English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

12:00 AM

@Robusto Exactly.

Only pretty damn stupid people will pay up in the end.

So why waste time on people who won't?

Robusto

Heh.

Cerberus

Seriously, that may be why they do it that way.

Phishing needs to be as convincing as possible.

Because every time you cast your net, it's practically free.

Whereas Nigerian scamming is like whaling: only shoot your harpoon at weak animals, lest they get away in the end.

David M

12:15 AM

@Cerberus not a lot of whales in Nigeria.

Robusto

3

Q: Etymology and meaning of "When does the narwhal bacon?"

There's a meme on reddit where the users tend to ask, When does the narwhal bacon? The only correct answer to that question is At midnight. What is the etymology and the meaning of this question?

But how about them narwhals?

Cerberus

12:33 AM

@DavidM They hunt elsewhere.

David M

12:47 AM

@Robusto I both love and loathe this at the same time.

Reddit is a hole in the internet where free time goes to die ...

@Cerberus Nigerian whalers spotted off the starboard bow, cap'n!!!

Cerberus

@DavidM fires starboard harpoons

David M

Can't remember if it's Kenya or Nigeria, but did you ever read Artemis? Andy Weir's second novel?

Basically, a country in Africa becomes a super power due to its ease of launching to the moon. I can't recall the scientific reason.

David M

1:16 AM

It’s Kenya. Wow, that took quite a bit of googling to find out . . . LOL

Cerberus

Interesting idea.

David M

0

Q: Persistently isolated low lab parameter or isolated persistently low lab parameter?

I cannot seem to find the best way to express this, both in terms of grammar and "correct sounding" feel to English/American readers (which I am not). So, this is the scenario: the serum concentration of two peptides, peptide A and peptide B, is measured in a group of patients. The level of thes...

nouns adjectives hyphenation

This guy edited his post and it’s a bit more understandable now. I think it deserves an upvote to counteract the negative one he received before his edit.

Cerberus

Mm perhaps I will read it later.

Too tired now.

David M

1:32 AM

Yeah, it’s a bit complex. I want to edit it because I’m not sure that his title question is even still his question.

Cerberus

Why not do it?

David M

I’m trying to without butchering his meaning too badly

Mitch

@DavidM Thanks for the examples. I'd never heard this phrase before.

David M

@Mitch No worries. I think it’s primarily BrE

Mitch

Apropos of other things, I've seen in the past week at least two rants by different people saying that UX and UI are totally different things, and in the course of their rants they come up with more and more subgenres, yet they don't actually ever say what those genres are comprised of.

@DavidM It kinda sound like that to me (AmE)

David M

1:42 AM

@Mitch Me, too

Mitch

Oh...I've heard something like it...

David M

How do you embed an Ngram? Do you have to take a screenshot of it?

Cerberus

@Mitch *what those genres comprise / *what those genres are composed of

Sorry.

@DavidM Yes.

Mitch

@DavidM no

@Cerberus whatever the correct version, 'comprised of' just sounds right to me.

Clannad Fairly Shot of Her

►

@DavidM books.google.com/ngrams/…

that is the dynamic web page

books.google.com/ngrams/…

is the static version: replace 'graph' with 'chart'

David M

@Mitch Thanks. I already did a screenshot. I just learned that you don’t put a space after the comma in a comparative ngram.

Mitch

1:54 AM

it doesn't display in chat because it doesn't end in 'png' or 'jpg'

David M

I guess maybe my question should be revised to Is this usage of shut an archaic structure preserved only in this expression or is it commonly used in BrE? since it seems that there’s prevalence of all three forms in Ngrams.

@Cerberus This is one of those classic misuses in English that has become correct usage . . .

The rock band Cream comprised Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton.

Comprised of is the common misusage that has become popular

The rock band Cream was comprised of Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton.

Mitch

I liked Mary Anne better

David M

Who didn’t? Ginger was basically just a porn star.

Mitch

That escalated quickly

David M

One of my talents

Mitch

2:04 AM

I used to think I had the superpower of being able to look through things but it ended up being one eye blocked of view but the other not.

2

David M

I didn’t realize how old Ginger Baker was until he died last Sunday. The guy was 80! Clapton is 74 now! It’s so strange to think of septuagenarian and octogenarian rock stars.

Mitch

Supposedly in the next 5 years a bunch of famous rockstars are gonna die of old age

David M

Is Bill Haley still alive?

He died in 1981 at the age of 55 like a proper rock star.

Mitch

they all seem to have been born during the war years (ie not baby boomers)

and good music wasn't made after 1978

Cerberus

@DavidM So you say.

Mitch

2:06 AM

I mean it's OK, but not great

@Cerberus He did.

Cerberus

I think so, too.

David M

Again, it’s my talent for polarization.

It’s what has made me a good photographer, too

@Mitch I can think a of a fair amount of good music that came after 1978, but I can definitely say that it didn’t occur between 78 and 90.

Nirvana’s Nevermind was 1991. And, I would say that it ushered in a new era of good music.

Mitch

@DavidM Pretty good, but great?

People fall over themselves about David Grohl, but I don't get it.

maybe some one-offs

Cerberus

@DavidM Oh, you used Polaroid cameras.

Mitch

Oh. Michael Jackson. Van Halen. Early 80's.

David M

2:17 AM

@Cerberus Polarizing lens filters. It was a bad joke. I did use Polaroid cameras, too. But not much.

Mitch

@DavidM that was almost 30 years ago. I can't think of anything since.

David M

@Mitch I think you’ll find some cool stuff in the Alt Rock genre these days.

@Mitch I’m not a huge Foo Fighters fan. Their music is decent, but I never bought their albums back when people still bought albums. And, I have downloaded only a sparse handful of their songs.

Mitch

Beyoncé? She's a great person but I'm struggling to remember more than one song.

David M

Her only song that I care for is Crazy In Love

Mitch

That's the one

David M

2:20 AM

My GF is 34, so she tends to introduce me to some of the more mainstream pop music that I tend to ignore on my own.

Mitch

OMG young people and their music

David M

I really detest Lady Gaga

Mitch

Her music is OK (but overplayed). Nicki Minah did the crazy dresses before her.

But the meat dress was classic.

David M

Josephine Baker did it before they did by almost a century.

We forgot about Guns n Roses. They definitely had some good stuff in the 80s.

Mitch

She didn't do a meat dress.

David M

2:24 AM

She did a feather dress

Mitch

you can't eat a feather dress

David M

I’ll give her props for the meat dress. But, her voice and presence annoy me.

Mitch

but if Josephine Baker did that, then she has my respect.

David M

@Mitch You can eat it. You just would prefer not to.

Mitch

You gotta do it for it to count

David M

2:26 AM

I don’t think Gaga could eat her meat dress afterwards. Sliced that thin, it was probably rancid by the time she got home.

Mitch

quicker to grill

David M

HBO did a great biopic of Baker a few years back.

Mitch

Let me guess, no meat?

David M

All of the dresses were meatless, but not vegan

Mitch

well, that's something

Kanye West

Eminem

JayZ

Biggie Smalls

Cerberus

2:35 AM

Hmm a dress made of very thin Serrano ham.

That could be delicious.

Clingy, though.

Mitch

@Cerberus mmmm

that deserves another m

Cerberus

M.

You'd have to take care not to be eaten along with your dress.

Mitch

wild dogs

Cerberus

Guilty.

Mitch

@Cerberus leaving little to the imagination

> as she accepted the award from presenter Cher, she joked, "I never thought I'd be asking Cher to hold my meat purse."

Oh behave!

David M

2:40 AM

@Cerberus I edited that question. It’s probably way too scientific for ELU. But, I think the guy is well intentioned in asking it here, so I went out of my way to help him. And, I gave him an answer, too.

Cerberus

@Mitch Unless you stuff it with goat's cheese.

@DavidM Well, done.

Mitch

@Cerberus Also ... mmmmm

David M

@Cerberus I fear that I’m in the minority, but I’ve never cared for goat cheese. I love many sheep’s milk cheeses, though.

Mitch

goat cheese is a bit chalky

David M

It’s more the funkiness that turns me off

Mitch

2:42 AM

funky cheese

sounds like a comedy rap song

Cerberus

@Mitch I know.

David M

I’m also not a fan of blue cheeses, either.

Cerberus

@DavidM Poor you.

Mitch

get down, get down, to the funky cheese town

David M

De gustibus non disputandum est . . .

Mitch

2:43 AM

@DavidM They probably don't care for you either.

Cerberus

By the way, did you know that 250 people have died taking a picture of themselves with their phones?

Mitch

Nothing personal.

Cerberus

In the world thus far, I think.

Mitch

Well, actually, probably very personal.

David M

@Mitch That’s really the problem. I think they’re very selfish like that.

Mitch

2:44 AM

@Cerberus So far.

What are they all waiting for?

Cerberus

@Mitch Thus far, so far?

Mitch

All the other people taking selfies.

Why are they staying so far back from the ledge?

CLoser

the picture will look much better with you closer to the edge.

Just one more step

Cerberus

What's the difference between thus far and so far in the context of time?

Mitch

yes

just a bit more

David M

Reminds me of the joke about the rooftop bar and the guy who claims you can jump off it

Mitch

2:46 AM

@Cerberus 'thus far' is fancy talk for 'so far'

@DavidM Is that like the one about 'your aunt is on the roof'?

David M

No. That’s different

I know that one, too

Mitch

then tell it

it's Joke Monday's here at ELU

meanwhile,

> [the designer] specifically chose cuts to ensure that the dress kept well. Flank steak was chosen as the material to use, with the meat coming from his family butcher

Don't people make dresses out of flowers anymore?

David M

A guy walks into a roof top bar and mentions how windy it seems when you lean over the rail. One of the guys at the bar says, “It’s so windy that you can jump off the side and it blows you right back into the bar.” So, he demonstrates. Jumps over the side and blows right back into the bar. Does it 3 more times to prove his point. Then he tells the new guy, “Give it a try!!” The new guy runs over leaps into the air and splats onto the ground 30 stories below.

Mitch

haha that ws funny

David M

The bartender looks up from the glass he’s drying and says, “Hey Superman, you know you’re an asshole when you’re drunk, right?”

Mitch

2:50 AM

because the guy is dead

David M

It was too long to fit the punch line. SE Chat wouldn’t let me type it all in.

Mitch

I did my duty to mess it up as much as I could.

David M

Yeah, u did.

Mitch

you're welcome

that's my super

Cerberus

@Mitch I thought you might be correcting me, OK.

Mitch

2:52 AM

power

David M

@Mitch The joke is on the roof.

Mitch

@Cerberus Oh. Sorry. I meant "Yeah, so far". Not " "So far" "

Irish is crazy

Is that a pun in Dutch?

Cerberus

I think it's a pun in Mandarin.

Mitch

Oh

Everything is a pun in Mandarin

David M

@Mitch That’s because it’s tonal.

Mitch

3:02 AM

石室詩士施氏, shí shì shī shì shī shì, A poet named Shi lived in a stone room,

嗜獅, 誓食十獅. shì shī, shì shí shí shī. fond of lions, he swore that he would eat ten lions.

etc etc

he ends up on the roof

oh it ends with the lions all dead

食時, 始識十獅屍, shí shí, shǐ shì shì shí shī shī, At the time of the meal, he began to realize that the ten lion corpses

實十石獅屍. shí shí shí shī shī. were in fact were ten stone lions.

試釋是事. shì shì shì shì Try to explain this matter.

No. You try to explain it.

Cerberus

Hilarious.

It's even funnier in Western Cantonese.

Mitch

It's pretty dark

yellowbridge.com/onlinelit/stonelion.php

poor lions

but for basically a meat dress of poetry it's awesome

OK big day tomorrow

David M

Was the ad for the Trump ending an Obama Era program part of the poem?

Mitch

Toodle-oo, kangaroo

why you still here, red tailed dear?

David M

After a while, crocodile . . .

Mitch

3:10 AM

how about now, you big fat cow

go jump in a lake , you majestic drake

marcellothearcane

6:03 AM

@Mitch They don't mean just the cheesmakers. It's clearly anyone in the dairy industry

David M

2:29 PM

Anyone else think that we close more questions than we answer on this site?

Robusto

3:34 PM

@RegDwigнt: Think your MuseScore folks are idiots? Well, have you read YouTube comments lately? I think they're in the same ballpark.

English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams

►

Top comment is "Wow, the flute part starting at 65 is SOOOO HARD" with 70 replies whining about that. Well, it's hard if you're a rank beginner, sure. But you can't call yourself a flutist if you can't play melodies in the third octave. Try Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie, the altissimo flute parts, if you want hard. And even those are fairly straightforward once you get them under your fingers. Geezis.

RegDwigнt

5:32 PM

Accent Expert Explains How to Tell Accents Apart | WIRED

►

@Robusto oh I've read YouTube before. Don't think I will again. Had a very similar experience concerning a piano part.

There was that one track in Nintendo's recent Breath of the Wild game. Playing during the final battle, with very fast piano sixteenths that sounded very impressive for sure. Except of course that neither the composer (Manaka Kataoka) nor the pianist (my bad, don't even know the name) are morons, and the sixteenths are actually exceptionally easy to play. Mostly just arpeggios strung together.

But yeah there were a billion comments from Nintendo fanboys saying how impressive the piano part was and hard and fast and everything. They'd probably compare it to Horowitz playing Beethoven at quadruple tempo, except of course they couldn't because none of them had ever heard either name. That kind of discussion, you know.

So naturally I made the mistake of replying to just one of them, "Actually this is really easy on a piano. You'd know if you played the piano."

Well you can imagine the rest.

That was like a year ago maybe. I'm still getting replies once a week like.

The least inane of them all having been "I do play the piano. This is too fast for me." To which I replied, "well go practice, then".

The average reply being more like "you fucking suck moron". To which I replied "right on, I do suck. And yet I can play this no problem. So what do you expect from a professional pianist whom Nintendo picked out of all the pianists in the world to play the most central track in their most important flagship franchise."

And so on and so forth. You get the point.

If I may remind you, we're talking about a fucking arpeggiated chord here.

Specifically written by a stellar composer who plays the instrument herself to be idiomatic to said instrument.

Cerberus is right. Never argue with idiots.

RegDwigнt

5:58 PM

@Robusto also from that discussion you linked:

> try being a percussionist, waiting sometimes over 100 bars for your clash but then missing it lol

Well I can't really say you're really trying to be a percussionist, then.

I don't know what it is that you're doing, but you're certainly not trying to be a percussionist.

That "lol" at the end gives away the game.

Can you so much as imagine the percussionist of Chicago Symphony or Berliner Philharmoniker ending their sentence with a "lol" instead of a full stop.

Some fucking kid in fifth grade who doesn't know which way around to hold the cymbals. Or how to spell cymbals.

RegDwigнt

9:02 PM

4

Q: You see a boat filled with people

You see a boat filled with people. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don't see a single person on the boat. Why?

riddle

What on Earth is this sister site.

It's awesome.

Anyone can post anything at all.

Yay.

Do they want to have half our questions maybe?

I think I should ask.

Indeed maybe I could even ask on the site itself!

> You see a site filled with very puzzling questions. It has not sunk, but when you look again you don't see a single question on it that's not been migrated from ELU. Why?

Cerberus

Hello.

David M

9:50 PM

@RegDwigнt I've been looking at this site. It's interesting, people post comments encrypted . . . Also, they have a way of hiding spoilers. Not sure how to do that in markup or if it's special to their site.

Cerberus

10:24 PM

@DavidM Click "improve this answer" or "edit" to see the code, how it's done.

David M

10:41 PM

@Cerberus I will at some point. I didn't join the exchange yet because I don't need more time sucks.

Cerberus

@DavidM You don't need to.

I haven't joined it either, but I could see the code.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…