English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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cornbread ninja

00:22

@tchrist fill my eyes / with that color vision / no disguise / for that color vision

cornbread ninja

00:42

howdy @simchona

Cerberus

01:17

@ΜετάEd Our efforts have not been in vain!

Hello roomies.

I'm...in a certain condition.

You can do anything with me.

Mitch

rolls Cerb; takes cash and large gold watch

Cerberus

lets it happens without protest

Mitch

thinks twice...takes shirt

then pants

Cerberus

but doesn't have gold watch, alas

Mitch

ties shoes together

Cerberus

01:19

shirt and pants—gladly

Mitch

puts fake gold watch back on Cerb

Cerberus

shoes are already off after taking off pants

Mitch

puts shirt on legs, pants on arms

Cerberus

No cheating!

Mitch

unties shoes, puts back on feet, ties back together

Cerberus

01:20

legs too fat for shirt, chest too broad for trousers

Mitch

tries to wake cerb to get him to try to walk

Cerberus

stumbles

falls

lands on faces

doesn't even notice

Mitch

crowd of eight year olds laughs uncontrollably

Cerberus

couldn't care less about crowd

I was barely able to cycle home.

Well, it went OK.

But it wasn't supposed to.

Mitch

I'm guessing alcohol was part of the difficulty?

Cerberus

01:22

It...might have.

Mitch

or was it uphill both ways?

Cerberus

No, no. This is Flatland you're talking to.

Mitch

wait you're in the flattest of flat lands, right? not the far south where I've heard there's a hill.

Cerberus

No hills.

Mitch

meaning a rise of about a foot after a mile.

Cerberus

01:23

All flat.

You are a stripe changing shape.

Mitch

stand on your toes see forever.]

Cerberus

The highest point, in the far south, is 300 metres above sea level.

No suck luck here.

Mitch

No, I am sneezing. I blame typos on involuntary reflexes.

Cerberus

Can't drunkards be exempt from chat delays?

Mitch

@Cerberus I don't want to know what that means.

Cerberus

01:25

We have no hills to function as excuses.

Mitch

@Cerberus there's no excuse that's not good enough for chat delays.

Cerberus

Only the flat wastes.

Thanks!!

Mitch

how about swamps as an excuse?

Cerberus

Swamps have been laid dry.

Is that even English?

Mitch

No excuses!

Cerberus

01:26

Lay dry?

Mitch

how about construction? is that n the way?

tchrist

A dry lay is something else.

Cerberus

Gross.

I have done that too, by the way.

Just now.

tchrist

Beaches suck.

Mitch

@Cerberus It's not right, but it didn't sound wrong.

Cerberus

01:26

@Mitch N?

tchrist

Things can be laid bare.

Mitch

it was grammatical, but doesn't make immediate semantic sense, but made sense anyway.

tchrist

But not laid dry.

Cerberus

@Mitch How would you say it? "Reclaim"? That sound awfully euphemistic.

tchrist

I don't know why.

Mitch

01:27

@Cerberus "is that in the way?"

tchrist

Swamps have been drained dry.

with or without the dry.

Cerberus

@Mitch Then...I'm afraid my mind can't grasp what you were saying.

Mitch

yeah, the more common collocations would be 'the swamp was reclaimed' or 'the swamp was drained'.

Cerberus

Yes, drained.

I would have said drained.

tchrist

If you weren’t.

Cerberus

01:28

But I didn't care.

Mitch

laid, drained, kinda sound a like enough. not an eggcorn but closeenough.

Cerberus

Let it be known to posterity that I did notice the discrepancy!

tchrist

Whose posterior are we talking here?

Cerberus

@Mitch Laid...

@tchrist That's private.

Mitch

@Cerberus noted

Cerberus

01:29

But let's say it was not left untouched.

tchrist

untooshed

Cerberus

Heh.

But it was occupied.

So it was let go.

Mitch

@Cerberus posterior or privates..either way.

tchrist

Wait your turn, or crowd in. Always a dilemma.

Cerberus

@Mitch Haha....no comment.

tchrist

01:30

Oh I understand now.

Cerberus

@tchrist I am a gentleman. My honour!

tchrist

It’s the witching hour.

I doubt any on-her was involved here.

Cerberus

The idea.

Mitch

@Cerberus in your english, do you refer euphemistically to genitalia as 'privates'?

tchrist

Package.

Cerberus

01:31

Probably not.

tchrist

Junk.

Boybits.

Mitch

then what (if anything)

tchrist

Tackle.

Cerberus

I would rather prefer a euphemism that was either sillier or less common.

Mitch

@tchrist haven't heard that one. +1

tchrist

01:32

Stephen Fry has some juicy ones.

Cerberus

Like "down under". I know it's not much better. But at least there is some irony.

Mitch

irony? how?

Cerberus

It is somewhat jocular.

tchrist

Because he has the down of a young chick there.

Cerberus

Pah.

Speak for yourself.

Mitch

01:33

that's triple entendre

tchrist

Stubble, then.

Cerberus

Too complicated at this hour.

Mitch

kinda itchy

tchrist

Ain’t it just?

Cerberus

Meanwhile, I'm hungry.

tchrist

01:34

Rule #2.

Cerberus

I should like something to eat now.

tchrist

Rule 1/3: If you’re tired, sleep.

Mitch

which rule book?

oh... so zen

tchrist

Rule 2/3: If you’re hungry, eat.

Cerberus

I deny any rules.

Mitch

01:35

even that one.

tchrist

Biorules are insurmountable.

Cerberus

Yes.

Mitch

is rule #3 about #1 and #2?

tchrist

No.

Rule #3/3: If you’re horny, <INSERT CENSORED ITEM>.

Wash when done.

Mitch

I'm making up a new #3, just for the eight year olds.

Cerberus

01:36

Gentlemen.

tchrist

If you’re thirsty, drink.

Cerberus

Keep it civil!

tchrist

So much for doing anything with you.

Cerberus

@tchrist I did not, and I'm proud of it.

@tchrist You know.

Mitch

I thought you did drink.

Cerberus

01:38

Oh, I did.

tchrist

You did and did not.

Cerberus

But I didn't do what I could have.

tchrist

I think he’s referring to rule 3.

Cerberus

I would never.

tchrist

Refer?

Cerberus

01:39

I said, "you're not allowed to", so we didn't have "tea" at my place.

tchrist

Or reefer?

No teapartiers for you!

Cerberus

Party is a strong word.

tchrist

So is tea if you do it right.

Cerberus

I suppose.

But it wouldn't have been right.

Mitch

that is good tea!

tchrist

01:40

Don’t you have needs to attend to?

Cerberus

I could arrange for them to be met otherwise.

tchrist

You said you were hungry, but are still here.

Cerberus

eating crisps

Mitch

mmm... crisps? are those fried potato slices?

Cerberus

Very.

Mitch

01:43

do you speak English with a rhotic or non-rhotic way?

Cerberus

What do you think?

tchrist

"Fried potato slices"?

Cerberus

RP is the norm.

Mitch

non-rhotic would be my guess, but I don't know.

Cerberus

Ding!

tchrist

01:43

Wisibly.

Cerberus

But I might insert r's when I'm sloppy.

Mitch

Germans that I've known seem to go either way (RP or AmE)

Cerberus

What other way is there?

Mitch

oh because Dutch is mostly rhotic?

Cerberus

There is no such distinction.

It only exists in English.

tchrist

01:44

Like Jonathan Woss, no doubt.

Mitch

between rhotic and not?

tchrist

Hence wisibly.

Cerberus

That.

Mitch

no such distinction in Dutch?

Cerberus

None.

Mitch

01:45

so some words you pronounce the 'r' at the end and some not?

Cerberus

There are just distinctions between different kinds of r's.

tchrist

Would suh caya foah some cwumpets?

Mitch

which would result in what I just said?

tchrist

Vewy wisible.

Cerberus

@Mitch Not really. Although southerners do pronounce the r in a way that we do not consider an r any more.

That is not the right dialect, of course.

@Mitch Not as in English.

Mitch

01:47

wikipedia (yes, I know) doesn't say outright that dutch is rhotic but tends to show the words ending in 'r' have that sound explicitly. but then maybe that's just what you're saying.

tchrist

►

Cerberus

@Mitch It's very complicated.

We have so many r's.

But none are swallowed as in RP.

Mitch

Cerberus

Some sound like the French r, some like Italian r, some like American r.

Mitch

even at the ends of words?

Cerberus

01:49

Not even there.

Mitch

so no r's at the ends of words?

Cerberus

Though southerners turn it almost into a /x/ at the end of a syllable.

@Mitch My r at the end of a syllable is like a very weak American r.

You may be assured that I speak the Right accent.

tchrist

He’s voting for Willard.

Cerberus

@Mitch forvo.com/word/rolf_de_heer/#nl

Listen to the r at the end of heer.

Mitch

@tchrist tout s'explique

Cerberus

01:51

Ah, Français!

Mitch

I had never heard (of) voss before

Cerberus

La langue la plus belle!

tchrist

Woss.

Jonathan Woss.

Mitch

wouldnt that be considered a speech...um...defect?

tchrist

Be vewy quite! We’we hunting wabbits!

Cerberus

01:52

shakes heads

Mitch

@Cerberus nah...they just act that way and everybody believes it.

Cerberus

I need more food!

@Mitch But...but...I believe it!

tchrist

It’s a very good illustration of the right and wrong way to talk.

Mitch

Chinese on the other hand is not particularly beautiful especially when sung.

I have this bad feeling that English is ugly to non-English speakers.

but I can't hear it. it sounds fine. excpet when Americans (or English) try to speak French.

Cerberus

@Mitch Not quite. It sounds OK.

@Mitch But, yes, Englishmen trying to speak a foreign language but without properly learning the pronunciation sound worse than anything ever heard before.

Mitch

01:57

@Cerberus yes, a slight 'r' but definitely there.