« first day (624 days earlier)      last day (4281 days later) » 

2:00 PM
Some of the words are spelled a bit phonetically :)
 
I'm still very impressed.
 
0
Q: Is this sentence correct?

fish Vote Down requires 125 reputation Shouldn't it be "reputations"? Why or why not?

 
My son read a book by himself last night without help.
 
Bah, I wanted to close as gen-ref, but of course Wiktionary says that the plural of reputation is reputations.
 
2:01 PM
But he refuses to try to write anything. I'm not sure why.
@RegDwightАΑA It's a fish/fishes distinction.
 
@KitFox It's funny, my daughter was writing before she was reading
 
@KitFox Philosophy book?
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, kids often learn them separately.
 
@KitFox of course. But I'm pretty sure the entry on fish explains that distinction.
The entry on reputation does not.
 
@RegDwightАΑA So we can answer it then.
 
It doesn't so much as mention the word "uncountable".
 
OK, I helped a little bit, but he read almost the whole thing.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 or fix the Wiktionary entry.
 
i answered. it should clear things up
 
... and you're well on your way to a Reversal badge, it would seem.
 
2:05 PM
Actually is reputation being used as a mass noun there, or is the sentence just using a kind of short-form grammar? Shouldn't it be, more properly, something like "Voting down requires a reputation score of 125" or "... requires 125 reputation points" or something?
 
He also correctly stated why he thought Gerald and Piggie hesitated to play with Snake before he turned the page for the big reveal.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Good question.
 
How many vocabularies does a native speaker have in average?
 
> It is somewhat unusual in this case that there is no count noun to serve as the measure word
It's all right there in the answer, I think.
 
@FrankScience only one. it may be a big vocabulary, though
 
Indeed, you wouldn't say "this cake requires 125 butter and 1.5 water".
 
2:07 PM
@RegDwightАΑA So it's unusual that the sentence given doesn't use a measure word? Or it's unusual that one doesn't exist
 
@JSBձոգչ Oh, I used the wrong word.
 
@RegDwightАΑA You might if you had an implied system that automatically measures those things for you
 
How many words does a native speaker know in average?
 
@FrankScience That's impossible to answer
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 We have one, and it's way more popular and universally understandable than any system for measuring reputation.
 
2:08 PM
@RegDwightАΑA we do?
 
In fact, I bet everyone would understand what "125 butter" means.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 approximately.
 
And yet noöne would use that shortcut.
 
@FrankScience Well, it depends on what you mean by "word"
 
@FrankScience depending on how you count, between 10,000 and 100,000
 
2:09 PM
Either way, OVER 9000.
 
10,000 words, but maybe closer to 100,000 lexemes
 
We have some data right here in chat.
 
since lexemes includes multi-word idioms that are not semantically transparent
 
@RegDwightАΑA you have a system with an implied unit of butter and water? you mean the mL?
 
BTW, i added more examples to my answer
 
2:10 PM
Therefore I should recite more than 10000 words?
 
@FrankScience why would you want to recite them?
that would be a really boring recital
 
@JSBձոգչ Really? So few words? I feel incredibly articulate now.
 
Several members of the ELU community have taken a vocabulary test and the results ranged between 14,400 and 42,300 words for native speakers, and between 25,000 and 34,400 words for non-native ones. The variance was large enough to render any average number utterly useless.
 
And no wonder noöne ever knows what I am saying.
 
@JSBձոգչ My vocabulary is very low.
 
2:12 PM
@FrankScience i think you meant memorize, not recite
recite means "to say out loud"
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 you know exactly what I mean. If you read "for this cake, you need 125 butter", then you will think it's a typo and the grams have been omitted. You wouldn't take it to mean inches or gallons or whatnot.
Well, at least more people would than with reputation, which is my actual point.
 
@RegDwightАΑA it would take me a long time to think of grams of butter. but i'm an american, and our butter isn't measured in grams
 
@JSBձոգչ see my actual point above.
Whatever you would think of is fair game as well, as 300 million other people would think likewise.
Unlike with reputation, which is usually not measured in numbers to begin with.
 
Maybe. It's so painful for me to memorize such words. Some words are extremely long, say philanthropy, omnivorous, euphonious.
 
@RegDwightАΑA No, I wouldn't think grams, because in North America we measure our butter by volume.
 
2:15 PM
Geez you're lagging behind.
 
I was commenting on JSB's answer
 
I see an "@RegDwight".
 
my vocab score is 35,600. pretty good?
 
I replied to you before reading the transcript becasue in the meantime I was commenting on JSB's answer.
 
I think you're behind Cerberus.
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 ah.
 
2:17 PM
@JSBձոգչ Yes.
 
that second list had some really obscure stuff on it.
 
Actually you're slightly ahead.
Jul 17 '11 at 17:46, by Cerberus
34,400, but the test is biased towards classicists.
 
I can't find my score. I feel like it was around 30K.
 
I don't actually remember mine either. I think I got a rinky-dink 25k.
 
Really? I can't believe it.
 
2:21 PM
We took the test in the War Room.
 
You speak English better than most English speakers I know.
 
in War Metal Tyrant, Jul 17 '11 at 17:45, by RegDwight
So we have Vitaly at 25k+, myself at 30k+, z7sg at 33k, Cerberus at 34k+ and Rob at 42k+.
@KitFox you never heard me actually speak.
 
I have in my dreams.
Har har har.
 
Apr 21 '11 at 20:17, by RegDwight
I have an accent in every language, however slight, but you can't pin it down.
 
Now I am intrigued.
Can I hear your English somewhere?
 
2:23 PM
IRL.
 
I scored 32,300
There were some words on that list that I wasn't 100% sure of the meaning. And lots that I saw in the "Word a day" emails but couldn't recall the meaning.
 
Yeah it's really hard to be honest about clicking or not clicking, or knowing what honest would be in the first place.
 
@RegDwightАΑA Um, yeah? You mean I should just come visit?
 
I think Jasper tried to push the envelope on purpose, both ways, and got 8k on the lower end, and 18k on the upper end.
So I guess the results are really only useful to the researchers themselves, in aggregated form.
Everyone else just gets a more or less meaningful number which on itself is completely meaningless.
 
@RegDwightАΑA Yeah I tried to be honest and not click if I couldn't immediately give a short definition for it.
 
2:27 PM
I have just retaken the test and scored 33K.
 
@Vitaly you've learned so much!
probably from hanging around here
 
@KitFox we have room for half a dozen people, but it's a long way. So more than anything I was plain answering your question.)))
 
Apparently 22 new words per day on average…
 
I can't find my score. I must have taken it in the second round of testing.
 
@Vitaly One word per hour! And only one of them was Georgian sunset!
 
2:29 PM
Oh! That reminds me that I am supposed to get a headset for my computer. bbl
 
in War Metal Tyrant, Nov 22 '11 at 15:01, by Kitḫ
Level 5, Score 5136.
Hope that helps.
 
...or sooner.
@RegDwightАΑA Hahaha.
I am pretty sure I have used more than 5136 distinct words in this very chat alone.
 
Well didn't you know that words you use are subtracted from your total?
That's why you can't find your score. It's below zero by now.
 
Oh! That makes so much more sense than why this effing jQuery isn't working. punches jQuery in the mouth
 
How did you extend your vocabulary?
 
2:34 PM
@KitFox The issues are related. jQuery secretly subtracts itself, constantly and permanently.
You can only fix it by adding more jQuery, constantly and permanently.
 
Oh noes!!
 
Feb 2 '11 at 21:26, by Vitaly
I care enough to fix my nonsense, but I just don't know better. I have been studying English in earnest for 3 to 4 years at best, so my command of the language is kind of limited. :-/
 
@FrankScience read. watch movies. watch tv. talk to native speakers.
 
@FrankScience every native speaker learns a word a day. Simply by being exposed to other native speakers.
You want to know more words, get yourself exposed to more words.
 
@Vitaly Are you serious? You've only studied English for four years or so?
 
2:35 PM
So let's assume I started with a thousand words or so; that gives 18 words/day for the first 25K words. Consistent with the 22 words/day figure I just got.
@KitFox Look at the date.
 
@Vitaly Yeah, I compensated.
 
@KitFox well you studied English for just a couple years, too.
 
What about a book which consists of words and explanations?
 
A dictionary?
Some people do that.
Some native speakers, even.
But you'll probably find it boring.
 
I studied French for five or six years and had nowhere near the competency that Vitaly demonstrates. And I was considered gifted by my profs.
 
2:37 PM
If anything, spice it up by reading a reverse dictionary, or an etymological one.
 
@FrankScience If you are a writer, you could try writing in English. Trying to express the same ideas that you would in your native tongue will spur you to learn English vocabulary that is more likely to stick.
 
@RegDwightАΑA No
 
@RegDwightАΑA Interesting factoid about Library Boy...
 
Whatever you do, start by reading Alice in Wonderland. Otherwise you'll never understand English, native speaker or not.
 
That's just mean.
 
2:42 PM
Truth hurts.
 
Not as mean as me not having Fritos right now though.
 
I agree with @RegDwight.
 
@KitFox That's rather average.
 
Exactly, my friend.
Which seems also to be perfectly normal.
Gah! Stupid Canadian quarter in my desk!
 
It all started with a Canadian quarter in the door. I felt hatred I had never felt before.
 
2:49 PM
@RegDwightАΑA On the internet, nobody knows you're a pineapple.
 
Except for Robusto, of course.
Er hat es im Urin.
 
-32
Q: Why is the establishment allowed to stifle my ability to campaign?

Evan CarrollIn this question, the following verbiage was repeatedly removed -- this inhibited my ability to answer the question. We all know Evan Carroll isn't yet a moderator on English.StackOverflow, but he ought to be and he'll win the election if enough people vote for Evan Carroll next week! I'd l...

New record for downvotes in ELU?
 
According to Kit, yes.
I held the record for the most downvoted answer for a long time.
But it's probably gone by now as well.
 
I subtracted my own.
@RegDwightАΑA What, no link?
 
OK, I think I have lost my mind.
 
2:56 PM
Good morning my fellow voters.
 
Holla.
 
@Robusto sorry was answering to Evan. I need my Bore of the Day.
 
Howdy.
 
But of course no link still.
 
@KitFox Where did you last see it?
 
3:00 PM
Which answer I mean is one of the greater mysteries of this chat. I bring it up every six months or so. See you in January.
 
@MetaEd Somewhere around when this jQuery works for everything else so why not here?
 
Wow, and Evan has answered already!
That being has no life.
 
Clearly, this is fair.
 
There's no chance in hell he'd get a notification that fast.
@EvanCarroll Of course it is.
We've been waiting for you here for ages.
 
Yea, nothing like a moderator insulting a nominee in chat because he raises awareness to the flagrant corruption and abuses of the system.
 
3:04 PM
So, is that why you want to become a moderator?
 
(a) Grab reigns of power, (b) Hand them over to the people.
Exactly.
 
Do elaborate on the (b) part.
How are you going to achieve that?
 
As a moderator, I refuse to lock content in a mutilated state while that content is up for discussion.
 
Is that all?
 
Innocent until proven guilty. Raise topic in chat, say nothing, give people time to discuss and think about it.
 
3:05 PM
How does that hand the reigns of power to the people?
 
I take it you're a one-issue candidate, then.
 
@EvanCarroll I left a comment. You know my stance on the issue. It was only after you started an edit war, and only after a discussion with other mods, that the answer was locked.
 
I'll also say this, I'd never lambast a user for merely getting a notification and answering it too fast. What are you, a kid?
 
i'm in favor of taking the reins of power and using them to flog the people to death
vote for change! vote for JSB!
3
 
I didn't start an edit war. People kept mutilating my answer without asking me or telling me why they did it.
So, I just reverted that edit.
It's hardly a "war".
 
3:07 PM
@EvanCarroll actually they did tell you.
It's all out there. Everyone can see it.
 
@JSBձոգչ Not reins. Reigns. This is all about reigning and power, apparently.
 
Yea, but then I asked where was that against the rules and they just said, essentially, EDITOR DISCRETION.
Who gives them that discretion?
They weren't elected -- as I soon will be.
 
The last part was unnecessary. It totally blows your cover as a troll.
 
Keep calling me names, that's ok. I'm the bigger man; and, soon I'll be your co-moderator.
 
Very good!
 
3:10 PM
Ssssssh.
 
What happens if some communist mutants prevent you from getting elected? Certainly you will continue to complain to said mutants?
 
@EvanCarroll You want odds?
 
Robusto: assuming no corruption -- I have no doubts. Assuming the state of affairs, may as well leave it up to the decay of uranium.
 
Okay, so you will continue to complain to said mutants.
Perhaps we should go argue in comments again. You seem to answer those way faster.
 
@RegDwight AAA, I get this feeling you think you're a ninja turtle...
 
3:19 PM
I don't think; I am.
Read Descartes.
 
There you go. So you're a delusional tyrant. I was right all along.
 
Also, you misspelled АΑA.
 
@RegDwightАΑA There you go again, putting Descarte before the arse.
 
Use copypaste in case you're not sure how to type.
 
Could you be more cantankerous?
 
3:21 PM
@EvanCarroll you can't say you were right all along, because you never said that.
I, on the other hand, did.
So it is me, in point of fact, who was right all along.
May 5 '11 at 17:55, by RegDwight
This is not a bagel-loving democracy. It's a malevolent pryanik-obsessed dictatorship.
Note the date.
 
Sssssssh.
 
suppresses giggles
 
And soon, very soon, I will heave two more pryaniks into office, then the days of All Good on this site will be over for good, or more accurately: for evil.
@MetaEd okay we get that I'm a turtle, but what are you, a snake?
 
evil!
 
You know, Evan once complained, two years ago, that he couldn't bribe people who can generate exp out of thin air. We'll put an end to that!
In fact you can start bribing me today, effective immediately.
I take all your tögrögs, and more.
 
3:34 PM
"tögrögs" -- you show your true colors. That isn't even English. I think you're the troll.
 
See, that is why you should come to this chat more often. Or the main site, for that matter.
Everyone here knows that English is not even my third language.
But what do you want from a turtle?
 
man, the hawks outside my window are really going to town today
they've been keening constantly all day
 
Does your native language have a word for "justice" and do you belief the wharf hypothesis?
 
I am not a fan of The Next Generation, sorry.
 
i don't believe in wharves, only in piers
 
3:36 PM
I'm a pee-er!
 
@JSBձոգչ including piers anthony?
 
And in order to know if my native language has a word for "justice" I would have to know two things: what my native language is, and what that word "justice" means.
 
And I think you mean Whorf hypothesis.
 
@KitFox see my comment above. I just assumed it to be a typo.
 
Reg is a language orphan.
 
3:38 PM
I think his father spelled it "Wharf." =P
 
@RegDwightАΑA Ah, the Typo-Wharf Hypothesis. I see.
2
 
Yea, same substance, except spelled with an 'a'.
 
My mother, the turtle, left me at the age of zero. Never saw her since, she's all the way down somewhere. My father, the ninja, was never around to begin with.
 
Which one donated the gene for tyranny?
 
How would one go about finding that out?
 
3:41 PM
Oh, tyranny is on the mitochondrial DNA, so you got it from your mum.
 
If it's on the mitochondrial DNA, you got it from a bacterium.
We've been there, Kit. Tsk tsk tsk.
 
Six of one, half dozen of the other.
Just means you're descended from Clostridium.
 
Sounds Italian. I like pizza.
 
QED
 
me, I spend a lot of time pickin' flowers up on Choctaw Ridge / and drop 'em into the muddy water off the Talahatchee Bridge
 
3:52 PM
@RegDwightАΑA I'm a Parselmouth, maybe.
 
bonjour, @Mahnax
 
@cornbreadninja Bonjour!
 
have you any melted currency?
 
Eh? The plastic stuff?
 
Greetings Mahnax!
 
3:53 PM
Hello, Evan.
 
@MetaEd I am not familiar with Harry Potter. Even though I bought a LEGO set just today. So I imagined a UPS worker delivering parcels orally.
 
@Mahnax yes; I've heard it melts to some degree (pun intended)
 
@cornbreadninja Nah, I haven't any, myself.
 
Well this is fun and all but I gotta run. Right when I was going to ask Evan if he was still reading the Bible for a living. Too bad.
 
I could take up the standard for you.
 
3:56 PM
Please do.
 
I'm not sure what to expect. Is that the point? Try to make something weird happen?
 
Try to discredit the opponent so the establishment stays in control.
 
@KitFox Just abide by this room's description and thou shalt be fine.
 
Good riddance!
 
OK. I shall endeavour to do my best.
Um, so Evan, are you still reading the Bible for a living?
 
3:58 PM
@EvanCarroll we shall not try where you have long succeeded.
2
Q: Are the words "soul" and "spirit" synonymous?

GigiliIs there any difference between the two? Or do both refer to the part of body that it believed to exist after you die?

6
Q: Difference between "spirit" and "soul"

kirazWhat is the difference between spirit and soul? Is the word soul used for only human beings? For instance, He [Descartes] thought the brain worked as a center for the spirits of the soul.

Jul 24 at 15:57, by RegDwight АΑA
Ouvert et haut !
 
@Evan, I am not sure why he was gong to ask you about the Bible reading. Are you a preacher or something?
 
@KitFox Sapir-Whorff, IIRC.
 
@Robusto pssht details.
 
@EvanCarroll What if we like the establishment and don't like the opposition?
 
I am so glad you are here to take over for Reg.
 
4:07 PM
Shhhh.
 
Hi @MetaEd. You're so shushy that I missed you the first few times.
 
Just for the record, Sapir-Whorff has been completely debunked. The fact that a language doesn't have a future tense, say, doesn't preclude its speakers from knowing that tomorrow exists and getting to their dentist appointment on Thursday.
 
That was very Meta, Ed.
 
@Cerberus Hi. I'm writing an essay on Biblical exegesis which requires looking up several old Jewish and Christian commentaries. The Jewish ones I can read because they're in Hebrew or Aramaic, and of course the more modern ones are in English (or German), but some of the older Christian commentaries are in Latin, which I can't read. Would you be willing to look at a passage of one of the commentaries (by Alfonso Tostado) on Google Books and tell me what he writes there?
 
4:17 PM
@RegDwightАΑA link?
 
@Robusto bows
 
@Robusto not -completely-. The strong hypothesis sure, the weaker one ...only weakly. There's been research (not BS research but substantive stuff) that shows that people who speak some goofy language in Australia that has verb inflections that alwyas have to specify compass direction, well, those people are really good at doing mazes blind, or something like that.
Also people speaking gendered languages (like Romance) wil have some real-life gender association with words that really are neutral.
 
@Mitch Sounds like fetishism to me.
 
@Robusto well...hmm...I don't think that was the intent of the research, but unintended consequences?
 
@Mitch This is why all research should be done with a condom on.
 
4:45 PM
what is the meaning of over the years ?
here is a sentence .
How much has boxing in Yerma changed over the years ?
 
@Robusto face masks and venting too
 
@Pratik It refers to something happening over a long period of time.
 
ok .i also thought that
 
@Pratik But it usually refers to a person's lifetime, or one generation's experience vs. another's.
 
Do you see vijinder bettering his olympics bronze in london ?
what is the meaning of "bettering" in above sentence .
 
4:54 PM
Improving on. As in getting gold or silver instead of bronze.
 
"getting better than a bronze"
 
ok
 
Yes.
 
It's not standard English, but it is recognizable. (sport's writing tends to be 'expansive' in its use of English)
 
@Mitch If you can be bested, why can't you also be bettered? :D
 
5:04 PM
Alright everyone, I'm getting back to work. Remember, come election: Vote Freedom, Vote Evan Carroll!
 
Fight the power. Got it.
makes note to struggle against oppressors
7
 
Stop struggling! How can I oppress you if you struggle?
 
So I have a challenging SQL question. Any sequelae in here?
@Robusto I just made a note. I haven't got it on my schedule yet. Sheesh.
 
Sorry. Too many DBs hurt my ears.
 
5:23 PM
@Robusto Maybe you can be bested or bettered, but EC can't.
@Robusto Oh...I think quite the opposite. What fun is oppressing with out a struggler?
@Robusto 'not standard English' = 'probably not in a dictionary but I can't be bothered to check'
@KitFox ask it. no guarantees. if it involves a join...
 
I figured it out. I just did a self-join on offset row numbers.
 
...pfft, joins are for sissies.
@KitFox oh.
 
Thanks though.
 
5:48 PM
Many of them were censored, so was my proposal for a "Muslim Worship Leading and Service Design". That is just an example of a divisive Christian ruling class though. I'm a scholar of the Bible, I've read it often and consider myself a professional Bible reader. — Evan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 18:19
@Mitch Robusto asked already.
I can only tell you that I do what Jesus would have me doEvan Carroll Jul 7 '10 at 18:38
 
Oh dear. I think I might have a new idol.
Or idle.
Or idyll.
 
Jul 4 at 13:18, by RegDwight ΒВB
Billy or Eric?
 
Hey, don't get jealous.
There's plenty of room in my heart for a fluffy owl friend.
 
user19161
May I have your opinion on a credit card question on this site?
 
user19161
2
A: What does "credit card sized" mean?

Jasper LoyCredit card sized simply means it is approximately the size of a credit card. In this case, the usage is somewhat unfortunate as it does not approximate the thickness very well. There is no idiomatic usage of the term.

 
user19161
5:59 PM
I don't have any sources to back me up on this, other than common sense.
 

« first day (624 days earlier)      last day (4281 days later) »