English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

5:26 AM

@Robusto I teach all my cats the meaning of the word "birds", so that when I see birds on the window sill outside, I can repeat "birds, birds, birds" several times, and cats come running to see.

Bohemian relativist

7:27 AM

difficult to have sufficient time to sleep

last night I missed a bus at 11:28 then I have to wait for the bus at 12:28.

the outside is so cold

though it's April, there is no much feeling of spring then.

too cold to think

how nice if the time of waiting for a bus is used for sleep

CowperKettle

@Bohemianrelativist In Yekaterinburg, we have an app for smartphones that tells you the locations of all the buses in the city at each moment, and tells you how much is left to wait until your bus comes. It's very handy.

The majority of buses, trams, etc. are equipped with GPS and GLONASS sensors and constantly upload their location to an open-access site.

So I sometimes wait in the building or in the neighboring store during the winter, and wait until the smartphone tells that the bus will arrive soon.

Sadly, some buses do not share their location, or have their equipment out of order.

But it feels like the majority are equipped.

It looks like this

This is where the 077 route buses are currently

Matt E. Эллен

8:05 AM

@Robusto It's Irish, so the English alphabet is pretty meaningless :D Siobahn is another one that will catch you out. Niamh rhymes with Steve in my limited experience. Sláinte!

CowperKettle

9:04 AM

An Alien statue installed recently in the town of Kurgan in the Urals

CowperKettle

9:49 AM

CowperKettle

10:40 AM

In Russian, fart also means "good luck", as in Polish. But it's kind of a slang word.

In Russian it is probably derived from German fahren (to travel)

Via some hunter slang in the 19th century.

Matt E. Эллен

Fahrt is German for journey (I think)

seems related perhaps, or maybe a false friend

M.A.R.

Mhm

Maybe not

Matt E. Эллен

Oh, sorry, you already said German

I missed that

M.A.R.

@Robusto like a chirping sound? My extensive expertise on cat videos seems to agree that's a 'happy chirp'

Robusto

1:01 PM

@CowperKettle Nice.

@M.A.R. Not quite the same thing. My cats' happy "chirp" is more of a vocalized purr, like a little grunt of pleasure. The "ack" is really just that. Mouth open wide, very short vocalization without a purr.

@MattE.Эллен Well, but why use the English alphabet at all? Transliteration would be in order here, wouldn't it?

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto why do the French use it?

or the Germans for that matter.

I mean it was early and alphabet isn't the right word, so what I really mean is the name's Irish, so English pronunciation rules don't apply

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен Yeah, but does Gaelic have its own alphabet?

I mean, we transliterate максим горький as "Maxim Gorky," not Mauve Garbage, right?

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto maybe a long time ago? I don't know

Robusto

Maybe the used the futhark?

> The traditional Irish alphabet is basically an adaptation of the Latin alphabet and was used commonly in Ireland until the middle of the last century.

gaelicmatters.com/gaelic-written-alphabet.html

Hmm, ineteresting.

Matt E. Эллен

Can't escape the Latin letters

Those Romans really did a number on alphabets

Robusto

1:13 PM

Latin letters are the black hole of orthograpies.

> There is also no real need for 'w' either but the sound exists, you may be surprised to read, in the combination of consonants 'bh' or 'mh'. For example 'an-mhaith' which is pronounced 'an-wah' means 'very good'.

So Niamh has more of a "w" sound in it, then.

Matt E. Эллен

I guess so

Robusto

> The other characters variously pronounce it "Neev*, Neef, Naif, and a few other ways.

So the /v/ and /f/ sounds are probably roundings of the /w/ sound.

Interesting.

It's still a dumb transliteration. There is a perfectly good /w/, no need to go cobble together an mh digraph to suggest something entirely different.

Matt E. Эллен

It is probably at least a little to frustrate the British, let's be honest

Robusto

Haha, good point.

CowperKettle

1:40 PM

Bohemian relativist

2:16 PM

a psychologist isn't really a friend when you visit her in a psych center

she won't tell you her personal experience so that you don't know what kind of experience you can discuss with her.

Matt E. Эллен

correct a psychologist isn't a friend they are a professional. if you visit a psychologist as a patient you can tell them anything

Bohemian relativist

@MattE.Эллен if they don't have related knowledge or experience, they can't not give feedback; then they just listen to you - that's quite useless.

then it's better to talk with a friend who can relate to you.

Matt E. Эллен

I don't think that's accurate. teaching people to cope with trauma doesn't require you to have gone through trauma

certainly not the same trauma

Bohemian relativist

@MattE.Эллен but then they cannot necessarily relate.

Matt E. Эллен

2:31 PM

relating is not the job of a psychologist

that's what friends and support groups are for

that's not to say a psychologist can't relate

but primarily they are there to help you learn how to change your behaviour to better cope with mental health problems

Bohemian relativist

@MattE.Эллен I feel the psychologist can just be there listening to you and call that listening is counseling.

they cannot really discuss with you about the solution about your problem.

Matt E. Эллен

some people find talking helps. it can be part of the process

Bohemian relativist

undergraduate counselors are that way. PhD psychologist is also that way.

but it's very easy to find a person in a university to talk to if there is no pandemic, but not many people can discuss strategies with you.

I used to think this kind of person can analyze humans' mind so that they can discuss with you about how to cope with certain people, but I haven't met one of such kind.

Matt E. Эллен

@Bohemianrelativist do you have a specific example? because they can talk about how to better control anxiety, for example. I am not clear what you mean by problem

Bohemian relativist

@MattE.Эллен no, they don't know how to control anxiety. They just say to you:"relax."

or don't think that much

and psychiatrists have some medicine to control anxiety

Matt E. Эллен

2:41 PM

@Bohemianrelativist I mean, they do. that's one of the many conditions clinical psychologist can help with. if you've not found them helpful, I'm sorry. Not all techniques work for everyone

Bohemian relativist

actually I found the way to relieve anxiety is to socialize with peers.

but the problem is you need to find chance to make friends with peers.

Matt E. Эллен

:D that's opposite to me

I find hiding away helps me control anxiety

2

Bohemian relativist

because only peers understand my issues

irrelevant people don't understand your issues and can only ask you to relax but can't discuss about your issues.

of course only peers who are your friends can help you; peers who are your ravels may not help you.

Matt E. Эллен

rivals

Mitch

@Robusto No. Sometimes 'mh' is /w/ sometimes it is /v/ (and those two are phonemically different in Irish). 'Niamh' is /ni:v/ but 'mhaith' is /wa/. I'm not joking when I say that Irish orthography is more rule driven than English. English orthography is all about exceptions and outright 'you just have to remember this one'. There are a lot of context rules in Irish spelling, and also a lot of silent letters that are either not spoken or tell you the manner of articulation of one that is.

Bohemian relativist

2:53 PM

@MattE.Эллен some people have some special personalities, like autocratic, narcissistic, etc. I used to think psychologists can help you cope these kinds of people, but I haven't met one.

Matt E. Эллен

@Bohemianrelativist they can help people with mental health issues, such as excessive narcissism, to control their impulses, if that's what the person wants.

Bohemian relativist

@MattE.Эллен usually narcissists wouldn't go to see a psychologist because they are narcissists - those who go to counsel with a psychologist are those who suffer from a narcissist.

the same is true for an autocrat.

Matt E. Эллен

not really. people go to psychologists to get help with their behaviour, not help with the behviours of others

sorry, I have a meeting right now!

Bohemian relativist

3:09 PM

@MattE.Эллен no, but what if you suffer very much from an autocrat or narcissist?

you want to find a way to cope with them, so you visit a psychologist.

CowperKettle

Senior GRU Leader Directly Involved With Czech Arms Depot Explosion

Robusto

@Mitch Thanks. That's good information.