English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

13:00

Chippendales is a touring dance troupe best known for its male erotic dancing (striptease) performances and for its dancers' distinctive upper body costume of a bow tie and shirt cuffs worn on an otherwise bare torso. Established in 1979, Chippendales was the first all-male stripping troupe to make a business performing for mostly female audiences. Through the quality of its staging and choreography, Chippendales also helped legitimize stripping as a form of popular entertainment. Today, the company produces Broadway-style shows worldwide and licenses its intellectual property for select...

RegDwight АΑA

No. Do not call those ones. Nonono. God, no!

tchrist

I'm sure home delivery could be arranged, for the right fee.

user19161

13:17

@tchrist You like those?

RegDwight АΑA

-3

Q: Plastic and anodyne interaction

Does the plastic here mean the same with anodyne? It is the same with not interesting or it is not a real interaction, not a good communication?

meaning-in-context

Come on.

tchrist

@JasperLoy Not really my sort of thing. Bit disturbing. But far be it from me to deny @Reg his earnest requests.

RegDwight АΑA

What is this, the International Context-Free Grammar, In Fact Forget About Grammar, Day?

tchrist

Now you’re talkin’. I feel like it’s that way all the time on ESL&U.

RegDwight АΑA

0

Q: Use of articles

I have few sentences as below. Someone corrected those sentences by removing/adding articles. However, I am not able to understand reason of removing the articles. List of sentences where articles were removed in the modern world every one has desire to stay informed. in just a fraction of min...

articles

tchrist

13:21

See?

Despite how poorly worded it is, it turns out that the list of corrections is itself in need of the same.

Poor guy.

RegDwight АΑA

I commented to that effect.

And so did you it would appear.

Where is everybody anyway? No votes to close today. I can't be doing all the legwork.

tchrist

I was left high and dry yesterday, so I’m husbanding mine more strategically today.

Which you know isn’t true.

user19161

@jez Which avatar am I supposed to see now, the blue one?

tchrist

They’re just slackering.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist I've been noticing, yes. The lack of strategy, that is.

tchrist

13:26

I couldn’t decide what to do on the last one, and ended up GRing it as too basic.

RegDwight АΑA

It's okay, my vote overrides everything anyway.

It's kind of strange how one day it's all cake and sunshine, and the next day every single question is meh. It comes in spurts.

tchrist

I find it sweetly validating to have you follow right behind me to put the icing on the cake so often like this. You usually let others finish it off, but they’re pissing away the day somewhere.

RegDwight АΑA

Yeah. That's the technical term I was looking for. Pissing away.

tchrist

I’m a technical writer. You have to expect these things from me.

RegDwight АΑA

Technically, I don't have to. But I sometimes choose to.

tchrist

13:31

Demanding aren’t we?

RegDwight АΑA

Better than not.

tchrist

Nothing was ever achieved by aiming low.

RegDwight АΑA

If you are not demanding, you only get crap. If you are demanding, you still get only crap, but at least you can whine that you aimed higher.

tchrist

Except limbo dancing.

So we’re back to ad astra again then, are we?

RegDwight АΑA

Jul 25 at 20:11, by RegDwight АΑA

Per Jaspera ad astra.

Also, to + ad? Where's @Cerberus when you need him?

Seriously, where's everybody?

Robusto

13:36

Hey, @Reg: what was the word for "whore" that the Russian official used to describe Madonna? BBC only said it was one of the "harshest" words in Russian.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto when was that?

I myself described her in the variousest ways in maniest languages.

Robusto

When Madonna came out in support of Pussy Riot?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Did I tell you that the El Niño has begun?

Robusto

huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/madonna-pussy-riot_n_1757176.html

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto Oh. I didn't know there was a reaction. Nobody gives a frigg about Madonna in Russia. Come to think of it, nobody gives a frigg about Madonna, period.

tchrist

13:38

The Los Niños of recent years haven’t impressed.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist tell that to the hoi polloi.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Just what do you think it is I’m doing?

Robusto

Apparently Dimitri somebody-or-other, an ex-official known for his colorful language, called her an "aging ex-whore" or something like that.

I heard it driving in, so I couldn't take notes.

tchrist

Are ex-whores worse than whores?

RegDwight АΑA

I imagine it was either сука or блядь. Probably the latter.

Robusto

13:39

Dmitry Rogozin, apparently.

guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/09/…

RegDwight АΑA

«Каждая бывшая б. с возрастом стремится читать всем лекции о морали. Особенно во вемя зарубежных турне и гастролей»

That's his tweet.

Well I must say I have to side with him.

Madonna is famous for doing just that.

tchrist

ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏᴇꜱ ᴄʏʀɪʟʟɪᴄ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ʟᴏᴏᴋ ʟɪᴋᴇ ɪᴛ’ꜱ ɪɴ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ᴄᴀᴘꜱ? ʙᴀᴅ ᴅᴇꜱɪɢɴ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ.

RegDwight АΑA

Especially given how she said she was praying for their release. That's either extremely dumb, or extremely calculating. Not sure which is worse.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA So б. is abbr. of блядь?

RegDwight АΑA

Yeah.

Robusto

13:43

Well, he didn't actually come out and say it.

RegDwight АΑA

Exactly.

Robusto

He bleeped himself.

RegDwight АΑA

What's with 140 chars and all.

tchrist

Odd that it’s UK bleep and NA beep. What is it in Russian?

Robusto

Interesting how the diffraction patterns of misinformation ripple back and forth in the news cycle.

RegDwight АΑA

13:44

@tchrist Blyad', duh.

tchrist

Why do you use two words?

RegDwight АΑA

I like more words more than less words.

Robusto

But three is more than two. Why not use three words?

RegDwight АΑA

Because four is even better.

Robusto

I always use OVER 9000 words.

tchrist

13:45

I induce this is not going to end.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto That's a start.

@tchrist you and Mussolini, this is not going to end?

Robusto

Our middle tier is Java, so I have to err on the side of verbosity.

RegDwight АΑA

Interesting.

tchrist

@Robusto Shame on you: Java isn’t verbose!

It’s shamelessly logorrhoeic.

RegDwight АΑA

> As an artist, as a human being, as a woman, I have freedom to express my point of view, even if other people don’t agree with me, even if my government doesn’t agree with me.

What a condescending, hypocritical thing to say.

Last time her goverment didn't agree with her and people stopped bying her records, she did a 180.

As did Dixie Chicks.

She should try to desecrate a major church in the US, see where it gets her.

> I think that these three girls — Masha, Katya, Nadya — I think that they have done something courageous. I think they have paid the price for this act. And I pray for their freedom.

tchrist

13:52

@RegDwightАΑA True, their Chixie Dicks records sold much better.

RegDwight АΑA

Where do you pray for it? In the desecrated church? Well God won't listen, sorry.

For the record: the whole trial is a farce. It took them forever to even find a law (one from the 9th century, no less) the girls can be seen as having broken.

Robusto

@tchrist Don't even get me started on the log messages.

RegDwight АΑA

Still, or precisely because it is a farce, we don't need Madonna to pile up more farces on top of that.

Robusto

OK, easy there, big fella. It's only entertainment news, after all. It's even below sports.

RegDwight АΑA

Well not for the three girls in that cage.

tchrist

13:55

@RegDwightАΑA She prays to the still small voice within her breast. Churches are for men, not God.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA True. I thought you were still railing about Madonna.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto I don't really need to rail about that one. She's been railing all over herself for decades.

I was just researching what you were talking about.

Precisely because I pay no attention to such gossip.

cornbread ninja

@skullpatrol Ifni, former Spanish province in NW Africa, ceded to Morocco in 1969: 580 sq. mi.

@tchrist Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Robusto

Wow, someone just discovered that cats are natural-born killers. Stop the presses.

RegDwight АΑA

> With the help of National Geographic Society's Crittercam project, the study also found the felines to be pretty adventurous, nearly half crossing roadways and a quarter eating and drinking things they found.

Who writes this crap?

Every living being eats and drinks things they find.

Mum

14:07

Hey guys,

can you help me with this one:

I want to say that sameone has won the race using their possition

RegDwight АΑA

Not sure what you mean.

Mum

So can I say "He has finished at/in the first place"?

RegDwight АΑA

He came in first.

Mum

Thanks

And if i wanted to talk about an auction?

tchrist

@cornbreadninja He pretends that toponyms are not words, a senseless conceit. Topo ≠ Faux

Mum

14:12

That someone has won the auction, but I wanted to use the number first?

cornbread ninja

@Mum He was the highest bidder.

Tha winnah, and still champ-een

RegDwight АΑA

@Mum why would you want to use that?

You either win or you don't. There's no first or second or third.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist Hmpf. I'm happy to have been included in the game.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist fauxnym, now that's a concept.

cornbread ninja

fauxnym

RegDwight АΑA

14:14

fauxmanteaux

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Fauxnymic distinctions are not the same as faunologic ones.

RegDwight АΑA

I think Débussy wrote about it.

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune (pronounced ), known in English as Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, is a symphonic poem for orchestra by Claude Debussy, approximately 10 minutes in duration. It was first performed in Paris on December 22, 1894, conducted by Gustave Doret. Inspiration and influence The composition was inspired by the poem L'après-midi d'un faune by Stéphane Mallarmé, and later formed the basis for the ballet Afternoon of a Faun, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky. It is one of Debussy's most famous works and is considered a turning point in the history of music; compo...

Mum

@RegDwightАΑA Well, I was told to check/correct some software that does electronic auctions and in this specific case, there can be more than one winner. So I'm looking for the correct form of sayng to you as user that you've won but there is also someone else with the same bid ... does that make sense?

Robusto

sigh Our worst questions get the most attention, and our best ones go unnoticed. Time is out of joint, as Hamlet said.

tchrist

Thank you for your explaining your joke to me. I am always behind on my cervids.

RegDwight АΑA

14:17

@Mum sure, but then it makes even less sense to talk about first vs. second, if two people are actually tied.

@tchrist I thought you might not recognize my misspelling of Debussy and needed help.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA The joke in the CSO used to be that Sir George Solti threw his back out giving the down beat for that piece.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto and you explained it to me OVER 9000 times and I still don't get it.

Feb 15 '11 at 17:06, by Robusto

Famous one about Sir Georg Solti: "He threw his back out giving the downbeat to Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune."

Feb 15 '11 at 17:11, by Kosmonaut

This joke is going to be so hilarious once RegDwight has researched everything...

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA That's one. You have at least 9000 left to go.

RegDwight АΑA

I'm still on it!

Mum

@RegDwightАΑA You are probbably right, but what would you say to the user that would make sense?

RegDwight АΑA

14:19

Also, @kosmonaut, I'm still on it!

@Mum nothing. Why would the user care about that other user? What's the point of telling him?

"I see that you are trying to write a letter. Just so you know it, there's also someone in Argentina right now trying to write a letter, too."

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Hint: Solti was famous for his energetic conducting of big-orchestra performances of pieces from the Romantic era: Wagner, Mahler, Bruckner, etc. OK, that was more than a hint, but I sense you needed more.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA ...said Microsoft Office's helpful paperclip?

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto you gave it to me the last time around. And the first time around.

@cornbreadninja very good. You get 1 Internet joke getter point.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA OK, so I guess you're just being contrarian.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA I shall spend it wisely at the redemption booth.

Mum

14:23

In this case the software only says there is a tie and that means the supervisor needs to decide who will get the job. So it's important for the user to know that they aren't the only winner.

tchrist

0

Q: "would love/like to" usage?

What is the difference between the sentences "I would love/like to play cricket" and " I want to play cricket." Is there any difference in the moods?

grammar usage

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto nope. I'm not even in a position to tell you whether I'm being contrarian or not.

cornbread ninja

a winner is you!

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA I rest my case.

tchrist

Why yes: would love is not the same mood as want.

RegDwight АΑA

14:24

@Mum you can't tell them they are not the only winner if there can only be one winner.

Mum

@RegDwightАΑA but as the software is concerned, there can be more winners...

RegDwight АΑA

You can tell them what you just told me, "you haven't won yet. A human will make the final call".

@Mum then make the software not lie.

Mum

Hmm - but that sound a lot better than what I've just told you :)

RegDwight АΑA

Don't tell them, "you're a winner". Tell them, "your score is X. And it might or might not mean exactly nothing".

Mum

@RegDwightАΑA OK, I like the human final call - I gues that's what I was looking for. As this wiil be in dialouge, it needs to be short and make sense.

Thanks

RegDwight АΑA

14:28

OMG what have I done, I have written a wording somewhere.

Mum

:D

cornbread ninja

@tchrist how did you make those billiard balls in your comment? english.stackexchange.com/questions/77689/…

RegDwight АΑA

He copypasted them from mine.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja I first ran my uniname CIRC DIG script, and thence applied murine snarf-n-barf.

RegDwight АΑA

I was just going to say that you probably just have a shell in which you type sudo make me a unicodes

2

tchrist

14:32

@RegDwightАΑA Yes, of course. It applies an iterative (conjunctive) regex filter against the Unicode NamesList.txt file.

RegDwight АΑA

Very technical writing, that. I applaud you a little bit.

Cerberus

To + ad? I don't get it?

Why confuse an innocent dog in the morning?

RegDwight АΑA

A horny back toad.

Tchrist was mumbling some nonsense about going through per aspera to ad astra.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA oh, I've finally decided my future lies / beyond the yellow brick road

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Was not. Vide supra.

Cerberus

14:35

As to Samsung being a patent troll, so far they only seem to have counter-sued Apple to defend itself? Similarly, Google seems to be entirely on the defensive in patent-troll land.

tchrist

And so we’re back to “To be, or not to be.”

RegDwight АΑA

Jul 23 at 14:14, by RegDwight АΑA

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Oh, that's bad.

Not what I would have expected of him.

But, yes, Apple isn't the only patent troll: Oracle is very bad too.

Typical loser behaviour.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA "Get back, honky cat!" -- Marge Simpson

tchrist

@Cerberus Surely you are not so naïf as to think this is somehow new to these firms? See IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, DEC, Cray, SGI, Burroughs, et hoc genus omne.

RegDwight АΑA

14:38

@cornbreadninja that's from Honky Château.

Jul 19 at 9:02, by RegDwight АΑA

Honky Château

| rev2 = Robert Christgau | rev2Score = A− | rev3 = Rolling Stone | rev3Score = }} Honky Château is the fifth studio album by British singer/songwriter Elton John, released in 1972. In 2003, the album was ranked number 357 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was certified gold on 24 July 1972 and platinum on 11 October 1995 by the RIAA. This was the final Elton John album on the Uni label in the US and Canada before the MCA consolidated all of its various labels under the MCA brand. This and John's earlier Uni albums were later reissued on MCA ...

tchrist

@Cerberus Have we gotten to To Be Or Not To Be yet? I hear Hamlet sports a tutu tonight.

RegDwight АΑA

And neither of you TV haters will witness it! I win.

Cerberus

@tchrist Sure, I mentioned Oracle. There is a whole league of patent trolls. But Apple appears to be among the worst.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA You're a juvenile product of the working class, whose best friend floats in the bottom of a glass.

Uh, QED.

Cerberus

@tchrist Hmm I would need to see the original quotation.

@Reg: Why do you think patent trolling is mostly about petty pride and such? I rather think it is about 1.) lawyers inciting them with unrealistic expectations, 2.) money, 3.) trying to stifle competition. I realize that those overlap.

RegDwight АΑA

14:41

Think I'm gonna kill myself
Cause a little suicide
Stick around for a couple of days
What a scandal if I died

Yeah I'm gonna kill myself
Get a little headline news
I'd like to see what the papers say
On the state of teenage blues

Cerberus

Nice, who wrote that?

RegDwight АΑA

Bernie Taupin.

cornbread ninja

teenage suicide: don't do it

RegDwight АΑA

Still Honky Château, BTW.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA thank you.

RegDwight АΑA

14:42

►

Robusto

Have you tried the Honky Gateaux? I hear they're, um, gritty.

cornbread ninja

gritty kitty [video not available]

Robusto

Don't make me post the picture of the Killer Bambi T-shirt again.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus because lawyers get paid no matter what. It's Steve [Jobs|Ballmer] who tell them to sit on their hands or not.

@Robusto no need to, I'm here for all your reposting needs.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA You're here for more than that. From what I can tell, you are the Reposter to the Stars (and Everybody Else).

Me, I'm an imposter, so I just fake doing that.

Em1

14:46

Hey guys..

tchrist

@Cerberus Granted.

18 hours ago, by RegDwight АΑA

Per aspera ad disastra.

1 hour ago, by RegDwight АΑA

If you are not demanding, you only get crap. If you are demanding, you still get only crap, but at least you can whine that you aimed higher.

1 hour ago, by tchrist

So we’re back to ad astra again then, are we?

RegDwight АΑA

He's reposting to the stars
Are we paying for some crime
Is that all that we are good for
Just a stretch of mortal time

Is this God's experiment
In which we have no say
In which we're given paradise
But only for a day

Cerberus

@RegDwightАΑA Sure, Jobs was a big troll. But he didn't know anything about the law. Lawyers are like priest, the sole access to a magical realm where they say untold benefit can be reaped if they will only be allowed to carry out their rituals. The more lawsuits, the more the lawyers seem needed, and there you a kind of perpetuum mobile.

Robusto

And it seems to me
You lived your life
Like a camel breaking wind

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA STELLA!

RegDwight АΑA

14:48

@Robusto seems? Not smells?

@tchrist GEMELLA!

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA I can't smell anything through the intertubez. Not even you.

Cerberus

@tchrist Okay, you are absolved. Although perhaps you could have said "now we are back ad astra" instead...

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto you can smell me through the hole in your back yard.

Robusto

@Cerberus Do you guys have to keep this up ad nauseam?

tchrist

@Cerberus No, it was the ad astra concept which we were back to.

Robusto

14:49

@RegDwightАΑA That only flows out.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto you mean it overflows?

Cerberus

@tchrist It is funnier if you blend the two.

@Robusto barfs

tchrist

Mayhap.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA over != out. Let's get those prepositions straight. Over and out.

@Cerberus That's what all doggies say. And do.

RegDwight АΑA

Aprepos propositions: where my people at?

Em1

14:51

Can someone tell me, what she is saying here at minute 1:06 while putting the cup on the table. I don't understand it :(

tchrist

@Cerberus Deinde, ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis

@Robusto Back to prep school with him!

Cerberus

@Robusto I thought it was cats, rather. And owls.

@tchrist Sed nulla habeo!

RegDwight АΑA

@Em1 "fabulous"?

tchrist

@Cerberus I didn’t know they ran the confessional so early in the morning.

RegDwight АΑA

Also, you can link to the exact place in a YouTube video like this: "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizdwDcZStE**&t=1m04s**"

Em1

14:54

@RegDwightАΑA Oh, yeah. Nice. Thanks

tchrist

Needs two lines.

RegDwight АΑA

Stupid chat formatting, but you get the idea.

tchrist

Separate returns, not soft.

RegDwight АΑA

No returns. One string.

Oh I give up.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Then you have to ［ｔｅｘｔ］（ｌｉｎｋ） it yourself. It won’t infer it.

RegDwight АΑA

14:55

Just give me HTML.

@tchrist you don't have to text-link anything. You just copypaste a link.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Icky-wicky.

RegDwight АΑA

►

^ Observe.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA You’re missing the point.

RegDwight АΑA

I feel like I am, yes.

tchrist

The link seems not subject to linear interpolation.

It must stand alone on its own line.

Else it will not autolink, so you must ［ｔｅｘｔ］（ｌｉｎｋ） it yourself.

RegDwight АΑA

14:57

Now you are missing the point.

tchrist

Appoint me then.

RegDwight АΑA

I was not going to put it on its own line. I was going to do the exact opposite thing.

I wanted to tell Em1 what he needs to add to the URL. Can't do that if he can't see the URL.

Em1

That's true ;)

tchrist

You cannot just do "http://www.w3.org/" like that; you must do "http://www.w3c.org/" like that.

Et voilà.

As I said.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…