English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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02:23

0

Q: What is a single word for "scientist" or "science officer" that also sounds natural when used in the place of a given name?

I'm writing a piece of short science-fiction that's really more of a fairy-tale with spaceships. As such, I've tried maintain a suitably archetypical tone by only naming the crew members by their jobs. They also address each other as such, using Commander, Counselor, Guardian, etc. in the place o...

single-word-requests

Feeds

03:19

0

Q: which one is correct, was or were?

Someone says I need to use "was", someone says to use "were". Which on is correct? What I saw were a driver and an attendant. or What I saw was a driver and an attendant.

single-word-requests

SmokeDetector

04:18

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title, bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, blacklisted website in body, blacklisted website in title, +2 more: youtubetomp3converter.world/team-noah-cyrus-mp3-song-download/ by Uritgorl on english.SE

Feeds

08:39

0

Q: What is the single word to describe a person who's USED by another person

Sam and Alex are friends, co-workers or business partners.. Alex is always trying to benefit from Sam about things which are not belonging to their friendship, work nor partnership. Looking for a single word to describe Sam, a PERSON WHO'S USED by another person. Note: I had a word which contai...

single-word-requests pejorative-language

LWTBP

10:55

Guys, in direct speech, if I address a stranger, friend, boy or whatever, should I capitalise the title?

He said, "Come here, Boy, or I will whip you."

vs

He said, "Come here, boy, or I will whip you."

Faheem Mitha

11:51

@LWTBP Good question. Capitalization can be tricky.

I think most likely yes. But I'm not sure.

disposed to learn

12:03

The Royal Wedding 2018: Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle

►

show time!

Faheem Mitha

12:15

Ugh.

disposed to learn

a carriage procession through Windsor

Mitch

@disposedtolearn woo hoo!

What does QE II do during 'God Save the Queen'?

disposed to learn

@Mitch please to meet you, hope you get my name

Mitch

Does she sing 'God Save Me'?

@disposedtolearn Are you 'sympathy for the devil'?

Is that what the queen is singing?

I'm having tea and scones

Because I'm wedding

Or wedwatching

Feeds

12:40

0

Q: Is it "organized" or "organised"?

Is there any difference between these two? Do they have different meaning and usage?

single-word-requests word-usage comparison

Feeds

12:58

0

Q: We are Legend(?)

Somewhere in the Bible, Jesus once met a naked man by the shoreline possessed by an army of evil spirits. By the power of God, Jesus told the army of spirits to leave the man's body, in exchange, they demand to be allowed to possessed a group of pigs being herded near the same shoreline. Jesus al...

single-word-requests meaning-in-context

tchrist

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

13:14

Oooh, flappy bird!

@Rob, happy day.

Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Accidents Will Happen

►

bertieb

@Mitch As you may have seen, she doesn't sing during "God Save... uh, Her"

She just stands (and looks a bit awkward, if you ask me; but I'm sure she's used to it now)

CowperKettle

14:03

Kids playing with a dog

Just another day in Norilsk, Russia, 18 May 2018

disposed to learn

:0)

CowperKettle

(0:

disposed to learn

:(0):

CowperKettle

15:02

:0><0:

:0Ж0:

CowperKettle

15:42

Word of the day: rolling pin

Educ

16:02

hi

I m1ght to ("otta") study tonight, but I think I'll watch TV Instead.

I ought to ("otta") study tonight, but I think I'll watch TV Instead.
"Ought to " means something very important why he will watch Tv instead so I thing the appropriate word here is "should"

what do you thing

what do you think ?

@CowperKettle Thank you I miss this habit of you ( word of the day )

Færd

@CowperKettle Lol

@Educ Not much difference between ought to and should in meaning.

They're pretty much interchangeable, other than ought could sound more formal sometimes.

Mitch

Færd

It's also less frequently used.

Educ

I study in betty Azar series for grammar ( Should and ought to have the same meaning: they
express advisability. The meaning ranges in strength
from a suggestion ("This is a good idea") to a
statement about responsibility or duty ("This is a very
important thing to do"). In (a): "This is a good idea.
This is my advice." In (b): "This is an important
responsibility." )

Mitch

from everywhere

I VEHEMENTLY PROTEST THIS

Educ

16:16

@Mitch It's not arabic I can't understand it

Mitch

Those are NOT emoji

Færd

@Mitch WTF

Educ

@Færd you see the explanation from the book that what make me confused

Mitch

Emoji have far far less detail and no writing (or only a few letters)

Færd

Yeah, that's the problem with this nonsense.

Educ

16:18

@Mitch I see I just told you that the languages used by those emoji I can't understand it

Mitch

@Educ It's Persian. Marg ba Amrika, Marg ba I can't read it but the caption says Freemasons who I never knew were a thing, and some cute thing that only women in pink chadors say

Færd

@Educ It says what I said, in more detail.

Educ

@Færd :44706574 Yes, I see

@Mitch Yes could you tell me why they used "ought to" instead of "should"

because if the study was very important thing and urgent they won't say "I will watch Tv instead

Færd

@Mitch What do you expect though.

Those are not the rad designers producing those.

Educ

Please someone explain to me because the sentence doesn't make sens to me

from the book "ought to" is more urgent than "should " but in the sentence (I ought to study but I'll watch Tv instead ) what make me confused it is I'll watch Tv instead

I think in this case they Had better use "Should "

What do you think ?

Mitch

16:29

@Færd I'm making fun of the whole thing because no one would normally call those emoji, they're simply images in that software that can be used by users. Yes, the closest thing to them is 'emoji' but they're not emoji.

The graphic design quality of the images isn't terrible, but the idea of them is silly.

But I suppose no more silly than the associated emoji to #RoyalWedding, the two rings.

I can't seem to paste it here. Not a terrible loss

Færd

That's what I'm telling you.

The designers are not hip enough to design true emoji.

Mitch

@Educ I think exactly what @Færd said

19 mins ago, by Færd

They're pretty much interchangeable, other than ought could sound more formal sometimes.

with the addition that 'oughtta' is actually less formal than should. 'oughtta' < should < 'ought to'

Færd

@Mitch runs for the sink

Mitch

@Færd What? Did you accidentally drop your commemorative pair down the drain?

You didn't watch?

Færd

No. I'm just sick to my stomach of all the royal news flooding the media.

What's it all about? Fill me in.

Mitch

16:37

The better way to think of it is that it gives a happy respite to all the much worse things going on that we can't do anything about either.

Færd

Haha.

Mitch

@Færd It's young love. A continuation of the soap opera. Hope that they'll avoid the mistakes of the past. But we watch with the concealed hope that the train wreck will come.

Also for the hats.

So many hats

Educ

@Mitch Thank you both of you

Mitch

Awful, awful hats

Færd

Why did she have to give up acting tho? So reactionary.

Mitch

16:39

@Færd Did she have to?

Færd

I don't know. I guess it was big enough a deal to make news.

Mitch

Diana giving up her kindergarten teaching job probably didn't set herself back financially

@Færd I can't not see all the wedding stuff, and I can only swallow so much trivia at once. I must have missed that detail

Færd

I looked it up and flipped throuigh the pages for 20 seconds, and that caught my eye.

Maybe I took it out of context.

Mitch

But a detail I think I did pick up is that they'll be living in Kensington Palace...specifically Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of the palace

Færd

@Mitch Maybe she prefers to babysit the royal offspring.

Mitch

16:44

@Færd I thought she had already quit the TV show 'Suits' before she got serious with Prince Harry

Færd

@Mitch Do you have vivid images of those palaces in mind? How are they remarkable?

Educ

please I need an example of usage of used to "Wellaway"

Mitch

@Færd I have no images in my mind about them. I just wonder how it feels like to have multiple castles to choose from to live at.

Færd

@Mitch You never know when they got serious.

Mitch

@Educ What is 'wellaway'? Sounds like an Australian dog

Educ

16:46

Word of the day: wellaway
wellaway
Interjection: wellaway
(archaic) Expressing sadness, regret etc.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
Crying with pitteous voice, and count'nance wan; / Ah well away, most noble Lords, how can / Your cruell eyes endure so pitteous sight [...]?

Mitch

@Færd I'm sure the British tabloid press knows exactly when

Educ

by CowperKettle

Mitch

@Educ Never heard of it before in my life.

Færd

@Mitch Spoil someone for choice, spoil their fun.

Mitch

Then again, I was supposed to read some of the Faire Queene in high school

Færd

16:47

@Mitch Yeah what with all the CCTV all around.

Mitch

@Færd Castles aren't that great. I'm sure they used to be great, but now the heating is terrible.

Educ

I found it up there

Færd

Off to dinner.

Mitch

@Educ You'll note that it says 'archaic' which is a fancy way of saying 'no one except an Edmund Spenser scholar has heard that word much less knows what it means

Educ

@Færd bon appetit

Mitch

16:50

@Færd Mahlzeit!

@Educ also, that was from January

Educ

@Mitch yes I rememeber that time it's my first time to discover NPR RADIO

My best one Thanks to you

Mitch

@Educ you should google for it if you want examples...

Educ

I tried oxford and meriama dictionnary

Mitch

googling for 'wellaway' gives at the top 20 or so just definitions of the archaic usage.

Educ

I ve got to back to my study for modals

Mitch

16:53

as you go further down, you see people using it with what they think is the meaning

Educ

definitions of the archaic usage

@Mitch ah, I see :)

Mitch

(and they're not following the archaic meaning) giving it a folk etymology of 'being well in a far off place'

Educ

interesting

Mitch

or using it as two words 'well away', meaning 'far away'. "That lava is coming down fast; you oughta get well away from here"

Li357

Dunno if I can ask but I have a quick question: why is this sentence compound-complex?
"I want to do well in school because I want to go to college, but I have a lot of trouble with math."
Isn't because a conjunction, making it have 3 independent clauses?

Educ

16:55

now i see the meaning

Thank you

Mitch

@Li357 I'm no ESL or grammar teacher so I don't know what 'compound-complex' is. Do you have a link to the definition handy?

Li357

@Mitch Sure. So a compound-complex sentence is a sentence with 2 or more independent clauses and at least one dependent

So the example should have three independent right? "I want to do well in school", "I want to go to college", and "I have a lot of trouble with math"

Mitch

X because Y, but Z

That seems to fit. X and Z are independent, Y is dependent on X?

Li357

Oh, I see

Mitch

Does that sound right? (I'm not sure if 'because' makes things dependent)

Li357

16:59

So it's almost like a conditional thing?

Mitch

what is your definition of dependent?

Li357

I see a dependent clause as a part of sentence that can't stand on its own

Such as "Although X, Y" or "X, who is a Y, ...", etc.

Nevermind, Wikipedia answered my question: adverbial clauses

Thanks!

Educ

@Mitch what is the time at you ?

Feeds

0

Q: What's the meaning of masastroke and masachism?

I have read these words as sub titles in economist's article "The $100 billion bet"(https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/05/12/the-meaning-of-the-vision-fund). I think they are derivation words formed by Masayoshi Son's 'masa' and another word, but still can't figure out what it mean, any idea...

single-word-requests

Educ

I meant what is the time in your country

how can i say that

What is the time now in your place

Mitch

17:25

@Educ I'm in the US which has 4 time zones. I live in the east, so Eastern Daylight Time, which is at this writing 1:25pm

Educ

17:35

yes I know near to colorado ?

Faheem Mitha

@Educ CO is Western US.

Educ

ah my bad

Mitch

18:06

@Educ oh. The most natural way to say it in English is "What time is it there?" Or "What time is it where you are?"

@Educ Colorado is actually in the Mountain time Zone. Pacific (Los Angeles) Moutain (Denver) Central (Chicago) Eastern (NYC)

Færd

18:53

@Mitch What time do you have there?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@Mitch Bahamas

@Educ only birds have biological clocks so accurate they're ticking

Have you seen birds mode their heads in a funny fashion? That's the clock ticking

@Mitch has probably eaten a whole clock, but he can't read it

Færd

Oh now I know why I mode my head like that all the time.

But I'm still lousy at telling the time by heart.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@Færd I think you're in a collusion with my autocorrect

Færd

No collusion. Believe me.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Now I'm sure

China is so full of people it's exporting feelings

Færd

19:03

There was this little girl they were interviewing on the TV who could accurately tell the time by heart down to the minute.

(How would you rephrase "tell the time by heart"?)

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Tell the heart by time

Færd

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ And such hot feelings.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

I'm not the best rephraser

Faheem Mitha

@Færd You mean she could tell time without looking at a timepiece?

Færd

Yeap.

Children can tell the time when they can read the clock. I'm not sure if that phrase could be used in this context.

Although it technically could.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

19:07

If I hear one more word about the stupid royal wedding, I'm gonna throw a fit

Færd

It's supposed to feed you fantasies. You ungrateful unimaginative poor brat.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=35595 -- LOL, Cantonese is a freaking gift to the world

I remember "German type sexual harassment"

Salty pig's hands

I'm such a nerd. I always laugh at Lost in Translation

Robusto

19:32

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Thank you. And back atcha.

And don't forget, "Occidents" will also happen from time to time:

english.stackexchange.com/questions/11874/…

Færd

20:10

►

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Darn tootin'.

@Færd Fantasies of what?

A super privileged life with lots of attention for no reason?

Mitch

@Færd my watch says...wait I don't have a watch. My phone says 16:17. But that's still. It a very natural way to ask what time it is somewhere, at least for me, AmE. Maybe it's natural in BrE?

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I can't claim to have done that. So May sharp pieces

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Ringbearer

Faheem Mitha

20:28

@Mitch Ringbearer? You mean, Frodo?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:23

@FaheemMitha you're asking him what he means? That has never ended well

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Yes, I'm playing with fire.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

More puns. @Mitch puns

Faheem Mitha

So, the wedding of those wretched Royals annoys you too, huh?

Maybe I'm petty, but it definitely annoys me.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

The amount of coverage definitely does

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Their existence does.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:24

Seriously people, there are more important things in the world

@FaheemMitha meh, I dunno

Faheem Mitha

It's mad. I feel like Tom Brown must have felt about slavery. Talk about insane institutions.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Shrug. That's how I feel.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ BTW, ever lived in the UK?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Hang on, I'm trying to understand this new keyboard

Faheem Mitha

Oops, that should have been John Brown (hides face in shame).

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Nice, this android update hasn't been pointless

@FaheemMitha nope

What about it?

Lots of tea parties?

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ What about what? Living in the UK?

You mean, why was I asking?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:30

Yep

Faheem Mitha

Ah. Well, if you had lived in the UK, you might be more allergic to the Royal Family.

I could expand further if you care.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Sure

Nothing interesting going on

snoring

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Ah. Well, I've got nothing very profound to say. But I think if you have some idea of what British society is like, then it's easier to understand how the Royals fit into the picture. Historically the British are all about class privilege with hefty doses of racism and snobbery. The Monarchy is about all of those, though the racism part is not so overt.

All of that is alive and well in Modern Britain, and my personal theory is that the Royals help to keep it that way, though of course that could be disputed.

Anyway, that's my 2 minute thesis.

Sid

What's all of that based on?

Faheem Mitha

You can find that POV expressed more eloquently in other places. For example Russell Brand makes the point in a few quite entertaining videos.

Also see people like H G Wells, who had quite a lot to say about it. Not the Monarchy, specifically. But about class privilege. E.g. Love and Mr. Lewisham.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:38

I guess the royal family is a remnant of 1700 culture, which is very well about slavery and the conquerors and the conquered sentiment. So, racism per definition

Faheem Mitha

One of his early novels. As he got richer, he lost interest in those issues.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

That is not a well researched opinion though

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Well, the modern royal family is careful to avoid accusations of racism.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I'm not sure what you mean. What isn't?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha Of course

@FaheemMitha my last chat message before that message

Faheem Mitha

Though I read somewhere that the Queen Mother used to say alarmingly racist things left to herself.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Oh, the 1700 culture thing? No comment - I don't really know the history. Though as you know, the UK Royal Family is closely connected with the German one.

Which is now extinct. The German Royal Family. The Germans sensibly got rid of theirs. Not sure how it happened off the top of my head.

Sid

21:40

To be fair, all nations are racist one way or another.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha ha, probably part of a German joke

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ German joke?

@Sid All humans are racist. But the British, well, they were special.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha German humor is unique

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ It is?

Sid

@FaheemMitha I would stress on "were" there

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:43

@Sid I differentiate between "Our nation rocks", which is just cheap inspirational slogans, and "purple people only deserve to be fed like dogs"

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Anyway, while I was in the UK, I saw the ugly side of the culture, which I was ignorant of, never actually having lived there before.

Till going there I was ridiculously embarrassingly Angophile. I took a hefty dose of cold reality in the face. Probably good for me, but I didn't enjoy it.

Sid

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I think a majority of people think that "My nation rocks. So, everyone else who doesn't think so deserves to be treated like dogs"

Faheem Mitha

Oh well, I suppose we are all young and foolish once.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha same goes for almost all the population here

Sid

@FaheemMitha What's the ugly side you talk about?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:45

@Sid wow, hell no

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I don't follow. The same goes?

@Sid Class privilege, racism, snobbery. What I was talking about above.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha they think of the western society as this utopia with no negative cultural nuances

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ They do?

Where, in Iran? In Teheran?

Sid

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ That's what almost all ill-informed people in the developing world think

Faheem Mitha

I suppose it's a grass is greener thing. Are they aware of the history of the British?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:47

Mostly the youngsters. You know what I mean

Faheem Mitha

I mean, it's quite something.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Like under 20?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha exactly

@FaheemMitha uh, 35

@Sid which are indeed a majority

Faheem Mitha

The thing to notice about British society is that for them racism etc was functional in a way that wasn't necessarily true for other places, because of the so-called Empire. They needed a justification to hold on to it.

It's possible before all that happened, their society wasn't so toxic in that respect. But I'm no historian, so that's just speculation.

People forget that in racial attitudes, the British weren't that different from people like the Nazis. Though they were more focused on brown people, rather than Europeans.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

I guess when you're not conquering Africa the black people don't seem so defeated?

Faheem Mitha

They've publicly dialled a lot of that back, but it's still there under the surface. At least, I thought so, while I was there.

Anyway, to me the Royals symbolise a lot of that stuff.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Ever read any of Well's early novels?

History of Mr Polly. Love and Mr. Lewisham. Tono-Bungay?

Sid

21:52

@FaheemMitha of course, it's a grass is greener thing. The amount of corruption and poverty in developing countries are far worse than that of developed countries

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Maybe, long ago

Faheem Mitha

@Sid Indeed it is.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

When I didn't think about all the trashy opinions in the world

Sid

So, in a way the developed countries serve as the Utopia, the perfect place to go, have a job and live

Of course, all of this is also helped by the media which portrays The West as some Godly place where everything's true and good

Faheem Mitha

@Sid In people's minds, yes. It's certainly true they are much nicer places to be then many (most?) of the poor countries.

At least on an everyday level.

But there are all sorts of tradeoffs.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

21:55

Well, depending on how much you have in your country, just packing up and leaving could be harder than staying, IMO

Faheem Mitha

And all countries have their problems. The US, for example, has fairly severe ones. Though not on the scale of a place like India.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ That's part of it. But those places also don't make it exactly to immigrate.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

Heh, I can't enter the US now

I'd probably be carrying a C4

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ How do you mean?

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ C4? What's that?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha I don't follow the news, but I don't think the migration ban is lifted on Iran and 6 other countries?

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ There is a migration ban? I thought the US courts threw that out?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

22:02

@FaheemMitha en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-4_%28explosive%29?wprov=sfla1

@FaheemMitha they did?

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ oh

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I don't know. I don't keep track either.

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

LOL this one never gets old:

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ So people in Iran have unrealistic expectations of life in the West and would like to move there? Is that a reasonable summary of what you are saying?

Or just some people?

M.A.R. ಠ_ಠ

@FaheemMitha yes. Of course, it's more like a wish and they think they can't afford moving

@FaheemMitha mostly younger people with blind ambitions

Faheem Mitha

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ I see.

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ It's not that hard to move as a student. But they probably wouldn't enjoy it.

As a general rule, if you are emigrating, you're going to be working very hard for not much money, till things improve. And there is no guarantee that they will improve.

Unless you have major backing, of course. A functional family working together closely can do a lot. That's the model of successful Indians in the West, for example.

KannE

22:29

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Here's a Germanic joke: Good-bye, Romans! Hello, Brits! Good-bye, gene pool... Oh, okay, just 90% then, and we'll give you top billing--Anglo-Saxon! Yay, repopulating is fun!

Mitch

22:48

@KannE hahahahhahahahhahahah

Hahahhahha lol hahahahha

Haha

Wait...

I don't get it.

KannE

23:01

@Mitch Yeah, it's the American history version, not really funny or historically accurate probably. We think Anglo means British...and aren't they all Normans now anyway? Who knows? But indigenous Brits...not so much.

Faheem Mitha

23:17

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ See, for example, youtube.com/watch?v=pVg5u91ozC4

This is extracts from multiple videos.

I think Russell can be a bit daft at times, but I'm generally inclined to like him. And he certainly isn't lacking in courage.

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