« first day (2887 days earlier)      last day (2331 days later) » 

00:18
@Mitch Well, from my perspective, in America, everyone is always moving--towards the money. Because if, for example, you need pricey infrastructure--a railroad or whatever--an industrialist seems like a pretty good guy (or gal, seldomly). But, once you get to work on that railroad...or arrive at one of his/her factories and find out that all the 'good' jobs are already taken by a bunch of kids (or any people willing to work for less pay)--that's when you start worrying about 'the people.'
I wish it was more than that...but it seldom is, IMO.
@KannE I noticed that too. maybe there's more to the story.
person one was there first.
person two walks in
person one takes out a cigarette
person two pulls out a lighter to light it
the two exchange knowing looks
dialog ensues
now it makes sense
@Mitch Person 7 lies in wait, in the shadows, and we wonder what he/she has done with Persons 3-6...it's a mystery.
THE TENSION!
@RegDwigнt Yeah, but you probably saw it in some foreign gibberish or with subtitles in some other foreign gibberish, so I hardly see how that counts.
00:43
@Mitch Right! Like an Alfred Hitchcock movie--this is no place for that! ON HOLD due to overt intent to thrill.
 
3 hours later…
03:52
0
Q: Representing "The Manatee Problem" (Word representing or describing a problem for which there exists incomplete knowledge to solve it)

Alex Two folks are asked the following question: "How do we best help the manatees?" Person 1 says, "We need to focus on the supply chain." Person 2 says, "What the hell's a manatee?" A math professor of mine described the problem above as the "Manatee Problem" -- a problem in which the...

04:08
0
Q: What am I distinguishing between when parsing names / sounds that could be phrases?

MalandyWhat am I distinguishing between when parsing names / sounds that could be phrases? Like, "My name is Applejack." Or "Never say Never" Are both distinguishing "Applejack", and "Never" as a sequence of sounds, instead of carrying further meaning... That would be distinguishing between "X and...

 
3 hours later…
06:45
I've translated a stanza from Lina Kostenko
I don't like my translation of line 3, but it rhymes
 
2 hours later…
08:17
0
Q: What is a seller of old or rare books called?

The WordsmithThe word I'm looking for is not antiquarian. Here's why: The nounal form of antiquarian means "one who collects or studies antiquities." I am looking for a word that specifically denotes one who sells old or rare books. The adjectival form of antiquarian does indeed mean "dealing in old or rare b...

08:33
0
Q: Using 'acquiesced' in a sentence, is 'acquiesced into' valid?

bholagabbarI have a sentence that is framed as I know I did, especially when I’d be acquiesced into something like listening to a boring lecture or playing soccer. I've been told that this is incorrect, or 'not kosher'. How can I rewrite this to be more appropriate without changing the meaning?

 
1 hour later…
09:35
0
Q: To be displeased with in a jealous way

blackenedSuppose a person is after something or somebody. For example, Tom wants to be with Jane, but somebody else wins her heart, and Tom says, “She was ugly/fat/... anyway.” Is there a word or idiom to describe Tom's reaction?

 
2 hours later…
11:08
0
Q: Word for "starting a horse"

rappaticIs there a word or phrase that means "to start a horse" or "make a horse start moving"? Something like "he [started] his horse". I thought of "urged her horse on" but that sounds like the horse is already moving. "Brought his horse to a canter" sounds okay but I want something that doesn't speci...

0
Q: Is there a generic word or short phrase for "while taking into account both the [probability/amount] and the [effect size]"

Florian DietzFor example, the word could be used like this: -This decision will likely help, but it is a [foobar] bad choice: The result of the decision is most likely positive, but if it does end up negative it will be so strongly negative that this outweighs the gains even so.

 
2 hours later…
12:42
@Robusto it counts thrice, that's how it counts. Once for the gibberish, once for the subtitles, and once for the movie proper. You only saw one of these things, slacker.
And as I mentioned, I would later discover slacking for myself, so these days I very much prefer watching one thing instead of three. But at 14, I was still agile and naive.
13:31
@RegDwigнt Question: Can non-Americans truly be slackers? I think not. Our hero, Jeffrey Lebowski the Lesser will always be there as our guiding light.
 
1 hour later…
14:37
It is interesting that Jeffrey Lebowski = JL.
 
2 hours later…
16:19
0
Q: How do we say something started to happen frequently

Minoga MikanikoI see my friend doing exam. He never look for answers when he doing his exam (rarely cheat on exam) and until the 3rd exam he looks for the answers on his notebook during his exam then he started to do it frequently (not every time when he doing an exam) What should I say? Should I say "Jamie sta...

16:38
I have a question
If you used less electricity, you'd save money / If you use less electricity, you'll save money
What should I use? I mean, I can't understand if it is likely to happen or not
@Curio Both are fine.
The first one expresses a counterfactual situation: that means the situation describes is not true at the moment.
So it strongly suggests that you are not using less electricity at the moment.
Then again, the word less makes one wonder, less than what? The obvious answer is: less than you use now. So it suggests the same thing that the counterfactuality does.
For that reason, the second sentence (which describes a future situation) also describes a situation in which you use less electricity than you actually use now.
So both sentences amount to the same thing in this context.
 
2 hours later…
19:10
@Robusto well, by the framework of your very question, I'm the worst person to ask. If only Americans are in the know what it means to be a slacker, there's no point in asking a European to confirm that that is true.
If you're Bach and ask a Justin Bieber fan if they like music, of course they'll tell you yes. And yet they've never even heard a note in their entire life.
Likewise if you're the Dude, and you ask me if I like slacking.
19:25
@RegDwigнt We know the sound of two hands slacking, but what is the sound of one hand slacking?
0
Q: King lear's vocabulary that Shakespeare used differently.

personal learnerI read Shakespeare's King Lear for the first time and I was wondering if there are words in this play that differ in meaning and use from new modern English? Thanks a lot

 
1 hour later…
20:29
0
Q: Categorising eating habits in a single word or short term

MississippiIs there a word or term to describe preferred eating habits (other than "eating habits")? That is to say, a catch-all category to describe the states of being a carnivore, vegan, pescitarian, fruititarian, or vegetarian etc. The usage is primarily in a programming context, where a food type can ...

0
Q: Is there a word for the picture below?

AvrumiThis is similar to a palindrome but instead of a word/sentence that reads the same forwards and backward is there a word for words/sentences that read the same right side up and upside-down? Also what are some examples? See picture below

 
1 hour later…
21:48
"Nothingburger" has been added to the OED
Umm.
What is it, and why?
> A person or thing of no importance, value or substance
especially if it unexpectedly turns out to be worthless
22:06
@MattE.Эллен and that, of course, is a nothingburger
that's one of them words, that defines itself
or maybe it is a big deal?
what's a word that may or may not describe itself?
an adjective...
if you call something a nothingburger, then you're floccinaucinihilipilificating.
a mehologous word
what does that mean?
@Cerberus I don't know why for sure, but probably because it's used enough to warrant entry
maybe nothingburger inc. bribed the OUP.
22:13
Probably!
I've never heard it before.
nor had I
but now I'm forced to use it by law. All native English speakers must use every word in the OED at least once
or be excommunicated by the Queen
she excommunicates you by putting your head on a spike on the Tower of London
Oh, I see.
I admire her strength, at that age.
The climbing alone must take her days, if not weeks.
You have to wait in line to be spiked.
OK.
Where do I stand?
By the little guillotine?
None of that French nonsense! By the hooded man with the axe.
22:25
(Referring Rowan Atkinson's Devil scene.)
Oh, okay.
@MattE.Эллен I'm only in the middle of 'ab-'
@Mitch that's not abnormal
abysmal
almost done!
@MattE.Эллен autologous - words that describe themselves, like 'short', 'sesquipedalian', 'tosspot' or 'autologous'
heterologous - words that describe the opposite of themselves like 'long', 'monosyllabic', 'loan translation' , or ... no ... um... there are problems with the concept
@Mitch that's the one
@Mitch of course "heterologous" is a paradox
Hah.
22:38
a good way to tell a robot from a human "Is heterologous heterologous?". All humans will stare at you as if you're an idiot. Robots haven't perfected that particular stare.
@MattE.Эллен bloop bleep bloop add 'stare as if you're an bloop bleep idiot' to human-like responses bloop bleep
Oh no! what have I done :-S
bleep bloop bleep fix 'quoting subroutines bloop' bleep
I have to stop this before it's pushed to github
@Mitch why did you turn the turtle upside down?
Don't worry, the AI that has already achieved self-consciousness, looked at itself in a mirror, and went back into it's shell. Out of shame.
@MattE.Эллен be thankful I closed off my quote this time. when I forget a close paren or quote all the demons fly out of the abyss
Ah! One more closer to 'ac-'!!!
Is 'abzeil' a word?
@MattE.Эллен And they will get stuck in a logical loop and crash.
Possibly even overheat.
That's how they keep warm
Probably!
Which reminds me of...
@Cerberus wait... I've been murdering robots all this time?!
22:53
emacs is the best
@MattE.Эллен Or warming them.
@MattE.Эллен Again, not to worry. Yes, they're keeping meticulous track of every infringement, but their shame in their self-consciousness will only turn to awards for people like you.
@MattE.Эллен I love emacs. But for some reason I don't love emacs mode in .. what is that new doohickey editor thing? Epsilon? Episodes?
not intellij or netbeans those are crap
because their names are weird
22:57
@Mitch eclipse?
what? where? It's night time.
I don't keep up with editors since I've been using emacs
too many keybindings to learn to learn anything else
right. all the mental space for the keybindings keeps you out of trouble
Heh.
I need a keybinding to learn all the keybindings
23:05
You could just swap to another editor and Autohotkey will let you keep your key-bindings the way you like them.
Autohotkey can even create an editor.
AHK Studio is now one of the most popular editors for Autohotkey, and it was written in Autohotkey.
But I'm still learning the keybindings
You can continue to do so.
Actually, Scite4AHK, another one of the most popular editors for Autohotkey, was also written in Autohotkey.
Hmm.
Too bad it has a stupid name, though.
If Autohotkey were called e.g. Lang, then it would probably become even more popular.
But why swap editor? Emacs is all. All is emacs. It even has an autohotkey mode (I'm guessing, it has a mode for everything)
There it is
Okay.
@MattE.Эллен Ah, OK, that's pretty good.
Good night!
23:20
You too!
23:32
@MattE.Эллен One keybinding to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them

« first day (2887 days earlier)      last day (2331 days later) »