English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

JSBձոգչ

18:01

quick, name a letter of the alphabet

cornbread ninja

Foxtrot

Jez

T

KitFox

@cornbreadninja What's that now?

cornbread ninja

@KitFox I named a letter of the alphabet. Used to say Sally.

Then I went IPA (International Phonetic)

alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, golf, hotel, indigo, juliet, kilo, lima, mike, november, oscar, papa, quebec, riviera, sierra, tango, uniform, victor, whiskey, x-ray, yankee, zulu

JSBձոգչ

thanks people

cornbread ninja

18:07

they use (I think) david in the Atlanta airport because Delta airlines.

pushes glasses up bridge of nose

KitFox

trots

cornbread ninja

ohhhh, duh.

twenty-three skiddoos

tchrist

I suspect that this may not be what our fairer-sex OP had in mind.

Matt Эллен

yowee!

tchrist

I was looking for counterexamples to it always and only being women.

user19161

18:16

@MattЭллен Boo!

tchrist

That was not what I was expecting to find.

Matt Эллен

hiya @Jasper

user19161

@MattЭллен Are you writing any blog post now?

ΜετάEd

@JSBձոգչ india

romeo

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy right at this moment? no. There is one in the pipe line

RegDwight АΑA

18:18

@tchrist I have a separate set of badges on our meta, and so do you.

tchrist

So ’twould appear.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist izzat SFW?

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja no

tchrist

@cornbreadninja NO!

cornbread ninja

@tchrist ok, geez. ._.

Jez

18:22

@tchrist Something to make every conservative Christian's head explode

tchrist

Actually, this is a cultural warpage.

In all creatures great and small, it is almost without exception always the male of the species who is the showier, the fancier, the finer of form, the fairer to behold.

user19161

Why is the female sex considered the fairer? What if I find males fairer? :-)

tchrist

There is clearly something very deeply biological going on there.

@JasperLoy Of course you find males fairer; women always cheat.

:)

cornbread ninja

@tchrist perhaps it is a reference to the fairerness of the females' plumage, as in paler.

user19161

@tchrist I think men cheat more than women.

cornbread ninja

18:25

ah geez.

tchrist

No, fair is not pale here.

@JasperLoy I was teasing.

user19161

@tchrist By the way, I'm not gay.

tchrist

@JasperLoy Which matters because . . . ?

cornbread ninja

steals spaced ellipsis

user19161

@tchrist Nothing, just in case you thought so because I said males might be fairer.

tchrist

18:26

Those are straight ASCII spaces, not fancy stylin’ Unicode spaces.

cornbread ninja

puts ellipsis back

tchrist

@JasperLoy It’s a reasonable thing to consider, purely from biology.

Dandy

A dandy (also known as a beau or gallant) is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self. Historically, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain, a dandy, who was self-made, often strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle despite coming from a middle-class background. Though previous manifestations, of Alcibiades, and of the petit-maître (Fr. for small master) and the Muscadin have been noted by John C. Prevost, the modern practice of dandyism firs...

user19161

@tchrist Now that I think of it, "the fairer sex" is kind of stupid. The phrase should be abolished!

tchrist

This one is on the House:

That’s Hugh Laurie as the Prince Regent.

user19161

@tchrist Sounds like modern-day pretentiousness.

cornbread ninja

18:29

@tchrist a real beau brummel.

tchrist

@JasperLoy It feels piggish, yeah, in that male-chauv (chav?) way.

user19161

@corn You must be very excited about removing your braces!

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy YES

user19161

@cornbreadninja I have not worn braces, but I removed 2 good teeth to make more room for the others.

cornbread ninja

It's only an 80% chance, though.

they pulled four before I got them

I have a tiny mouth and big rabbit teeth.

user19161

18:36

@cornbreadninja Is your mouth exceptionally small then?

cornbread ninja

noms carrot

user19161

Sounds like you are a rabbit then.

ΜετάEd

@JasperLoy Hear, hear.

cornbread ninja

@ΜετάEd We could got with the second sex, like that one chick suggested.

ΜετάEd

We could what?

cornbread ninja

18:41

>_< go with

"the second sex'

Luke

I have a problem. I suggested this edit, but it was rejected because someone else had already made the required edit. When it was reviewd, the system compared it to the modified question, and the reviewer saw it as too minor. Is their any way around having edits rejected because there was a more recent edit by a 2K+ user?

cornbread ninja

@ΜετάEd google.com/…

KitFox

Ouch. You tweened JSB, @Luke.

Luke

tweened?

ΜετάEd

@Luke Sure there is. Earn 2K+.

KitFox

18:44

You guys keep putting up blocked links. pouts

Luke

I meant like delete a suggested edit if someone makes the necessary changes before it is reviewed.

ΜετάEd

@cornbreadninja en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman_Is_the_Nigger_of_the_World

KitFox

@Luke You don't get a notice?

cornbread ninja

@KitFox interesting. Mine was to the wiki page for Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex.

Luke

This happens a lot and my stats now look something like "12 edit suggestions approved, and 8 edit suggestions rejected", whereas on other sites I have hundreds accepted and >5 rejected.

KitFox

18:46

@cornbreadninja "Mature Content, Sex Advice"

cornbread ninja

@KitFox scoffs

Luke

Why can't I ping metaEd?

cornbread ninja

@Luke you don't have the characters

tchrist

@Jez More unislamocensorial material, and I ain’t talkin’ ’bout codepoints.

ΜετάEd

@Luke I don't know. It's all Greek to me.

cornbread ninja

18:47

MEd's was to that Lennon/Ono song.

user19161

@Luke Because he has weird characters.

KitFox

You need a big mu.

@cornbreadninja That one I could see.

cornbread ninja

@KitFox raises eyebrow

Luke

Funny pun @ΜετάEd. I copied it from your profile.

tchrist

macbook# echo ΜετάEd | uniquote -v
\N{GREEK CAPITAL LETTER MU}\N{GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON}\N{GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU}\N{GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS}Ed

cornbread ninja

18:48

ain't talkin' bout love / my love is rotten to the core

KitFox

@cornbreadninja I know, right?

cornbread ninja

@KitFox life is funny / bees make honey

Luke

@ΜετάEd You could at the least only put the funny characters in the last part of your name like @MattЭллен.

So complicated...

Imagine if I couldn't cut and paste.

KitFox

@cornbreadninja Skies are sunny.

Except here, where it is pouring.

cornbread ninja

@KitFox tell me, where is sanity?

tchrist

18:50

@Luke Huh? Then you learn how to enter codepoints by number, is all.

cornbread ninja

@KitFox you and @tchrist can share an umbrella.

Luke

So complicated...

RegDwight АΑA

Everybody puts the funny characters at the end. JSB, Matt, Kit, Martha, the CHAOS team, myself. MetaEd is at least original.

KitFox

@cornbreadninja OMG, I always thought that was "tell me, where is Xanadu?"

tchrist

@cornbreadninja Me am cold.

cornbread ninja

18:50

@KitFox it could be! :x

RegDwight АΑA

Also, now that you've learned to ping MetaEd, try to ping F'x.

Luke

Maybe I should change my username to include funny characters that nobody can type. I'll never be pinged again!

RegDwight АΑA

F'x, ♁

22.9k 2 55 132

cornbread ninja

@tchrist nooo! Go ride the carpet slide! Oh wait, that's Estes Park.

RegDwight АΑA

@Luke then they'll just come to me or another mod and I'll ping you on their behalf.

cornbread ninja

18:51

@tchrist y'all still got that Best Western we always stayed when I was a kid?

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Should just be @🀅.

@RegDwightАΑA But they don’t know that they didn’t ping them.

Luke

Maybe I should change my avatar too. No one will recognize me and they'll wonder where I got my rep.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist as you can see, I'm @home now.

tchrist

It’s a Green Dragon.

And not a Hobbity one, either.

Luke

-1

Q: Which senses of "announce" and "indicate" are most appropriate here?

In tournament play, the chair umpire announces the end of the match with the well-known phrase "Game, set, match" followed by the winning person's or team's name. It is similarly used in other contexts to indicate the winner, often in an argument or a comparison. These definitions are f...

meaning

Is that general reference?

cornbread ninja

18:54

@tchrist steals mah jongg tile

tchrist

PUNG!

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist nifty.

Let me ping @Rob, then. @夢

KitFox

@tchrist That's not a dragon.

cornbread ninja

this is a dragon!

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox Right on. That's a dream.

KitFox

18:57

I mean, the character on F'x's tile isn't a dragon.

RegDwight АΑA

Oh. Then use gray arrow, mod.

Luke

Hello @Mahnax

Mahnax

@Luke Hello.

@JasperLoy Good day to you.

Luke

I really should put Greek characters in my name...

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox and tchrist's hanzi looks remarkably identical to F'x's gravvy.

Mahnax

18:58

@Luke Why?

tchrist

No, it isn’t. It’s
夢 U+5922 Lo Han CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-5922
Mandarin MENG4 MENG2
Cantonese mung6
JapaneseKun YUME KURAI YUMEMIRU
JapaneseOn MU
Korean MONG
HanyuPinlu meng4(129)

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Whut?

RegDwight АΑA

I is testing.

Luke

@mahnax No one will be able to ping me without cutting and pasting my name.

Mahnax

@Luke They could always use the arrows.

I have to go.

Bye!

RegDwight АΑA

19:00

Listen up, everybody! From now on, ping Robusto as @夢.

Robusto

@Luke Good @Luke with that.

user19161

@Mahnax Bye!

Luke

I should probably be going too.

Goodbye all!

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA pin it.

tchrist

How can @夢 work?

For @Rob, I mean.

Robusto

19:00

@RegDwightАΑA Yes. You are guaranteed not to ping me.

tchrist

Awww!

Robusto

FWIW, it's the @Rob part that worked, not the @夢.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist you're a killjoy.

That was going to be a present for Rob. Silence.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA Does @Rob need silence?

Robusto

I'm right here.

RegDwight АΑA

19:02

@tchrist ping him a couple times with your street address, he'll drop by and tell you in person.

tchrist

My street address is a matter of public record.

user19161

I think SE should have a rule that usernames must be strictly a-z only.

RegDwight АΑA

Then just wait for him to drop by, duh.

@JasperLoy you misspelled e-z.

user19161

Observe that the two winners of the election only had normal characters in their username.

RegDwight АΑA

@JasperLoy other people observed that OVER 9000 years ago.

user19161

19:04

@RegDwightАΑA I like to parrot others. I am a parrot.

Robusto

Usernames should be greppable as \w+.

user19161

They should be downloadable using wget.

RegDwight АΑA

@JasperLoy observe that the winners also had two X chromosomes.

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA Others observed that over 9000 years ago.

tchrist

@RegDwightАΑA 40° 2′ 41.31″ N × 105° 17′ 18.95″ W × 5633′ Z

RegDwight АΑA

19:06

@JasperLoy not others, myself.

tchrist

Well, that didn’t work.

RegDwight АΑA

Obviously.

tchrist

Why not?

RegDwight АΑA

Almost there.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA On the internetz, nobody knows what kind of chromosomes you have.

RegDwight АΑA

19:07

There. FTFY.

tchrist

Thank you!

Can tell me what I flubbed?

user19161

@Robusto They can tell sometimes if the chromosomes are defective.

Robusto

@JasperLoy Nope. Only if the neurons are defective.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist [ bla ]( url ) not [ url ]( bla ).

tchrist

Sheesh.

RegDwight АΑA

19:08

That's a grim photo of your car hole.

Thankfully I don't have to drop by in person.

Robusto

@tchrist I'm afraid we'll have to mark you down for that performance.

tchrist

I’ve not eaten today. Falta de huevos.

RegDwight АΑA

Also, I see the landscape fell prey to Boulder Dash.

Buenas apetitos.

user19161

@tchrist I grant you permission to eat.

tchrist

Well, the Boulder Skip is closer.

And I never take the Hop or the Jump.

Yes, those are the names of public bus routes.

Robusto

19:11

@RegDwightАΑA Which reminds me: Why don't the Brits spell bold as bould? They've wasted a perfectly good opportunity to use an extraneous letter. I'm shocked.

RegDwight АΑA

Come to think of it, they should make a remake and call it Boulder Em Dash.

@Robusto Ie doun't knouw.

Robusto

They spell mold as mould, so why not bold as bould?

And while we're at it, cold could be could, couldn't it?

Sould!

I fear I am straying from the fould.

RegDwight АΑA

Ouch couuld be ouuch. Think ouf the pousibillities!

Robusto

This is pure gould. We should never talk about anything else.

RegDwight АΑA

Gleun Gouuld?

Sourry fourgout secound n.

Robusto

19:13

@RegDwightАΑA LOUL.

RegDwight АΑA

ROUFLMAOU

Robusto

Maou Zedoung!

RegDwight АΑA

I suddenly souund much moure souphisticated.

Robusto

This is pure souphistry.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist pretty

RegDwight АΑA

19:15

Souphistry Nazi?

cornbread ninja

AuH2O for prez

RegDwight АΑA

Four.

Also H2OU

Alsou, alsou.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja Well, I like it. I wish you could get a feel for the Z axis, the elevation bits. Google Satellite pix destroy all that.

cornbread ninja

whoa. kit, luke, and matt just fell off at the same time.

tchrist

Whoa?

RegDwight АΑA

19:16

Whoua.

We just killed three participants.

tchrist

Who you callin’ a whoua?

cornbread ninja

gouda wheel towards men

Jez

yay, i pronounced my first word on Forvo: forvo.com/word/herbalist

i just couldn't bear not to set the record straight on that silent "h" at the beginning

Robusto

Goud is dead.

tchrist

I can never get Google Maps to do Terrain anymore. It’s always greyed-out for me. I wonder why.

cornbread ninja

19:17

"Is a schwa ever stressed?" Sure, after a long day of schwaing.

RegDwight АΑA

5

Q: Where did the "unavailable" meaning of "Out of Pocket" come from?

The phrase "out of pocket" is often used in my office to mean "unavailable". I've found reference to this on the internet as well, but no obvious clue to where this meaning comes from. Where does this particular meaning come from?

expressions history

Dupe?

4

Q: "Out of pocket"?

I'm increasingly hearing the phrase "out of pocket" used in America as a colloquialism to mean "away from the office", "unavailable", or "incommunicado". I apologize for not replying sooner; I have been out of pocket. What is the etymology of this usage? It always sounds odd to me, since I...

etymology phrases expressions

Dupe.

user19161

@RegDwightАΑA I remember his red beard.

tchrist

@Jez You do realize of course that your h is an affectation caused by freaking out about h-droppers, don’t you?

In ME. usually erbe, a. OFr. erbe (11th c. in Littré), mod.Fr. herbe (= Ital. erba, Sp. yerba, Pg. herva):-L. herba grass, green crops, herbage, herb. In OFr. and ME. occasionally spelt with h after Lat.; regularly so since c 1475, but the h was mute until the 19th c., and is still so treated by many: see H (the letter).

Robusto

@cornbreadninja Uhhhhhhhh!

cornbread ninja

cool hwhip

@Robusto heyyyyy battah battah battah; schwa-wing, battah

tchrist

19:19

Actually, Mexican spells it yerba; Spanish generally spells it hierba.

RegDwight АΑA

May 1 '11 at 12:26, by Mr. Disappointment

►

Robusto

If you're constipated and trying to squeeze one out, you stress the schwa. It's that simple.

tchrist

The Brits started adding the h- on herb in the 19th century out of hypercorrection.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto Simple? You call that simple?

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA Simple != easy.

tchrist

19:20

@Jez The true guardians of the mother tongue fell never into that particular eresy.

Robusto

What the ell?

RegDwight АΑA

Heasy there.

cornbread ninja

'oliday / it would be so nice

tchrist

Hoover doing things again, heh?

RegDwight АΑA

Ouh, a Canadian, heh?

user19161

19:23

Just Pour Laughs?

tchrist

I’m from the upper Great Lakes region; it is a natural part of my own speech. Dood.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist a yooper, eh?

tchrist

Not so far.

But Wisconsin.

cornbread ninja

@tchrist oh, that's right. I asked you about Hamilton Wood Type.

tchrist

I have a Superior family.

Who disavows our Duluth branch.

cornbread ninja

19:25

duluth, duluth / yadda-da yadda-da yadda-da-da

tchrist

Eddie Fitz.

Robusto

@tchrist Lake Geneva is in the lower Great Lakes region. Now, if you were in the UP, I'd call that upper Great Lakes.

tchrist

No, Lake Superior and Lake Michigan are in the upper basin.

It’s a watershed issue.

Robusto

It's a bikeshed issue.

tchrist

Beige.

cornbread ninja

19:26

►

Robusto

Anyways, gotta run.

user19161

@cornbreadninja Those four are Reg, Robusto, Shiny and JSB.

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy !

tchrist

Who’s the porter in whiteface?

cornbread ninja

@tchrist jimmy keyes, apparently

Jez

19:27

@tchrist so? it sounds better. we've improved it.

tchrist

►

Jez

we also ought to reintroduce the "h" pronunciation for "honour" etc. IMHO

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist how delightfully unPC.

tchrist

You seem to have an extra one in homage.

@RegDwightАΑA Isn’t it just?

cornbread ninja

frohmage

Meysam

19:29

why is "eight" in freight not pronounced like in height?

user19161

@Jez Maybe they should remove the u as well.

Jez

no need really

user19161

@Meysam Maybe there is no reason.

tchrist

0

Q: "If only I" or "If I only"?

Should I use only before or after the pronoun? "If only I had a chance" "If I only had a chance" Both sentences bring a lot of results and both seem to be name of songs. Are both correct? Is there a rule for similar sentences?

word-order

user19161

Some things just happen to turn out that way.

tchrist

19:31

If I only had a brain . . .

cornbread ninja

I only have eyes / for you

KitFox

Aww, thanks, baby.

user19161

@KitFox That was meant for Tim.

KitFox

I don't see no grey arrow pointing at Tim.

user19161

There are quite a number of Tims here.

tchrist

19:33

Doobie doobie do!

0

Q: Can "be" be used with the modal verb "do"?

These two sentences are both valid I write this sentence. I do write this sentence. Are these both valid? I am writing this sentence. I do be writing this sentence.

grammar modal-verbs emphasis copula to-be

cornbread ninja

hands @tchrist a scooby snack

RegDwight АΑA

to-be? What happened to not-to-be?

tchrist

AF-lunch

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA that is the question.

RegDwight АΑA

@Meysam etymology. Vowel shift. Lack of standard spelling. Yada yada. Compare German acht, Fracht, but Höhe.

If you want a detailed answer, try asking on the main site, I searched and we don't seem to have a dedicated question for -ight.

user19161

19:46

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

cornbread ninja

:D

RegDwight АΑA

@JasperLoy Better, but still no cigar.

Meysam

19:58

@RegDwightАΑA Maybe I will

ΜετάEd

20:09

@Luke I never get pinged anyway.

@metaed might work regardless.

cornbread ninja

克里斯蒂娜

user19161

20:28

@cornbreadninja Chinese transliteration of your name I see.

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy and now you know!

user19161

@cornbreadninja I knew long ago.

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy 0_0

user19161

@cornbreadninja How did I know? I leave you to figure out...

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy from my blag?

user19161

20:32

@cornbreadninja That is the first step, yes. Let's keep the other steps secret, shh...

cornbread ninja

@JasperLoy it's a deal.

tchrist

I’ve just proven you prove anything at all using Google N-Grams:

0

A: "Antarctic climate" or "antarctic climate"?

It seems that Arctic foxes are quite common compared with arctic foxes: Similarly here for Arctic expeditions versus arctic expeditions: And even moreso for Antarctic expeditions versus antarctic expeditions:

RegDwight АΑA

But will it blend?

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA maybe. But will it play in the sticks?

tchrist

The high-octane versions, sure.

RegDwight АΑA

20:36

@cornbreadninja Most definitely. But will it be phone?

user19161

Ah I noticed another user changed name, shh...

cornbread ninja

20:52

@JasperLoy another?

user19161

@cornbreadninja Well, people change names all the time, hence another.

cornbread ninja

considers changing name to 克里斯蒂娜

user19161

@cornbreadninja No, then you can't be pinged. You should just use the original version if you want.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…