English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

1:08 AM

TIL this slang phrase en español: además te prende (of a drink or other intoxicating comestible), meaning "it gets you buzzed."

Robusto

1:19 AM

Español de Colombia

tchrist

2:35 AM

@Robusto I haven't heard that expression used that way, but I can see how it could work out to that effect.

> Del lat. vulg. prendĕre.

1. tr. Asir, agarrar, sujetar algo.

2. tr. Sujetar una cosa a otra mediante un alfiler, unas puntadas, etc.

3. tr. Privar de libertad a una persona, principalmente poniéndola en la cárcel por delito cometido u otra causa.

4. tr. Dicho de una cosa: Hacer presa en otra.

5. tr. Dicho del macho: Cubrir o fecundar.

6. tr. Encender el fuego, la luz u otra cosa combustible.

7. tr. Adornar, ataviar, engalanar a una mujer. U. t. c. prnl.

8. tr. desus. Tomar, recibir.

9. intr. Dicho de una planta: Arraigar en la tierra.

Robusto

@tchrist For all I know it's Colombian slang. But it probably has more currency than that, I should think.

tchrist

I remember a Chileno stoner in college in Spain who had all kinds of cute expressions I no longer recall.

Robusto

Yeah, "buzz" words are notoriously ephemeral.

tchrist

And somewhere I have a notebook with pages and pages of street slang like that in longhand, but it's only intended to make sense in Spain.

@Robusto Feelin’ groovy lately?

Robusto

Far out, man.

tchrist

2:39 AM

Hey I ain't the Man!

"Dope will get you through times of no bread better than bread will get you through times with no dope."

OF course, that's not a baker's bread.

Robusto

I remember when marijuana was grass or dope or herb or reefer. Nobody calls it dope nowadays. It's all bud or herb.

@tchrist Yeah, Those Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' mantra.

tchrist

The children say weed.

Robusto

Funny thing is, now that it's legal to get "weed" and it's all this zowie powerful shit they've been working on for decades like they're trying to find a cure for cancer ... and I really don't have any desire for it anymore.

I find just being in harmony with myself is a plenty good buzz.

tchrist

Oh is it? I keep hearing that. But I only know old folks (like my 80-something neighbors) and they aren't interested in getting shit-faced, just relaxed.

Robusto

Trouble is, you don't get the relaxation without the buzz, even with the toned-down psychedelics.

tchrist

2:46 AM

I seem to have buzzy tinnitus most of the time even stone cold sober.

Robusto

The cannabis indica, with high CBD and low THC, still gets me wasted.

tchrist

Left ear. I have substantial hearing loss there, but not deaf. But it's always noisy.

Robusto

I mean, it's pleasurable and all, but I really don't need it.

@tchrist Well, that sucks. I worry about anything ever happening to my ears.

Where did that come from?

tchrist

No. Fucking. Idea.

Robusto

I can still hear over 12 KHZ in both ears, which is pretty damn good for my age.

tchrist

2:48 AM

I had substantial earaches as a child, with scarring, and they told Mom I'd need hearing aids. But they were wrong and I was just perfect for at least 30 years.

I can't.

Seriously missing highs in the left ear.

And not as high as that in the right ear. Usually women retain highs better.

Robusto

Bummer.

tchrist

Music still sounds fine.

Robusto

Music always sounds fine. ^_^

tchrist

I just find trying to have conversations in noisy rooms impossible.

It all runs together and I can't separate out the threads.

I have a lot of trouble figuring out what direction something came from, especially if it's right in front of me or right behind me, because I always hear it louder in the right ear so misreact.

Robusto

@tchrist Well, but did you ever? I remember being at rock concerts with people shouting in each other's ears trying to get something across. I would usually say "Shut up and listen."

tchrist

2:51 AM

@Robusto No, I don't think I ever did.

But the center=right thing is new in the past 20 years.

Robusto

The downside is I can still hear every fucking dog in the neighborhood that wants to bark in the wee hours.

I've always thought we should have earlids like we have eyelids.

tchrist

I sleep with earplugs. Every. Single. Night.

I keep them in my pocket when I (used to) travel. I call them my thinking pills.

Robusto

I have boxes of those.

tchrist

My cats know to climb all over me when they want to wake me up. Well, or come up to my face and screech.

Robusto

Yeah, our cats sleep in the laundry room. They are way too loud to be allowed to complain all night.

tchrist

2:58 AM

They don't complain all night like my grandparents' cat can.

But they do seem to like to roughhouse on top of me.

Robusto

Yeah, that only goes so far.

tchrist

I sometimes send them downstairs to play and shut the door.

Robusto

We keep the master bedroom door closed because we don't want cat dander all over the bed.

I also don't let them in my office. Because wires &c.

tchrist

Yeah, the one of them is way too agnawing.

Robusto

You never know when they're going to get a firecracker up their ass about some wire that insulted them.

The Count attacked a power cord for a weather unit I have on the end table and now I no longer have a working weather unit.

tchrist

3:04 AM

The one who gnaws on things is super string-playful. Always pulling at the tie-cords for my bathrobe, or my shoelaces, etc.

Robusto

Pro tip: loafers.

tchrist

It's not like he's trying to get my attention. He does this when I'm not even there. He's always playing with things like that. This is the one that is forever bringing home baby snakes.

Robusto

Heh. We have a big walled-in back yard with cat fencing along the top of the walls. They still get lizards (and too many birds), but thankfully no snakes.

My brother helped me put the fencing in and he said it would never work. But it does.

The only time it didn't work is when stray cats got in and couldn't get out. Our cats lit a fire in them and they went up six to seven feet of sheer wall.

tchrist

This one climbs trees on my property to jump onto roofs.

So yes, cats can do that if they want to badly enough.

Robusto

Gravity Defying Cat - The Slow Mo Guys

►

They don't jump like deer. They just go straight up the wall.

tchrist

3:10 AM

I know. I see it daily.

This is why you can never fence out a mountain lion.

Well, not practically.

Robusto

It's funny, but our cats just don't have the motivation. They're fine ruling their little kingdom.

It's amazing how cats shove it all in when they fight. They don't fool around. They yowl some warnings and then it's just a ball of fur and claws in the air.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected, potentially bad keyword in answer, toxic answer detected (159): Unaffected vs Uneffected by Anthony Woods Jr. on english.SE

tchrist

EZCOME EZGOBYEBYE

Robusto

KTHXBAI

tchrist

3:29 AM

What's wrong with this?

-1

A: Why are older posts being edited to remove the [etymology] tag?

For what it’s worth, I’ve just trimmed the burgeoning tag wiki down considerably. This should make it much simpler and less confusing and controversial. The abstract now reads: Questions about tracing out and describing the elements of an individual word, as well as the historical changes in for...

tchrist

3:54 AM

@Robusto “The best way to get Republicans to suddenly run back to burning money again is to put Harriet Tubman on the twenty-dollar note.”

user 85795

@tchrist absolutely nothing is wrong with it.

Unfortunately, I can't upvote or comment on my device.

Mitch

@Robusto 'buzz' strangely has staying power. My mom used it. My kids use it.

user 85795

and bees use it :P

user 85795

4:19 AM

tchrist

5:01 AM

@user85795 Dick Tracy had exactly the same problem.

user 85795

5:45 AM

sorry @tchrist I never got around to watching that movie

don't think I will either

user 85795

6:04 AM

at least, not all the new and improved versions

CowperKettle

6:21 AM

> The Valsalva maneuver is commonly practiced to induce defecation while in the sitting position on a toilet. Cardiac arrest[27] and other cardiovascular complications[28] can occur due to attempting to defecate using the Valsalva maneuver.

O_O

CowperKettle

6:32 AM

Name of the day: Praise-God Barebone

Faheem Mitha

6:59 AM

@Robusto Dogs barking is the worst. I found (back in the US, Durham NC) that white noise worked quite effectively in drowning them out. I think I used an air purifier which I happened to have.

Before that they would wake me up in the early morning, like 6 am, which really sucked.

The noise wasn't actually loud, but I think it was the quality of the sound that was the problem.

I read somewhere at the time that the human brain interprets barking as warning of danger or similar. Genetic conditioning or something. Not sure how it works.

Faheem Mitha

7:13 AM

@Robusto That's amazing. It looks like the back paws are pushing up the front paws at one point. I'm not sure if that is an optical illusion or not.

@Færd They usually keep their nasty promises. Or try to.

CowperKettle

8:25 AM

Today is very warm, minus 2C

Faheem Mitha

9:08 AM

Speaking of whatever of the day, I just came across "Proustian madeleine".

In an article about Michael J. Fox. Who I just discovered is Canadian. Maybe I knew it before and forgot.

Bohemian relativist

9:49 AM

I feel kind of disappointed that nobody sent me a personal email when I checked one of my email boxes that I hadn't checked for many months.

Faheem Mitha

Apparently Biff in the BTTF movies was based on you-know-who. According to the scriptwriter, anyway.

@Bohemianrelativist I suppose spam doesn't count.

Matt E. Эллен

@Bohemianrelativist I felt disappointed when I went to check an email box that I hadn't checked in many months and the company who hosted it had deleted it. I'd had that email address since 1999.

Bohemian relativist

@FaheemMitha my span mailbox is empty. But usually mails in spam mailbox are not written personally to me, but mass mails. I do see a ton of mails sent to my usual mailbox, but all of these are not personal - they are automatic mails either informing me my previous contacts' birthday or Twitter telling me someone has posted something or personal banks sending me useless mails.

I used this email account to contact with my teachers in my MSc school, last time in July 2019. Then I hadn't written an email to them since then, but they also didn't take initiative to write an email to me since then, either. Sigh! How disappointing that none of them misses me at all if I don't take initiative to write an email to them.

Faheem Mitha

10:06 AM

@Bohemianrelativist Unfortunately that's normal. Most people don't have the energy to do the things they don't have to do.

Bohemian relativist

I missed them when I was sent their paper to read in December and checked their profile on web.

Faheem Mitha

Plus, these are taxing times for most people.

Bohemian relativist

@FaheemMitha that means world in this world most people don't care about people they don't see in person.

Faheem Mitha

@Bohemianrelativist I think that's probably true. Except that most people don't care about most people, whether they seem them in person or not.

Bohemian relativist

so if I don't see anybody in person for an extensive period of time, that means nobody cares about me during the extensive period of time.

Faheem Mitha

10:09 AM

Impressions to the contrary are deceiving, in my experience.

@Bohemianrelativist Well, not necessarily everyone. Friends and family excluded, I suppose. If you are lucky enough to have either of those.

Bohemian relativist

@FaheemMitha but these teachers are counted as my friends, aren't they. We had been studying together in a campus for a long time.

one is my MSc supervisor, another is my quantum mechanics teacher.

Faheem Mitha

@Bohemianrelativist Whether someone is a friend is not well-defined. But it tends to mean they're there for you when you need them. Which isn't well-defined either, I suppose.

I don't think any of my "teachers" has ever been interested in me as an individual in any significant way.

I put teachers in quotes because my experience of teachers is that they don't normally do significant teaching.

Bohemian relativist

sometimes when I miss some of my previous fellows and consider whether to write an email to them, but then think whether any of them has ever missed me. If not, it's like only me would write this kind of email to a long-uncontacted person.

Faheem Mitha

10:26 AM

@Bohemianrelativist Nothing wrong with trying to get in touch with people, as long as one has the time, inclination, and energy.

Bohemian relativist

@FaheemMitha but I feel it's like it's always me who needs a long-uncontacted friend and none of them seems to have ever needed me after the common environment disappears.

Faheem Mitha

@Bohemianrelativist Sometimes it's like that. If your friend is really not interested, it would become clear soon enough.

Looks like things didn't go completely smoothly with the farmer's protest.

Bohemian relativist

now the world has been different from the past.

in the past, people in the same class or the same research group had common environmrnts.

now based on the excuse of the pandemic, all activities are conducted online, so it is difficult to have common environments with people, even those in the same classes or the same research fields.

Faheem Mitha

10:43 AM

@Bohemianrelativist I think I asked you this before, but which country are you currently in?

Actually, total chaos appears to be prevailing in Delhi.

Bohemian relativist

10:56 AM

@FaheemMitha in a country where it is snowing.

Bohemian relativist

11:14 AM

before the pandemic era befalls, people don't talk much if they don't meet personally, and people only meet personally often when there is a naturally common environment among them.

then during the pandemic era, there are no people to talk much.

CowperKettle

11:48 AM

It's interesting why aspirin can be combined with paracetamol but not with ibuprofen

Robusto

2:27 PM

@tchrist: Did you get snow last night? We did. Looks like you might have missed it.

tchrist

@Robusto Just a dusting.

Robusto

That's all we got. The band between us probably got hammered though.

Well, good. We need the moisture.

tchrist

Visible ceiling is only about 300 feet right now, so it's not clear what's going to come of that, if anything.

In Lake Geneva it's going to be snowing all day today.

Robusto

Ceiling here is higher than that. I can see more than halfway up Sandía.

Wealthy couple chartered a plane to the Yukon, took vaccines doses meant for Indigenous elders, authorities said

tchrist

> 1303 R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne 2105: He behelde a fruyt ryȝt feire and swete ‘Gourdys’ þus men clepe þe name.

It's (most immediately) from French, not Spanish.

Don't know how the French will have whittled down cucurbita into gourde though.

Oh I guess. c > g and t > d and skip the rest.

> 1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) Num. xi. 5: Into mynde come to vs the goordis [L. cucumeres], and the peponys, and the leeke, and the vniowns.

"vniowns"

> c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 203/2: Goord, cucumer, cucurbita.

Those "peponys" I would have taken for Spanish pepinos, so cucumbers like for pickles.

It might have been summer squash maybe, which are all Cucurbita pepo. But I thought that genus was American only.

Lagenaria

Lagenaria is a genus of gourd-bearing vines in the squash family (Cucurbitaceae). Lagenaria contains six species, all of which are indigenous to tropical Africa. The best-known species, the calabash or bottle gourd, L. siceraria, has been domesticated by humans, and has spread beyond Africa. The other species are not cultivated. The gourds of the various species may be harvested young and used as a vegetable. More commonly, the gourds are harvested mature, then dried, and used in making utensils (including musical instruments and containers). Gourds of L. siceraria have been used to store water...

Oh gee, "calabash" for Latin Legenaria, but Spanish calabaza for pumpkins and such, calabacín for zucchini and kin. I still don’t think those earliest writers in English had Cucurbita genus squashes.

It's precipitating here again.

I hesitate to make a firm call on its kind, though. It was flurries a few minutes ago, but now I'm not sure.

> The generic name lagenaria comes from classical Latin lagena meaning bottle or flask, plus Latin suffix -aria.

Cucurbitoideae

The Cucurbitoideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Cucurbitaceae (gourds). The Cucurbitaceae are divided into two subfamilies, the Zanonioideae, probably a paraphyletic group of remainders, and the well-supported monophyletic Cucurbitoideae.The subfamily Cucurbitoideae consists of eight tribes. Members of the tribe Cucurbiteae produce economically valuable fruits, called gourds, which include crops like squashes (including pumpkins), luffas, and melons (including watermelons). The tribe Benincaseae contains a genus called Lagenaria whose members produce gourds that can be eaten when...

"Tribe" isn’t Linnaean.

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank above genus, but below family and subfamily. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes. By convention, all taxonomic ranks above genus are capitalized, including both tribe and subtribe. In zoology, the standard ending for the name of a zoological tribe is "-ini". Examples include the tribes Caprini (goat-antelopes), Hominini (hominins), Bombini (bumblebees), and Thunnini (tunas). The tribe Hominini is divided into subtribes by some scientists; subtribe Hominina then comprises "humans". The standard ending for the name of a zoological subtribe is "-ina"....

> In botany, the standard ending for the name of a botanical tribe is "-eae". Examples include the tribes Acalypheae and Hyacintheae. The tribe Hyacintheae is divided into subtribes, including the subtribe Massoniinae. The standard ending for the name of a botanical subtribe is "-inae".

They keep inventing new ones. :/

That's just for plants.

And that's its top part.

> According to Art 3.1 of the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN) the most important ranks of taxa are: kingdom, division or phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. According to Art 4.1 the secondary ranks of taxa are tribe, section, series, variety and form. There is an indeterminate number of ranks.

That last sentence has "is" where it needs "are". :(

> "An indeterminate number of people is standing outside the door."

You can't say that.

Well, I cannot. Your mileage may vary.

Robusto

3:07 PM

I've never heard it called "division" ... only phylum. Also, if you call it "division" you can't use the mnemonic "Karen, please come over for good sex" (or "Ken, please come over for gay sex" as well).

tchrist

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain, etc. A given rank subsumes under it less general categories, that is, more specific descriptions of life forms. Above it, each rank is classified within more general categories of organisms and groups of organisms related to each other through inheritance of traits or features from common ancestors. The rank of any species and the description of its genus is basic; which means...

@Robusto Exactly. But I'm afraid I never learned about Ken. We only had karen-type Barbies in my biology class.

I think the plant people like "division" and the animal people like "phylum" these days. Not sure when that started happening.

Robusto

I should ask my son, the biologist. Not sure how much zoology he studied, though. He specialized in microbiology.

tchrist

> In order to keep the table compact and avoid disputed technicalities, some common and uncommon intermediate ranks are omitted. For example, the mammals of Europe, Africa, and upper North America are in class Mammalia, legion Cladotheria, sublegion Zatheria, infralegion Tribosphenida, subclass Theria, clade Eutheria, clade Placentalia – but only Mammalia and Theria are in the table

Legion?

Smells cladistic.

Robusto

They are totally ruining the mnemonic.

"Infralegion" indeed.

Tim

Any one has Micro Center nearby?

Robusto

3:13 PM

And why no class? They jump right to subclass.

They ain't got no class.

Tim

I have a coupon for a free Raspberry Pi Zero W to give away

tchrist

Botanists use "division" for "phylum" but zoölogists use "division" for something below "class"!?

Robusto

Keerist.

tchrist

> There is an indeterminate number of ranks, as a taxonomist may invent a new rank at will, at any time, if they feel this is necessary. In doing so, there are some restrictions, which will vary with the nomenclature code which applies. The following is an artificial synthesis, solely for purposes of demonstration of relative rank (but see notes), from most general to most specific:

I am really unhappy with their numeric concord between "number of [plural count noun]" and the verb it governs. Perhaps it was not written by a native speaker.

Robusto

Always a possibility.

tchrist

3:18 PM

A lot of people is confused about this.

Simply barbarbarbarianic.

Robusto

This is just one more hidden trap English sets for the unwary pineapple.

tchrist

Prickly is the pineapple, and sweet.

Prickly and sweet is the pineapple. Not "are".

Matt E. Эллен

Seems like it is more likely in British English, than American English, although not by much BrE ngrams AmE ngrams

tchrist

@MattE.Эллен There is a number between 3 and 4; can you guess it?

Matt E. Эллен

@tchrist this a number of between 3 and 4

"There is a number of" appears in parliamentary transcripts

would have thought they would know better

tchrist

3:31 PM

BNP

Matt E. Эллен

:D

Robusto

There are a murder of crows?

Perhaps I should have used "parliament of owls"?

tchrist

3:49 PM

@Robusto You impart to them too much wisdom and watchfulness.

Meaning to Parliament, not to the owls.

tchrist

4:01 PM

Well this is nearly real snow now.

Matt E. Эллен

like owls, politicians only have good eyesight in certain conditions. For owls it is spotting prey at a distance, for politicians it is looking out for themselves. Often times neither can see something good right in front of them.

Spencer

5:43 PM

I just cast the final close vote for the middle-initial question on History Stack Exchange, which appears to have kicked it back here.

tchrist

6:48 PM

> Quoth OSHA on the fitting of N95 masks:

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

From the Washington Post.

They even were thoughtful enough to provide a corresponding Spanish version, although I rather doubt it exercises the same facial muscles.

> With their typos included:

Cuando la luz del sol ilumina a las gotas de lluvia en el aire, estas actuan como un prisma y forman un arco iris. El arco iris es una división de luz blanca dentro de muchos colores bellos. Estos toman la forma de un arco largo redondeado con su paso alto arriba, y sus dos extremos aparentemente están más allá del horizonte. Hay, de acuerdo con la leyenda, un recipiente con oro hirviendo en un extremo. La gente mira, pero nadie nunca lo encuentra. Cuando un hombre busca algo más allá del alcance, sus amigos dicen que el está buscando el recipiente de oro en el…

The typo is that actuan is not a word.

Cerberus

@tchrist I thought it was reflection rather than a prism effect?

tchrist

It has to be spelled actúan with three syllables and stress on the middle one, not actuan with two syllables and stress on the first one. It is not "AHK-twahn" but "ahk-TOO-ahn" in sillly spelling pronuncifications.

@Cerberus It's many things. A rainbow "is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it"

Or so says Wikipedia.

Rainbow

A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun. Rainbows can be full circles. However, the observer normally sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centered on a line from the sun to the observer's eye. In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow...

But the point is to make people talk enough to test an N95 mask-fitting.

multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1645577O/rainbow-passage.pdf

Cerberus

Hmm.

tchrist

Is really from osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.134AppA

There's a Spanish link there too.

Cerberus

How is your breathing with such a mask on?

tchrist

7:01 PM

The U.S. Federal Government did manage to spell Spanish correctly. It’s just the analfabetos at 3M who missed it.

@Cerberus Survivable, unlike without it.

People bitch WAY too much about that. It's not realistic.

Now, what becomes more challenging in that arena is attempting to stack multiple masks.

That can easily reach a point that it is unpleasant to breath. With a single N95, it does not.

> Cuando la luz del sol golpea las gotas de lluvia en el aire, actúan como un prisma y forman un arco iris. El arco iris es una división de la luz blanca en muchos colores hermosos. Estos toman la forma de un largo arco de medio punto, con su camino en lo alto y sus dos extremos aparentemente más allá del horizonte. Hay, según la leyenda, una olla de oro hirviendo en un extremo. La gente busca, pero nadie lo encuentra. Cuando un hombre busca algo fuera de su alcance, sus amigos dicen que está buscando la olla de oro al final del arco iris.

It is not, however, an identical translation. Da igual.

> Many people ask if they need an N95 on their morning runs or while sitting on a park bench. The answer to both is no. Choose masks based on the level of risk for that activity. If you’re out for a jog with no one around or on a walk outside with a friend, a simple two- or three-layer cloth mask is fine. But use a hi-fi mask or double-mask if you head indoors. If you’re an essential worker, a hi-fi mask is critical.

Robusto

9:47 PM

Haec sunt fines vitae tuae. — Robusto 1 hour ago