English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Monica

18:00

:)

Well, I have to check a tranlsation. I can't paste the whole text I don't want to flood the chatroom

Is it okay if I paste a parahraph per parahraph?

KitFox

Sure. Let's do one paragraph at a time.

Monica

In a few days everything was over. His body was cremated according to his will. Despite the great loss Lucy’s eyesight improved a little and hypertension seemed to bother her less.

They are not long

KitFox

Looks good. I'd add a few commas.

Monica

Happy to hear that

KitFox

"In a few days, everything was over. His body was cremated according to his will. Despite her great loss, Lucy’s eyesight improved a little and her hypertension seemed to bother her less."

Monica

18:03

‘The doctors were right. The eyesight is coming back. I wish Edward were here with me. He would be so happy.’

KitFox

"My eyesight is coming back."

Otherwise good.

Monica

I have corrected it

The tears ran down her cheeks. Suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her head. She decided to take a painkiller . She stretched out her hand mechanically toward a coffee cup in which on Edward’s advice she was keeping clonidine at her ease. Lucy was looking for the cup but couldn’t find it. It was always in it’s right place.

KitFox

This needs a little work. Let me see...

Monica

yes, of course

KitFox

"The tears ran down her cheeks. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her head. She decided to take a painkiller. She stretched out her hand mechanically toward a coffee cup in which, on Edward’s advice, she was keeping clonidine at her ease. Lucy was looking for the cup but couldn’t find it. It was always in its proper place."

Monica

18:07

suddenly needs a comma

KitFox

That's closer, but "at her ease" isn't quite right.

Maybe "for her convenience"?

You mean, so that it was easily accessible, right?

Monica

Yes, I do

KitFox

I will have to give that some thought.

Monica

It's an old translation of mine. I was using Russian-English dictionary then

Matt Эллен

youtube is doing a debate on austerity

youtube.com/versusdebates?feature=inp-lt-vrs

KitFox

18:10

@Monica "easily at hand" would be better.

Or "easily on hand"?

Monica

I will use either.

So she was keeping it easily on hand no 'her' is necessary?

KitFox

That's right.

I think either preposition is acceptable, but the meaning is "nearby" or "closeby." For instance, we keep plenty of rice on hand for emergencies, but we'd have to special order the kosher coconut milk.

Monica

I see. Idon't see why some dictionaries have words and expressions that native speakers don' t use

KitFox

"At her ease" sounds really antiquated.

Monica

So you never use 'in its right place' either

ah, I see

KitFox

18:17

You could use 'in its right place' but 'proper place' sound more natural, I think.

user19161

@kit I notice today you use ' instead of ".

Monica

I will use what sounds natural

KitFox

Usually, you would say "It was always in the right place." but something sounds a little off about that.

Cerberus

I'd just use "on hand".

Monica

another paragraph

‘It’s impossible! Oh, God what have I done! Did I kill him? I poured coffee into the cup with a least thirty clonidine pills in it. What have I done!.’
Lucy wanted to go to the police station to tell them everything, but she was scared. What if they will not believe her and conclude that she did it on purpose.

KitFox

18:21

Remove the final period in the quotes.

user19161

What an exciting story there!

Cerberus

I'd replace "will" with "would".

KitFox

"What if they did not believe her and concluded that she did it on purpose?"

Monica

Thanks, Clark

Cerberus

Yes or "did".

And add a question mark.

It is an (internal) question.

Monica

18:23

Of course stupid me!!

How would she prove her innocence?
After hours of torment she figured that going to the police station and telling them about it would be a pretty stupid thing to do.
‘This is going to be our secret, honey.’

KitFox

Comma after torment.

And I think "How could she prove her innocence?" rather than would.

Cerberus

+1

Monica

I see

The doctor in charge of the case advised Lucy to take a holiday. She really needed some rest after the pain she had to go through. But instead of going on holiday she decided to relocate from the place where everything reminded her of Edward. Her eyesight was almost restored to normal and the hypertension was over.
Lucy packed up quickly. She thought of going travelling and finding a small house somewhere at the same time. She was just about to tell her neighbor about her decision when suddenly there was a knock at the door. Lucy went to the door

KitFox

"She really needed some rest after the pain she had gone through."

Monica

I am almost a new member so if I should stop now please tell me

KitFox

18:27

Looks good so far, besides that one verb tense.

Monica

so 'she had to go through'

is wrong and can't be used

KitFox

Oh. I guess you could say "had to go through" there. When I first read it, it seemed like that meant future pain.

Monica

I see

can I add some more paragraphs?

KitFox

You can, but I have to go soon.

Monica

:(

‘This must be her. I am coming.’
‘Is that you?’
Edward was standing right in front of her.
‘I am home , honey. It took too long to come back home. What’s wrong with your phone? I called you a few times. I am sorry I couldn’t call you often, I was very busy. Every time I called you the number was not in service.
‘Are you alright, Lucy? Can you see me?’
She could see him perfectly, but she was unable to understand what was going on.

KitFox

18:35

I am confused about who is saying what at the beginning.

Monica

Lucy is saying that about her neighbor

KitFox

Also "Every time I called you, the number was not in service. "

There should be a comma in there.

Monica

she was waiting for her to come

KitFox

So Lucy spoke both lines at the beginning?

Monica

Yes, she did

is the rest fine?

KitFox

18:38

Yes. I think so.

Monica

And the final one

“But you died, Edward. Your body was cremated.’’
‘’What are you talking about? Why should I have died? As you see, I am alive, healthy, but very tired. I will take a shower now. Hope we have something delicious for dinner. I am sorry, I didn’t have time to come to say goodbye before I left and to take the clothes you prepared for me. I missed you so much.’
He reached out to Lucy to embrace her.
‘Wait I have to tell you something.’
‘What is it? Be quick I am starving.’
Lucy told him everything. He didn’t take in at once what had happened. But when he finally realized the situation…

Atually that's not the end of the story

KitFox

"I didn’t have time to come say goodbye before I left and take the clothes you prepared for me." Is a little better, I think.

Monica

Something told me: Nina remove the 'to's

The voice was right

So there is no need to use 'to' every time

right?

KitFox

Right.

Monica

I thought maybe the word 'wretched' sounded old -fashioned there

KitFox

18:47

Oh, it's great!

It's a touch old-fashioned, but adds to the noir atmosphere.

Monica

Really? :)

KitFox

Really really.

Monica

:)

Honestly, I was so anxious when you were reading my translation

I am always nervous when a native speakers checks my works

KitFox

You seem to do quite a good job.

Monica

Hmmm if you were a teacher

which grade would you granted me

?

KitFox

18:51

overhearing conversation about teacher getting in trouble with the State Department

This is interesting.

@Monica Probably a B+.

Maybe an A-.

Monica

Hmm, I have to work harder to get an A

KitFox

You'd have to be pretty perfect to get an A.

Monica

Thank you very much for your help

KitFox

And if that were the case, you wouldn't need me as a teacher.

:P

You're welcome. Anytime.

Monica

:D

You are right

Is it easy to create your own chat rooms?

KitFox

18:58

You can, but they will be public and they are generally discouraged.

Unless you are talking about EL&U topics.

Although...it might be a good idea to make a translation chat room.

Monica

Oh! That's a great idea

KitFox

Hey @Reg, what do you think about making an official translation chat room?

And maybe one for EL&U Lite too?

Monica

No, I am interested in EL&U topics

not public ones

Cerberus

@KitFox What has the teacher done?

KitFox

The only time you can have a private room is if a mod grants it, and then it is for discussing disciplinary types of things, etc.

@Cerberus Sounds like someone contacted her claiming to be a former student and wanted her to certify something for immigration, which she refused to do.

Monica

19:03

It said once that I could create my own chat room because I gained enough reputations

KitFox

You can create rooms, but you can't make them private.

Only mods can do that.

Monica

:(

Why don't they do that?

KitFox

You can control access, but the transcript is still public.

I would guess for legal reasons, but also it can create a lot of traffic that isn't related to their business.

Monica

I hope they make an official translation chat room

KitFox

It's not supposed to be a social site, and certainly not with private rooms for individual users.

Some of us use Chatzy for personal chat rooms.

Monica

19:05

I see

KitFox

If we need a quick private conversation.

user19161

So @kit what's with the sudden use of single quotes today? A damaged shift button?

Cerberus

@KitFox Oh, I see.

KitFox

@ClarkKent Meh. Just felt like it.

Monica

a translation chat room will be very helpful

user19161

19:09

But who would go there?

Monica

Hope the moderators will hear you

user19161

We will all be here and not there!

Monica

:D

user19161

So I say just come here.

Monica

maybe you will like it?

I know a few sites like this one where you can post your translations, but the people are not as friendly as they are on here

I posted a translation and they haven't replied yet

user19161

19:12

@mahnax Lunch time?

Monica

I have to go

See you

bye

user19161

@Monica Bye!

KitFox

Bye!

user19161

I just had a delicious chicken pie cold from the fridge.

Cerberus

Hmm a chicken pie....

Is that minced chicken meat?

user19161

19:16

Three-headed dog and his adventures with Windows XP? Haha. For me it would be Superman and his adventures with installing 9000 distros.

user19161

@Cerberus Chunks. With peas and stuff like that in the crust.

Cerberus

It was a bit annoying, because my problem probably didn't have to do with XP.

Most probably.

@ClarkKent Oh I like it.

user19161

I wonder why they call it XP or Vista.

Cerberus

It's not sweetened in some way, is it?

user19161

@Cerberus More like salty.

Cerberus

19:17

@ClarkKent Totally random names made up by marketing departments.

@ClarkKent OK good.

user19161

I think Windows 8 will be very good, just a feeling.

Cerberus

It is mainly about ease of use on touch screens.

user19161

I did not know about the no public office for atheists thing in those states until I read the transcript.

Cerberus

Not very interesting to me. Unless I get a tablet of sorts. There it might be good.

@ClarkKent Which states?

user19161

2 hours ago, by Mahnax

user19161

19:21

I think that's ridiculous. QED.

Cerberus

Ohh huh.

user19161

And note that I am not an atheist.

Cerberus

That is media-ëval.

Is that really in their laws?

And is that even allowed?

As if we needed another reason not to live in those states.

KitFox

Media evil? Wha—?

Cerberus

Better?

user19161

19:26

@Cerberus I have a feeling that would be starred soon.

user19161

Usually I am wrong when it comes to star feelings, so it probably won't be starred.

Jez

Major storm coming

muggy air, thunder

user19161

@Jez Sounds lovely. Rain is beautiful.

user19161

It rains almost every day in December here.

Jez

Not storms though. Not a big fan of thunder, lightning, or mugginess

user19161

19:30

Hello @andrea! What brings you here?

user19161

@Jez Once I walked in the pouring rain without shelter for an hour for fun.

user19161

Maybe I should do that again some time.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Apparently.

user19161

@Mahnax Though it could be an exaggeration in the poster.

user19161

Some sentences can be interpreted in multiple ways.

Mahnax

19:32

@ClarkKent Nah, I checked the all-knowing Wikipedia and they agree.

Cerberus

@ClarkKent Rain is less fun when you can't move you fingers any more because they are so cold.

Mahnax

Hello @Meysam.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Extreme.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Yes, quite.

And rather wrong IMO.

user19161

@Cerberus Worse than banning chewing gum.

Meysam رها در بند

19:32

@Mahnax Hello

Cerberus

@ClarkKent Hehe. I would much sooner ban chewing gum.

Mahnax

@Meysamرهادربند Hello.

Cerberus

Though those high fines seem excessive.

KitFox

Later!

Jez

the one good thing about these thunderstorms is that at least afterwards the air is much fresher and cooler

Cerberus

19:34

Boy am I glad that our cabinet has fallen (fell about a month ago).

@KitFox Bai!

@Jez Agreed.

Is it still hot in England?

Today was a perfect day here.

Matt Эллен

yes

Cerberus

Sunny, 19 °C.

Oh.

Temp?

Matt Эллен

not too hot. I can wear clothes today

Cerberus

Oh, I'm sure your friends were disappointed.

Matt Эллен

somewhere around 19

Mahnax

19:36

@MattЭллен Good…

Vitaly

@Cerberus What would you do if you had 100 Mbps?

Matt Эллен

@Mahnax this is why you're glad SE chat doesn't have video :D

Mahnax

@MattЭллен Yes, yes. Very glad, sometimes.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Ah same as here, that's nice.

@Vitaly Is this an offer?

Vitaly

@Cerberus It's a question. My ISP has upgraded the plans and now I have absolutely no idea how to make use of it.

user19161

19:38

@MattЭллен There is video. It is turned on only when you have attained 100k.

Matt Эллен

I'd best get to work then!

user19161

@Vitaly Install every distro on the planet!

Gigili

Hola.

Vitaly

Hi.

Matt Эллен

Buenas Noches!

Jez

19:40

biiiiiig storm

you have a storm Matt?

tons of rain and thunder

user19161

@MattЭллен Interesting that is Nota Bene backwards when abbreviated.

Matt Эллен

@Jez We had heavy rain for a few minutes around 14:00, but no thunderstorm yet

user19161

Let me tell you about the greatest thunderstorm I was in.

Mahnax

@ClarkKent What compels you to think of such things that are just barely tangentially related?

Cerberus

@Vitaly Wowie, very nice. I really don't know, I can hardly ever max out my current speed (8 or 13 Mbps ish).

Only some very popular television series make it to 8 Mbps perhaps, which I very rarely download.

user19161

19:42

It was in school and the trays in the canteen flew all over the place. The flower pots hanging from the ceiling came crashing down. The picture frames on the walls came crashing down too.

Vitaly

@Cerberus Yeah, well, I could max out 40 or 60 Mbps, but not 100. I'm considering switching to a cheaper plan now because I can't see any use for it anyway.

Cerberus

Good idea.

user19161

@Mahnax A Beautiful Mind. QED.

Cerberus

How much do you pay?

Vitaly

25 USD or so.

Cerberus

19:44

Nice.

Gigili

Okay, you're boring.

Cerberus

And up speed is the same?

Vitaly

@Cerberus Yeah.

Cerberus

Ah, Gigi has finished loading the page!

Mahnax

@ClarkKent Oh, riiiight.

Matt Эллен

19:45

what page?

Cerberus

@Vitaly I wish I had more than 850 kbps up.

@MattЭллен This very page we're on now.

user19161

@Mahnax Thwaaack.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus lol

Cerberus

Takes ages on her connection...

Mahnax

Пушка.

Vitaly

19:45

@Cerberus BTW, max upload speed like that (40—60 Mbps) doesn't get maxed out on most trackers.

Cerberus

Putchka?

Pushka?

user19161

@Mahnax Are you trying to sound pretentious?

Matt Эллен

push chair?

Cerberus

@Vitaly Yeah, even my max speed doesn't get maxed out, although that may be owing to my ISP.

user19161

@MattЭллен All chairs are push chairs because all chairs can be pushed.

Cerberus

19:47

@Mahnax Are you trying to talk to Vitaly's spider?

Mahnax

@Cerberus Naah.

@ClarkKent Nope.

Gigili

@Cerberus Hey ... I expected you more.

Matt Эллен

@ClarkKent I invented one that can't just to disprove you

simchona

@simchona, You're right. I have done so now. — Django Reinhardt 1 min ago

I swear this question is going to go in circles.

-8

Q: Downvoting questions because you don't want to answer it

Is this what we should be doing? Some members of this community believe it to be the case. As FumbleFingers puts it (below): "I think it's perfectly reasonable to downvote any question on main that you don't want to see posed or answered." What say the community?

discussion

First there was a question. Then no question. Now comments about how the question on main was never the point.

user19161

@simchona When things are going in circles, stop.

5

Vitaly

19:48

user19161

@Vitaly Which are the real eyes?

Vitaly

@ClarkKent All of them?

user19161

@Vitaly You mean they can all see?

Vitaly

@ClarkKent Of course.

Matt Эллен

@Vitaly the outer eyes look angry, the inner eyes look adorable

user19161

19:49

@Vitaly I vaguely remember reading about fake eyes for some animal.

Vitaly

@ClarkKent Yeah, it's not the case with spiders.

aedia λ

@MattЭллен Funny, I was just thinking that the inner ones looked hungry and the outer ones friendly

user19161

They have eyes but they do not see.

Cerberus

@Gigili You expected me more?

Matt Эллен

@aediaλ I think the slants at the top look like a frown.

user19161

19:52

It is very interesting that most creatures are symmetrical.

user19161

I can't even think of one which is not now.

user19161

Is there an explanation for this?

Vitaly

@ClarkKent Sponges?

Matt Эллен

@ClarkKent if they're not symmetrical then they walk in circles

Cerberus

@Vitaly Oh my, he has grown.

Matt Эллен

19:54

@aediaλ I think the inner eyes look like those of a bush baby :)

aedia λ

@MattЭллен Ohhh I see it now

Matt Эллен

yay!

Cerberus

The outer left eye looks angry. The outer right eye looks fixed. The middle eyes look hypnotising.

user19161

@MattЭллен It could be seen the other way too.

user19161

@Cerberus Soon the whole room will be hypnotized by this spider!

Cerberus

19:56

Too la...

Matt Эллен

oh no! the souls will start to escape!

user19161

BOO!

user19161

That will wake everyone up.

aedia λ

@MattЭллен I had to look up bush baby. Apparently I thought right up until this moment that those, lemurs and lorises were all the same animal

Strepsirrhini

The clade Strepsirrhini (New Latin, from Greek στρεψίς, strepsis, "a turning" and the stem of ρίς, rhis, "nose") is one of the two suborders of primates. Madagascar's only non-human primates are strepsirrhines, and others can be found in southeast Asia and Africa. The scientist given credit for the name, Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, named it for the retention of the rhinarium, a trait characterized as a wet nose, generally present in mammals. In his catalog of features attributed to the Strepsirrhini, he lists "Les narines terminales et sinueuses" (translated "sinuous, twisted or curly...

Matt Эллен

@aediaλ oh! I didn't know they had a real name :D

aedia λ

20:00

Now I feel bad for ignoring the difference between members of this entire suborder of primates

Matt Эллен

don't feel too bad. they can't tell the difference between us and chimps

Gigili

@Cerberus That's what I said.

Vitaly

@ClarkKent I believe a book like this would have a neat explanation. Essentially, when proteins get synthesized according to the DNA code, they initiate chemical reactions, but obviously they don't occur in isolation or at some point, but rather those reactions form a gradient. When those gradients interact, they create patterns which are quite symmetrical in cells prone to chemotaxis.

aedia λ

@MattЭллен Haha fair enough

Jez

I'm eating chips, corn on the cob+butter, southern fried chicken, tomato sdauce, sour cream and chive dip

tastes so good

aedia λ

20:02

drools

Cerberus

@Gigili I no understands.

Mitch

@simchona I think there's a lot of misunderstanding going on (by..ahem..the OP). I can understand being miffed by a downvote, but the whole train of thought is just taking it too seriously too far.

Vitaly

@ClarkKent There have also been attempts to create mathematical models of developing embryos that try to ignore the underlying biochemical machinery. One such theorem postulates that bilateral symmetry is a product of cell populations trying to arrange themselves in such a way as to minimize the total interface energy. You can find loads of papers in Google Scholar if you search for bilateral symmetry morphogenesis.

Gigili

I warned you to keep it secret @Cerb. Next you'll tell them what's my husband's name.

simchona

@Mitch The edit is completely weird now that it incorporates that answer

Cerberus

20:13

@Gigili Keep what a secret?

KitFox

Someone say morphogenesis?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus if she told you that would be twice!

Cerberus

@MattЭллен beams

Matt Эллен

:D

Mitch

@simchona I was entertained by the misunderstanding, so I decided to answer also. But I don't think it will add anything to the OP's understanding, and will probably stir up the hornet's nest even more.

but yeah..-totally- weird.

Mahnax

20:50

@Vitaly Aww!

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…