English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Feeds

00:02

0

Q: What's a verb for discerning boundaries of the constituents of a seemingly amorphous whole?

Is there a verb for discerning the boundaries of distinct entities that are constituents of a seemingly amorphous whole? "Gaining resolution" is the closest phrase I can think of, but that's a metaphor where I want to be explicit. Example of sentence structure in use case: Zooming in ...

single-word-requests

SmokeDetector

01:37

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword with a link in answer: Why is there a singular verb, when the list of objects are plural? by Hellena on english.SE

Xrait

Can someone help me to word this better?

What is Amazon Web Service? also known as AWS. The platform is packed with many services (100+) and as of this video release about 1450+ features and updates for you to create next or reinvent your business on Cloud

Cerberus

03:08

@Færd Yes, true. An apartment like mine (45 m²) is about €1500/month if you pay commercial rent. And other work I do pays quite a bit less per hour. For example, I recently collected materials and sources, and created summaries of literary history incorporating those sources, for some academic classes on Antique literature, and I got paid less than €10/hour, despite the scarcity of people with the appropriate knowledge. (It was a lump sum and it took a lot of time.)

@Izanawistaria Hah. Well, it's because I have been tutoring the girl for several years now (with limited success: she'll just never be good at math), and I have raised my fee in the meantime.

Another example: I can make a simple website in 15 minutes for someone, and I'm sure you could charge like €100 or €200, or maybe a lot more if the client really has no idea what it involves.

It's just hard to find clients, I think (I've never actually pursued this).

@Færd Thanks for the picture. I imagine I might confuse those herbs if I came across them; that is, I see tarragon so seldom that I don't even remember beyond a doubt whether it was in fact tarragon.

I think it had the longer leaves.

And I think I remember the taste, which I come across occasionally in dishes prepared by other people/restaurants.

@MetaEd Hmm interesting. Do you find it reliable?

Feeds

04:03

0

Q: What does "Charges" signify in this paragraph

I was tasked to do the translation of this paragraph in my native language, but the particular highlighted word "charges" is bothering me. Any help will be appreciated.

single-word-requests

SmokeDetector

04:38

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title, bad NS for domain in body, bad NS for domain in title, bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, +2 more: slimbodyketone.co.uk/lipovyn/ by rokstarcp on english.SE

Feeds

0

Q: Transfer of Liquid from one dish to another

What is one word for the act of transferring liquid from one dish to another repetitively in order to cool it.

single-word-requests

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title, bad NS for domain in body, bad NS for domain in title, bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, +5 more: rxtestosteronesite.com/noxor-platinum-edition-reviews/ by kotponet on english.SE

Feeds

06:18

1

Q: What do we call it when we do something without even realizing it due to a developed habit?

Eg. Inserting the charger plug in the socket every time one switches the laptop on. One day, she realizes that she didn't even remember when she inserted the plug. Similarly, there are a lot of activities like this that get stored in our memory.

single-word-requests

Feeds

07:25

0

Q: What do we call a style where we read or analyze something by approaching it first from left to right and then from right to left alternatively?

What do we call a style where we read or analyze something by approaching it first from left to right and then from right to left or top to bottom followed by bottom to top alternatively? Suppose there is a text written (list etc.) in multiple columns, and someone first reads one column top to bo...

single-word-requests

Educ

hi

is it correct to say

please find this attached attestation of employment

in email to professor

SmokeDetector

10:18

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] URL in title: I search for newspaper articles to save them in this site (amok.wikia.com/wiki/Amok_Wiki). What is the word for this "occupation?" by Samuel Oliveira on english.SE

Feeds

12:31

0

Q: What word could be used to describe the sound of hovercraft propellers?

In a composition that I am writing, I am describing the sound of a very large hovercraft, namely its propellers. I've listened to a video of one such hovercraft, and it's not a whir, or a buzz, or a drone. I just can't quite put my finger on what to call it. The best I thought of was "roar", but ...

single-word-requests

MetaEd

13:48

Mornin, campers

Mitch

@Izanawistaria Well yeah. Monday's child is only fair of face. What does that get you? Sunday is bonnie and good and a whole bunch of other things.

Robusto

What up, dawgs ...

@Mitch You missed the part where it's Thursday already?

They're finally recognizing politics as a sport.

@Cerberus Here are some design ideas for a 45-square-meter apartment:

Small 45 Square Meter Apartment Design Optimized

►

I don't think your apartment is big enough for one of the new Samsung phablets, though.

American Beauty Clip - "Cunt"

►

Yep, it's definitely a thing in America at least. Women will call other women the "C-word" if things have gone nuclear.

We have to assume Samantha Bee was going nuclear at the time.

Mitch

14:46

@Robusto Your inflammatory comments are radioactive

@Robusto That was in the 80's

Jun 1 at 21:26, by KannE

@Mitch News flash: In the 80's, girls dressed like Madonna called their best friends the C-word every day, not BFF. Like...Can I borrow your polka-dot bra? No, you c***, I'm gonna wear it--gah! We were so powerful and honest then, beautiful and nurturing--not so much.

Nowadays, women just don't do that. They're all Taylor Sweeft and Nice.

Now I'm having trouble getting rid of the image of Madonna using a Swiffer.

I mean, I love Swiffers as much as the next guy but...

mumble mumble something mumble something about lonely Starbuck's lovers

RegDwigнt

16:00

Hello. Just checking in to go on the record as saying that Armenia is the best country in the world hands down, and you should totally visit. That is all.

Feeds

16:11

0

Q: Is "addressal" a real word?

Is "addressal" a real word? I have never seen nor heard this word used, yet, here it appears in my company training. Seems like a "Bushism".

single-word-requests

0

Q: Please suggest me one word substitution for a person and for an organization

Please suggest me one word substitution for a person and for an organization that started with an entry-level/ zero and reached to advanced level/top-level. Regards FewL

single-word-requests vocabulary

MetaEd

16:32

@Cerberus got no idea. I looked at it more than 10 years ago and then just came across it again

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Really? According to Pete Townsend, Armenia is a city ...

The Who - Armenia City In The Sky

►

MetaEd

@RegDwigнt The fact that the only thing I connect this with is the name Serdar Argıç indicates that even really crappy propaganda can be effective.

Cerberus

17:01

@MetaEd Noted.

@RegDwigнt And what is so good about it?

Nagorno-Karabach? Oh, wait...

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Everywhere it's beautiful, all food is fantastic, and everyone is the friendliest and most laid-back person on Earth without ever being the tiniest bit lazy or slow.

It begs all description. I mean what I say. Go now.

I stayed for a week and paid like 500 Euros in total including four flights, hotel, a 4wd rented for two days, and fancy dinners every day with live music and everything.

I've not been to every place, but I've been to many. Madeira, Armenia, and Lithuania are my all-time bestest favorites, hands down, no shadow of a doubt.

I've traveled the whole country for six days. I've seen all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. I fail at thinking back of a single person that was sad, or stressed, or depressed, or mad, or agitated. The only long faces I ever saw were at the Genocide Memorial Monument and Museum.

And that place is something else. I've been to the Holocaust museum in Berlin, and I've been to concentration camps in Lithuania. But Tsitsernakaberd is just. Well I can't think of a word, I have something in both my eyes right now.

Cerberus

17:18

Gosh, it sounds like you've found your new home!

RegDwigнt

Well I do struggle at learning their fucking language, so according to Nelson Mandela I'm not quite there yet.

Cerberus

But be careful with the g-word!

I once had an Armenian barber.

RegDwigнt

Armenian alphabet

The Armenian alphabet (Armenian: Հայոց գրեր Hayoc' grer or Հայոց այբուբեն Hayoc' aybowben; Eastern Armenian: [haˈjotsʰ ajbuˈbɛn]; Western Armenian: [haˈjotsʰ ajpʰuˈpʰɛn]) is an alphabetical writing system used to write Armenian. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. It originally had 36 letters, but now has 39. The Armenian word for "alphabet" is այբուբեն aybooben, named after the first two letters of the Armenian alphabet: ⟨Ա⟩ Armenian: այբ ayb and ⟨Բ⟩ Armenian: բեն ben. Armenian is written horizontally, left-to-right. == Alphabet... ==

Cerberus

She couldn't believe that Dutch and Armenian were distantly related.

RegDwigнt

Except that Armenian was there like 4000 years before Dutch was even a sperm.

Cerberus

17:21

Now, now.

RegDwigнt

It was mindboggling at times, you drive somewhere in the middle of nothing, and every stone has a million-year history.

Cerberus

I'm sure early Armenian differs from modern as much as Dutch does from Proto-Germanic.

That sounds good.

RegDwigнt

Actually it does not, that's the thing. Their alphabet stayed the same for nigh 2000 years. Every stone-age inscription you come across, any modern-day Armenian can comfortably read.

Dutchland doesn't even have a stone age.

Cerberus

The same alphabet has been used here for 2000 years.

@RegDwigнt A clay age, then.

A swamp age.

RegDwigнt

Well let's just say that Russia liberated half of Armenia of the Persians, and then the other half of the Turks. But all it does to the Netherlands is kill their citizens and not get punished in any sense of the word. This world becomes more incomprehensible to me the more I learn about it.

It's all quite sad, really. But in Armenia I was happy. All of the time. And that's the gist of it.

Cerberus

17:28

Liberated, uh-huh.

Russia didn't decide to shoot down the plane.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Oh very much so. I was surprised to learn.

Cerberus

It was an accident.

Russia was careless to supply partisans with Buk-rockets, not terrorist.

RegDwigнt

My point is, what kind of sad fucker do you have to be to kill 300 people and not turn yourself in just out of shame. Just because you're human. That's all it takes, really. But no. We have to go looking for you.

Cerberus

As I understand it.

Well, what would you have Russia do?

It could denounce the guy who accidentally shot down the plane, I suppose.

RegDwigнt

Russia can't do anything for all I know because they don't know who the sad fucker was, either.

Cerberus

17:30

Huh.

RegDwigнt

I don't think even Putin knows who pulled the trigger. I really don't.

And that's the sad thing.

Cerberus

I think everybody knows who led the partisans at the time? This Russian officer.

Okay, not the trigger.

RegDwigнt

Yeah you need like 40 people to operate the BUK. 20 at the very least.

Cerberus

It was an accident anyway: the partisans didn't mean to shoot down my friend.

RegDwigнt

Doesn't matter. I kill 300 people, I show my face. Simple as that.

Like, especially if it was an "accident".

Cerberus

17:33

The problem is that Russia is not officially involved...

RegDwigнt

Yeah yeah.

Like Turkey was not officially involved in killing all the Armenians they could find.

Oh well. Let me go back to drinking. Maybe this will go away.

Cerberus

Heh.

So Russia would have to admit involvement if it decided to out its officer and apologize.

Are you still in Armenia?

RegDwigнt

That's not my point, what I'm saying is who the fuck gives a shit about Russia, if you are the officer you go ahead and say, it was me.

@Cerberus I'm in Germany, drinking Russian vodka.

Cerberus

@Robusto Mm yeah, thanks, but I don't like modernist stuff.

I like classical.

@RegDwigнt Oh, well, you should, but... you'd have a big problem.

The man with a girl's voice.

@Robusto How elegant.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus nah, you'd still have a huge chance at getting acquitted. Think OJ Simpson and all that shit. But at least you could sleep at night.

Like, I can only sleep at night ever since the Dutch commission concluded that the humans on that flight passed out within seconds of the impact, never even realizing what happened. That is how I can sleep at all.

Cerberus

17:42

You would be wanted by both Holland and Russia...

RegDwigнt

And rightfully so.

Cerberus

You?

RegDwigнt

And if I had the pick, I'd go with Holland.

Cerberus

What do you have to do with it?

Yes. Russia might kill you for betraying her.

RegDwigнt

Nothing. But it still ruins my heart. Does it not yours.

I'm not even sure how we got here. Let's talk about bunnies or somethin.

Cerberus

17:44

Well, it killed my friend, but, you know, something bad things happen.

The easter bunny?

RegDwigнt

Yeah some bunny alright. Any bunny.

Cerberus

Okay, Easter bunnies and accidents.

Sorry, I shouldn't be so morbid.

RegDwigнt

Yeah so there's that one road in Armenia where they have all the roadkill. Just on that one road. Nowhere else.

Cerberus

How odd.

RegDwigнt

Ikr.

Cerberus

17:46

Why don't they move some of the road kill elsewhere.

RegDwigнt

Too laid-back and friendly.

Cerberus

Why don't they kill the road.

RegDwigнt

Oh you wouldn't know. Some of them roads are dead alright.

That's the great thing about Armenia. There's very little stuff left after 4 millennia of wars and earthquakes. But then you realize, whatever is still there, will be there after the Sun burns out. Because it has managed to survive all the wars and all the earthquakes.

Cerberus

How was Yerewan?

Does it have good architecture?

RegDwigнt

Awesome.

Well, it's a mixture. But a very good one.

Cerberus

17:48

No Warsaw?

RegDwigнt

Like, in Astana you only have those Prachtbauten, and you're not even allowed to walk down the street so as not to ruin the sight.

And in most of the former SU, you have, well, the former SU.

But Erevan is a healthy mixture of both.

I love Erevan.

Cerberus

Is that the official spelling?

Like Ekatharina?

Or whatever.

RegDwigнt

That is my spelling, and hence official.

Cerberus

Inscribed.

RegDwigнt

Yerevan

Yerevan (, YE-rə-VAHN; Armenian: Երևան [jɛɾɛˈvɑn] ( listen), sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia as well as one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country. It has been the capital since 1918, the thirteenth in the history of Armenia, and the seventh located in or around the Ararat plain. The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese; the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in...

Երևան

Erevan.

Anyway, if you're on Facebook by any chance, go find me, you should be able to as a mod.

Cerberus

17:53

I presume it's like the Russian E where you have to start with a glide.

I'm no stalker!

I wouldn't put nose in other people's private data.

RegDwigнt

You can stalk me, and also you should is what I'm saying. I have like three posts in total. And you must check the latest one.

It's not your usual runofthemill shit.

Cerberus

I'm not on Facebook enough to recognise the mill...

RegDwigнt

Whatever. You know my real name, and you can go add me then you can see the pictures and you will be happy you did.

Meanwhile I'll resume drinking and trying to find my way around the piano and violin.

One week of no practicing and it's the fucking horror.

I can't hit a note. Not even on the piano. Srsly I can't.

Cerberus

By God, you have a lot of sock puppets.

That's all the mod tools can tell me.

RegDwigнt

No, I have two names on all of the Internet. And only one SE account that I know of.

Cerberus

17:56

I don't remember your last name, except that you kept bragging about how complicated it was.

@RegDwigнt Not what your xref says!

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Well, I went all the way to Armenia to meet the other two people in the world entire that share it. So there.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt Just an idea, but sobriety is rumoured to help...

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus I tried while sober. That is why I'm drinking in the first place.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt And I though you were going to meet a big group!

@RegDwigнt Hmm. It'll come back.

RegDwigнt

@Cerberus Well. All of them. That's as big as it can possibly get.

Cerberus

17:58

Anyway, if you want me to add you, you'll have to post some link or name.

@RegDwigнt Were they nice? Weird?

RegDwigнt

They were nice and weird.

User:Schwallex

Web designer. Musician. Linguist. Former racing cyclist. Former Wiktionary bureaucrat. Designer of LEGO set that never made it into production. This and that. Something something. Always something different. Studied maths, studied translation, studied CS. Now learning the violin, because why not. === My modest contribution to this mess === I only ever wrote one article from scratch, the original German version of Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Moscow), for a Wikipedia competition back in 2009. I wasn't even involved with the English translation in any way, but apparently it now qualifies...

Now take over from here, and see you later.

Cerberus

Okay, if you use that on FB as well.

Dobry dyen.

If that is even used as a farewell.

@RegDwigнt Deze gebruiker bezit beginnende kennis van het Nederlands.

Sweet.

I think that counts as a dead end.

Schwallex gives me no results either.

RegDwigнt

It should have my full legal name in the history of the page, I think. And now I've said too much.

Cerberus

18:18

Oh, dear.

@RegDwigнt I don't see it.

Only an e-mail address.

Ah, I see your message now.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer: Idioms related to uninteresting topics by KristinLouise on english.SE

RegDwigнt

18:46

Aug 29 '16 at 13:49, by RegDwigнt

Ik zou het kinderspeelplaats doen als ik voetbal zou kunnen prachtige.

I think that counts as beginnende alright.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive title detected, potentially bad keyword in body: Is it correct to use the phrase "what the fuck" by conformist on english.SE

RegDwigнt

Shut up, SmoekDetektor.

Jul 23 '14 at 23:15, by RegDwigнt

Anyway, on Vlieland I learned three words: Kinderspeelplaats, terug, and Het Huis.

Quick, how many actual Dutches can you even name that've ever been to Vlieland.
Thought so.

Cerberus

@RegDwigнt I think it's trying to flag you but it can't catch on to your Dutch.

Too slick.

@RegDwigнt I don't know, but many Germans go there!

We used to go to Vlieland in summer as well.

Izana wistaria

19:48

What does "defaulted" mean here: "The site was wonderful before it became defaulted"?

I have looked at all of the meanings of "default" in a dictionary and to me, none of them fits. What am I missing?

Educ

20:21

Hi

Cerberus

@Izanawistaria Context is always important.

Without context, I would read that as, before it became the default [the standard option].

A sentence has little meaning without context.

Færd

@Cerberus Yo that's a lot. Rents could be that high in Tehran, but it heavily depends on the locality.

The vastness of the price of real estate is just mind boggling.

Cerberus

@Færd Yes, here as well.

Færd

You couuld tell it;s dangerous economy when so much depends on land so arbitrarily.

Cerberus

I imagine good neighbourhoods in Tehran will be expensive...

Dangerous in what way?

Færd

20:25

Precarious. Prone to sudden shocks.

@Cerberus Prices could go up tenfold from block to block.

@Cerberus I congratulate you on your patience. I used to teach so called "exceptional talents" and I was bored half the time.

@Cerberus On the list of habitats on the Wiki page for savory Iran is mentioned like a dozen time. I guess it's just more common around here.

Tarragon too. I just filled up on them at the dinner table.

Cerberus

@Færd Ah, OK. I suppose so: prices dropped quite a bit during the crisis. But they veered up soon afterwards, and now they're much higher already than before the crisis here.

Færd

@RegDwigнt I'm enticed.

It's literally next door.

Which means you could've dropped by! Mayeb next time. :)

Cerberus

@Færd Hmm sometimes it can be boring or frustrating, but the challenge is in the teaching, not in the matter.

@Færd Well, I'll happily try one of your dishes!

I've watched the second episode of Onze man in Teheran.

He walked a dog.

He went to zumba class.

Færd

@Cerberus Good point. I could tell you're a good teacher.

Cerberus

He conversed with the television censor.

Færd

20:35

Oh. Cool.

Educ

please I'm gonna need your help

Færd

I watched its first season!

Educ

Could you help me please

Cerberus

And he spoke to a holy warrior who had gone to Syria many times, and to his wife and daughters.

Færd

@Educ shoot your question.

Cerberus

20:35

Oh, well done! Was it subtitled?

Færd

No, but only so much of the conversation was in Dutch.

Educ

@Færd Okay Thank you very much; wait for me

Færd

Mostly monologues.

@Cerberus How did you find the whole thing?

Cerberus

@Færd Ah, yes, true.

@Færd Fairly interesting.

Not an extremely huge deal of new information, but a nice series of cameos.

If that is the proper term.

Færd

Yeah, me too. It was varied enough not to bore me.

Cerberus

20:38

He and the people he interviews, including the television censor, seem to think that things have become more relaxed.

Færd

That's the impression you'd get.

In the first season there was a scene that got me emotional.

Cerberus

Oh?

I haven't watched the first season yet.

Færd

There's this poet from six centuries ago, whom people revere and connect to to the point of holiness.

Cerberus

How many years ago was it?

Færd

Not holy tho.

Cerberus

20:42

OK.

Færd

People open his book of poems and whichever poem that they chance upon is supposed to tell you something important.

Let me see if I can find the clip somewhere.

Cerberus

Ah.

Færd

They did it for the future of the Iran deal. Haha

Cerberus

Did you watch it on Youtube?

Hah.

Færd

@Cerberus No, on the website you linked to before.

Educ

20:45

In fact, I would like to write replay to my teacher: here is the context

he asked me about my excuse that I didn't attend his classes I sent him prove that I work as trainee teacher of maths but he told : (It's way late to submit excuses now. What were you doing the whole semester?)

I would like to explain to him

Cerberus

@Færd Ah, OK. Public television.

@Educ I'm not entirely sure I understand what you want.

Educ

that I am in teacher training so I have to go to the center from 6 a.m to arrive there at 8 a.m and finished my study there at 6. p.m to get to my home at 8. p.m

so I don't have time

and that from monday to satureday

@Cerberus I would like to write relay to him why i didn't send him attestation on time

by state what I said above

in formal English

Could you please Help me

Feeds

0

Q: Phrase for apologizing to a stranger when messaging him unexpectedly?

I'm looking for a word or a phrase to use when I start talking to/chatting with someone expert in some field, he doesn't know me or know me a little, but we never chatted with each other. I want to ask him a question related to the field he is experienced at. it's like: Excuse me for jumping ...

single-word-requests phrase-requests

Færd

@Educ So just tell him that. It's clear enough.

Cerberus

Yes, if you tell him you couldn't come because you had to work, that seems clear?

Mitch

20:57

@Færd reconsiders moving to Teheran

Wait, what's a good and cheap neighborhood there?

Cerberus

Berlin.

Færd

There are plenty.

In so far as you could get good neighborhoods in Tehran.

Mitch

@Cerberus Kreuzberg is supposed to be the hot place now

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…