Oh, here we go...
The Shoveller: Don't start that AGAIN. Lance Hunt wears glasses, Captain Amazing DOESN'T wear glasses.
Mr. Furious: He takes them off when he transforms...
The Shoveller: That doesn't make any sense, he wouldn't be able to see!

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 speaking of which, I don't think I've ever eaten meatloaf

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Speaking of which, I am 100% certain I haven't.

Robusto

1:18 PM

@MattЭллен But I bet you've had your share of steak-and-kidney pie.

Neil

@MattЭллен My vote for the most random thing I've heard today.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Neil someone's not getting references, eh?

Neil

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 What does Helen Hunt have to do with meatloaf?

Robusto

He misspelled Meat Loaf.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Fight Club

Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with soap maker Tyler Durden, played by Pitt, and becomes embroiled in a relationship with him and a dissolute woman, Marla Singer, played by Bonham Carter. Palahniuk's novel was optioned by 20th Century Fox producer Laura Ziskin, who hired Jim Uhls to write the film adapt...

Neil

1:20 PM

@Robusto Still not following... What does Helen Hunt have to do with Meat Loaf, the musician.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

So, following the Robustian method, Neil is not a native speaker.

Matt Эллен

@Neil His name is Robert Paulson

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 You misspelled naive.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto oh that he is.

Neil

@MattЭллен Okay.. Meat Loaf, Fight Club... still no connection to Helen Hunt.

user19161

1:21 PM

@Neil Oh The Mummy movies were good.

Matt Эллен

4 mins ago, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Her name is Helen Hunt. Her name is Helen Hunt. Her name is Helen Hunt.

Quote from Fight Club

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Jasper's Mummy comment should be getting your vote for the most random thing today.

Also, ever.

Robusto

imdb.com/character/ch0001858

Matt Эллен

> I think I understand. In life we have no name, but in death we do. His name is Robert Paulson

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 As always.

Matt Эллен

1:23 PM

well, I'm guessing that's the quote, I haven't heard it in ages

Robusto

Meat Loaf played Bob Paulson.

Neil

Okay, perhaps now I see why Helen Hunt is linked to Fight Club and Meat Loaf, though I still don't understand why Helen Hunt would be substituted for Robert Paulson.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Feb 23 '11 at 15:14, by Kosmonaut

I like to tell myself that if you have to explain it, it means it was sophisticated.

And look, this time it's three people trying to explain it.

That's like sophisticatednessy squared.

Neil

If I had said, "His name is Michael Jordan. His name is Michael Jordan", then Michael Jordan would be just as linked to Fight Club and Meat Loaf as Helen Hunt would be, wouldn't he=

Matt Эллен

off the chart

Robusto

1:25 PM

> We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

►

Before you ask, that's my way of saying, "I give up".

Robusto

> Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want?

> Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned- Tyler.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I prove that I'm alive by excessively shopping for LEGO.

The best of both worlds.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 You give up like a pussy. Here's some real giving up:

►

Matt Эллен

@Neil I think the sequence of events were: 1.Jasper says he's changing his name 2. I guess names that have some superficial relation to superman 3. Robusto Adds in Lance Hunt 4. RegDwight corrects Robust with "Her name is Helen Hunt" 5. RegDwight goes on to parody the fight Club line 6. I mention meatloaf 7. etc.

Neil

1:29 PM

@MattЭллен I guess I figured there was more to it, but that's what I've gathered as well.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto we're sailors of the moon!

Robusto

@Neil Very often in this chat things are less than they seem.

Matt Эллен

lol, so true

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Wait, things in this chat seem something to you?

I never even considered that as a possibility.

Neil

@Robusto Linking back to my original comment that that was a very random thing to say, the response was "someone's not getting references, eh?"

Matt Эллен

1:30 PM

Well, their sometimes quite seemy

user19161

@Robusto Sometimes they are more.

Neil

Otherwise, I wouldn't have thought anything

Robusto

@Neil The "someone's not getting references" part was just mean. It means that after you're fired from this chat, nobody will give you a reference.

@JasperLoy Name one.

Neil

I feel weirdly like Alice asking the Mad Hatter about where the white rabbit has gone.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Mad hatters, sons of bankers, sons of lawyers...

user19161

1:34 PM

The bad, the mad and the sad.

user19161

The good, the bad and the ugly.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Perhaps Clint Eastwood should try singing a song about Spanish Harlem.

►

user19161

It is interesting that Linux has gstreamer-plugins-good, gstreamer-plugins-bad and gstreamer-plugins-ugly as package names.

Robusto

Apr 19 '11 at 14:04, by Robusto

Wow, that is so ... not clearer.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen

The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the album by an ostensibly unnamed British alternative rock supergroup also commonly referred to as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, and made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was released in January 2007. The album debuted at number two in the UK Albums Chart and was certified Gold in the UK within days of its release despite little media recognition and airplay. In the United States, the album entered the Billboard 200 at #49. It is stated that the record is, in a sense, a concept album, as its songs are all themed ar...

Neil

Shift to the left, shift to the right. Push down pop up, byte, byte, byte!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:37 PM

A person who does tidying jobs for Thomas More might be a "More clearer". — delete Aug 30 '10 at 2:23

Robusto

@Neil No bit-twiddling in chat.

user19161

Whoa, I think all of you are making random comments today too!

Neil

@JasperLoy The pancake's really quite good without all the blue cheese on top.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Had to undelete my answer just to quote Shinto. What has this world come to.

Robusto

@JasperLoy Yeah. They're called "in-jokes" — the kind the whole world gets but you.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:38 PM

Are you saying Jasper is not in? QED

user19161

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 I'm not in. I'm Superman. QED.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 If you don't get the in-jokes, you're not in. QED.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto So is that what you're saying? QED

user19161

Whoa, four consecutive messages with QEDs, fascinating.

Neil

@Robusto Which incidentally, my favorite passtime is making phrases sound like they're inside jokes.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:40 PM

@JasperLoy Five. Not three. Five.

Not four, either.

You should count or something.

user19161

There is power in this room!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Except on outages.

Montag, Dienstag, Outag.

user19161

Here we are always on The Hour of Power!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

No counting Over 900 QEDs in this Chat!

Robusto

Which reminds me: what is the opposite of outage? Inage? Sounds like a question for QEDL&U.SE

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Mittwoch is such a lame name for a day. Also for a dame.

Matt Эллен

1:42 PM

Queen, Earl, Duke, Lord & Unicorns Stack Exchange

Robusto

@MattЭллен No pimping for England in chat.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

I just got notified of three questions flagged for, and I quote, "potention migration".

Not sure what to do with those.

Neil

@Robusto I'll respond to that with a quote: "We didn’t need a special word for interactivity in the same way that we don’t (yet) need a special word for people with only one head."

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

You need to migrate the potention, duh

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Migration to where?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:43 PM

That potention don't migrate itself

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

To Potentionland? Just a guess.

Neil

Points to whoever can guess who said that (without google)

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Maybe you can't migrate them?

Are you impotention?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2

A: Literature is closing — what questions should we migrate here?

Here's what is currently flagged: http://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/1639/english-use-in-adventures-of-a-bystander-by-peter-drucker#question http://literature.stackexchange.com/questions/933/why-does-juliet-ask-wherefore-are-thou-romeo-and-not-montague#question http://literature.stac...

Matt Эллен

@Robusto England is the best! Long Live The Queen! Britannia rules the waves

Robusto

1:44 PM

Potention => Potent Ion. QED.

@MattЭллен Yeah. We all remember how far King Cnut got when he commanded the tide not to come in.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Neil that quote is from a question right here on ELU, duh.

Don't have to google for that.

68

Q: Is there a word for a person with only one head?

Reading this article by the fantastic Douglas Adams I came across this interesting quote: ‘[I]nteractivity’ is one of those neologisms that Mr Humphrys likes to dangle between a pair of verbal tweezers, but the reason we suddenly need such a word is that during this century we have for the fi...

Neil

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Ugh, annoyingly correct.

Robusto

Apr 27 at 20:58, by Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 You are the opposite of Batman.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

And you, Robusto, are the opposite of Robin. At least your hinder part.

Robusto

Apr 18 at 13:05, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

I don't get the Batman joke.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:48 PM

Yeah that was April 18th. It has arrived since.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Better a slow take than no take.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

There's no business like no business.

Also, the take is a lie.

Robusto

Unlike the cake.

Matt Эллен

and if no cat has 8 tails and a cat has one more tail than no cat, then cats have 9 tails

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto You are quite correct. I am having the cake, and eating it too.

@MattЭллен nonono, it was elephants.

Mar 9 at 20:08, by KitFox

If no elephants have two tails, and one elephant has one more tail than no elephants, then an elephant has three tails.

Matt Эллен

1:52 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 > Theorem. A cat has nine tails. Proof. No cat has eight tails. A cat has one more tail than no cat. Therefore a cat has nine tails.

from the maths jokes this morning

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

So. Am I right in my arsessment that none of the three potentions can be migrated to ELU?

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Hmm, you eat cake after you've had it? Eeeeuuwwww!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto I saw Jason Biggs do that, thought I'd give it a try.

Neil

I heard an interesting logic paradox the other day, but I can't see the flaw in it

Robusto

@Neil Shoot.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:54 PM

@MattЭллен ah yes. The math jokes. This morning. I'm still laughing. Do tell me to stop one day.

Neil

A man is locked away by a cruel king who tells him that he'll be killed by the end of the week (lets assume the end of the week is Saturday), however he also tells him that when they come for him to be executed, he'll be surprised.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Neil it's always division by zero. Except when it isn't. Then it's lupus.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 i've read the three from the meta link and they're off topic IMO

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Neil OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Neil

Has anyone not heard this?

If not, I'll continue

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

1:55 PM

Unexpected hanging paradox

The unexpected hanging paradox, hangman paradox, unexpected exam paradox, surprise test paradox or prediction paradox is a paradox about a person's expectations about the timing of a future event (e.g. a prisoner's hanging, or a school test) which he is told will occur at an unexpected time. Despite significant academic interest, there is no consensus on its precise nature and consequently a final 'correct' resolution has not yet been established. One approach, offered by the logical school of thought, suggests that the problem arises in a self-contradictory self-referencing statement at t...

Matt Эллен

@Neil I've not heard it

I'll continue then

Gah.

hah!

Read the Wikipedia.

1:56 PM

The man in his cell reasoning to himself, comes to the conclusion that they can't come Saturday to get him, because it'd be the last day of the week, so he'd expect it.

Robusto

> The prisoner will be hanged next week and the date (of the hanging) will not be deducible in advance from the assumption that the hanging will occur during the week

Neil

Following this logic, he then concludes that Friday they can't come to get him, since they can't come Saturday, and therefore if they came Friday, he'd expect it as well.

Robusto

See how math ruins humor?

Neil

Continuing this logic, he reasons that hte king won't come and kill him, and he is relieved. The guards come some day during the week and guess what? He's surprised like the king said he'd be.

Matt Эллен

oh!

I thought they'd turn up dressed as zerbra

Neil

1:58 PM

That would be a surprise

Matt Эллен

see!

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

@Robusto Wow, it already happened. And you did it in a single line. I bow in your direction.

Robusto

Tyler Durden: How's that working out for you?
Narrator: What?
Tyler Durden: Being clever.
Narrator: Great.
Tyler Durden: Keep it up then... Right up.
[Gets up from airplane seat]

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Is that from a movie?

Robusto

The Brits call them films.

Neil

2:00 PM

@Robusto Worked out well for him, didn't it?

Matt Эллен

It's from a stilly

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Ergo I'm not a Brit.

Robusto

Is a female Brit a Brita?

Matt Эллен

no

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Is it an Äkschnpfuim?

Matt Эллен

2:00 PM

probably not

Robusto

►

Matt Эллен

@Robusto unless her kidneys are branded

Robusto

@MattЭллен Mmmmmmm ... branded kidneys ... drool

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

So why is English people call its child Brandy but no Vodka?

JSBᾶngs

i think Vodka would be a great name for a kid

Matt Эллен

2:07 PM

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 No one has done it yet?

Robusto

@JSBᾶngs Well, your next child has a name. Mazel tov.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Mazel T. Bᾶngs.

Yeah that has a ring to it.

Matt Эллен

lol

Neil

There's already Ginny, or Gin for short. Just needs a kid named Tonic.

Robusto

No. Vodka T. Bangs. The T is for liTerature.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:08 PM

Ah so that's what Ice-T is rambling about.

JSBᾶngs

awesome. unfortunately my family isn't planning on having any more kids

Robusto

You so gangsta.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

My posse is on Broadway.

Robusto

@JSBᾶngs Who said your family gets to decide?

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Funky Broadway?

JSBᾶngs

@Robusto precautions have been taken. let's leave it at that.

Matt Эллен

2:09 PM

ah, chastity belts

Neil

I heard someone named their kid "Female". Reason? Mother, not being completely literate, assumed the baby had already been named "Feh-maley."

Robusto

@JSBᾶngs Ouch. I can't unthink that insinuation.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

May 8 '11 at 1:09, by RegDwight

Some crazy Russkies in the 70s insisted on calling their children Спутник (Sputnik) if it was a boy, and Ракета (Rocket) if it was a girl.

Robusto

@Neil No jokes about black naming conventions in chat.

Neil

@Robusto I just make the jokes, you're the one who labeled it black.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:10 PM

Mo esha, mo murda...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I knew a girl in school named Brandy, she was short, like a shot of vodka, so I called her vodka. She wasn't that amused, tbh.

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Yeah. Kind of a shorter way of saying, "Please, never have sex with me. Ever."

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

For centuries people tried to come up with longer ways of saying that, but then Mr Shiny happened.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto I'm pretty sure that was never on the menu anyway.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 He's new around here. Like, always.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:12 PM

His milk shake is better than yours.

Robusto

Does he make it with Vodka?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Ask her.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I thought we determined that I did not make it with her.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

0

Q: meaning of scan in "that doesn't scan in English"

In an answer to another question this sentence was proposed: Was it specifically mentioned as part of their teaching, or they just happened not to have killed anyone? In comment, another user wrote: That doesn’t scan in English. Sorry. What does scan mean in this context? I've searche...

meaning

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Stop introducing facts into our speculations.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:14 PM

Well guess what "scan" could mean here. Hint: it doesn't mean "decorate with flowers".

There's more than one way to scan a cat.

Matt Эллен

It means, uh, does not buy bananas

Robusto

It's a figurative extension of scansion.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Unscanny valley.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Do y'all like words that have other words inside them? My favourite is "expunge" because it has "sponge" in it.

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Also pun.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:17 PM

@MrShinyandNew安宇 Oh I thought it was the "ex".

Robusto

And @Cerberus would love it because it has XP in it!

Matt Эллен

I hate such words. they're an abomination before Gawd. No word should lie within another word! Words 2:10

7

Robusto

@MrShinyandNew安宇 If expunge is a former sponge, do we need a word for a current sponge? Jez, maybe?

@MattЭллен I bow in your general's direction.

Matt Эллен

oh! ta :D

Neil

I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

Robusto

2:20 PM

6

Q: Matryoshka words

Since it's Friday and others are playing games, here's another one to take us into the weekend. Everyone knows about those Russian nesting dolls (called matryoshka dolls, I believe). A small doll nests inside a larger, which itself is inside a larger doll, and so on. This game does the same wi...

word-games

Matt Эллен

Oh my! Such blasphemy

Robusto

21 mins ago, by RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Is that from a movie?

Matt Эллен

smells like python

Neil

Sir Galahad: Is there someone else up there we can talk to?
French Soldier: No, now go away or I shall taunt you a second time.

Robusto

47

Q: Is Python a snake or a programming language? If the latter, why is it choking my dog?

We've been getting a rash of questions asking, essentially, what a programmer should name methods or properties. One such was a request for a word that meant both "add" and "remove" because the programmer wanted to have a method that could add or remove an element. Does this really fall under E...

discussion on-topic-off-topic appropriate-questions

Note FF's abhorrence of my misleading title.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:22 PM

1

A: Matryoshka words

Hopefully not breaking the rules here (inserting and prepending allowed: I in sin sing sting string staring starling starlings

Mitch sure likes not closing his parensae's.

Robusto

Also, he doesn't really understand the rules he's breaking. "You start with a three-letter word ..."

RTFR.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Cut him some slack. Not understanding the rules before breaking them is how the Internet works.

Matt Эллен

Haven't you read the FAQ?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

There's an FAQ?

Matt Эллен

At least one

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:25 PM

Mar 28 at 20:03, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

What's a FAQ?

Haha trolled Kit real nice there.

Matt Эллен

A vs An is a FAQ

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

pats self on shoulder

Robusto

T-rolled Kit? Nevah.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Yeah. The T stands for literature. Unlike with Rick.

Robusto

Will someone explain to me the FAQs of life?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:27 PM

42

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 You misspelled liTerature.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Crab. I always due.

Robusto

i no u due

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

That's a nice metonymy.

Robusto

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 Wait, that is only The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. It's not the FAQs.

@RegDwightΒВBẞ8 The no makes it a litotes.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:31 PM

Apr 13 at 18:46, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

@MattЭллен Nnonononono. No. Nonono. No. Twitter is not my fault. No. Dear God, no!

Count your litotae's.

Robusto

You need no more than one.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

That's Highlander.

Matt Эллен

Whereas @Cerb is a Lowlander

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

Hm so Matt seems to have hacked the main site, it now displays ads for maths jokes.

1

Q: multiply matrix by vector: what to do if need to change y-up to z-up?

I multiply a matrix with a position vector to get a new position, however, now I need to change my matrix from y-up coordinate space to z-up. Changing only the matrix won't work: how to apply the change to the vector (change position vector from y-up to z-up)?

3d matrix vector position

Matt Эллен

lol. Is that what I've been doing?

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

2:41 PM

It would not appear not so.

Still waiting for the punchline though. I suppose it involves 7-up.

Robusto

> I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't screw to save its species.

KitFox

You were talking about me while I was gone? I feel so loved.

Robusto

Matt Эллен

@KitFox what else would we talk about?!

KitFox

Stuff. Things.

God. Not God.

Spiders.

Robusto

2:52 PM

You were T-rolled in your absence.

KitFox

That's what I saw.

RegDwight ΒВBẞ8

0

Q: he is going to graduate?

which one of the following sentences are correct? 1- he will graduate on May? 2- he will be graduated on May? 3- he is going to graduate on May? issue1: whether the 2rd one is correct from the grammar point of view or not? issue2: there is high uncertainty that cause he may not graduate on May ,...