English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Spare Oom

02:00

@Cerberus My grandmother would enter our home with that greeting when she let herself in.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Oh, that's too bad. I'll find something else.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Oh, you too!

@SpareOom Oh haha.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Yeah! They haven't paid me back yet, but I'm sure they will.

Cerberus

Have you gone and visited them yet?

Mahnax

No, I don't have enough money left for plane tickets.

Cerberus

02:01

Rubbish.

Just book a ticket.

Mahnax

Oh, with a credit card?

Cerberus

They will show you around.

Mahnax

I'm sure I can pay off the debt later.

Cerberus

Yes, take your father's cc!

Mahnax

Oh, good idea!

Cerberus

02:02

A friend of mine went off to meet his benefactors in Nigeria. I haven't heard from him for a while, but I'm sure he will have been given his due.

tchrist

@SpareOom Yes, it sounds like something the Queen Mum might’ve used.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Of course.

tchrist

Cerberus

3

A: Perfect tenses in conditionals

If you look at a little context, you can see that Conan-Doyle came adrift from his timeframe just a bit: The account of Mrs. Allen, the housekeeper, was, so far as it went, a corroboration of that of her fellow servant. The housekeeper's room was rather nearer to the front of the house than t...

This is the perfect answer.

Exactly what I would have said.

tchrist

Rob's been doing well with answers of late.

His questions, not so much.

Cerberus

02:06

Common sense should be the leading principle.

Spare Oom

@tchrist She wasn't that high-born.

tchrist

Horchata by the half-gallon! Whoda thunk?

Spare Oom

@tchrist It looks like sour cream. Eww. (to drink it.)

tchrist

Horchata

Horchata (; ) or orxata () is the name of several kinds of traditional beverages, made of ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley, or tigernuts (chufas). Etymology The name comes from Valencian orxata, probably from ordiata, made from ordi (barley) (Latin *hordeata

Spare Oom

Almond sounds good, but drinking something that thick isn't appetizing to me.

►

Trott's wife had the opposite mannerism.

Is there a name for that?

Cerberus

02:21

@SpareOom Haha, he's bloody annoying.

I have heard of the Vicar of Dibley, but never watched it.

Dawn French is always great.

Spare Oom

I can't find a clip with his "yes, yes, yes, no." wife.

Cerberus

Oh, dear!

Spare Oom

@Cerberus I saw a few episodes of French and Saunders years ago.

Cerberus

They're great.

cornbread ninja

lol google doodle

tchrist

02:28

Space . . .

Mahnax

@Cerb Example homework question: Convert -4x²+40x+31 to vertex form.

Cerberus

What's vertex form?

Mahnax

The a(x-h)²+k form.

Cerberus

Ah.

Why the minus?

Mahnax

Good question.

But it's a minus in the formula, I do know that.

Cerberus

02:37

Hmm.

cornbread ninja

so like

Cerberus

-1(2x-10)²+131?

cornbread ninja

nm

Mahnax

Nope.

cornbread ninja

got to restart

Cerberus

02:38

Oh..

Cameron

I get -4(x-5)^2 + 131

Cerberus

I'm too lazy to write anything down.

Mahnax

@Cameron That's correct.

Cerberus

Oh, wait, so no bx allowed?

Mahnax

Nope.

Cerberus

02:40

Then what Cameron says, hehe.

What is the purpose of this?

It seems a bit...random.

Cameron

@Cerberus it's useful to see the points that make up the vertex right away

Mahnax

Both forms have their uses, but vertex is so much more useful.

Cerberus

What is a vertex?

Cameron

if you don't want to take the derivative and solve it yourself

Cerberus

We didn't have that.

Cameron

02:40

@Cerberus extrema

Cerberus

The top of a curve?

Cameron

of a parabola

yeah

Mahnax

Yeah.

Cerberus

Ah.

Cameron

or bottom, as the case may be

Cerberus

02:41

But it would be a top here, right?

Mahnax

Yeah, that depends on whether a is negative.

Yes, top.

Cameron

yes, since a is negative

Cerberus

We just call that top in Dutch.

Cameron

what's the Dutch word for top?

Cerberus

Top.

You stole our word.

Cameron

02:43

oh, I see now, whoops

Cerberus

Pirated it.

Cameron

you can have it back, we have vertex now

Cerberus

Yay!

Cameron

it's got an x, so it's cooler

Cerberus

The lowest point on a curve we call a dal.

As in dale.

Cameron

02:43

makes sense

Cerberus

Thanks.

I don't think any other language has so many non-Latinate terms in science.

Mathematics is wiskunde.

David Wallace

Oh, right, it was Zap in the North Island, and Big M in the South Island. No idea why.

Cerberus

Always those islands.

David Wallace

You're just jealous because you don't live on an island.

Cerberus

It must be cool to be an island.

Or two.

Neat borders.

David Wallace

02:45

No neighbours.

I mean, without ocean in between.

Cerberus

Except across the Australian border.

Mahnax

Yeah, we've got those pesky Americans to the south of us here.

Cerberus

Remember.

@Mahnax Squash them to pulp!

tchrist

@Cerberus Hundreds.

Cameron

@Mahnax please don't, I don't want to be pulp

Mahnax

02:46

@Cerberus But they outnumber us! Maybe we'll just burn down their #FFF house again.

David Wallace

Oh, I remember. I have the sushi to prove it.

Cerberus

Haha.

I believe your sovereign's troops did that once?

@DavidWallace Yay!

Mahnax

Back in 1812, if I recall correctly.

Cerberus

Wow, do you learn this stuff in school?

Cameron

At least we got an overture out of it

Mahnax

02:47

Yeah.

Cerberus

It's not even your country!

Mahnax

We cover Canadian history extensively in middle school.

David Wallace

@Cameron Umm, that was something unrelated.

Mahnax

The war of 1812 involved us.

Cerberus

Well, we do learn of the sack of Athens by the Persians in...well, I don't remember.

Some time during the 5th century.

David Wallace

02:48

Bad Persians!

Cerberus

@Mahnax Oh?

Cameron

@DavidWallace I know, I just like the cannons.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Uh, we burned down the White House?

David Wallace

It was me. I burned down the White House.

Then I shot JFK.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace I know!! But the oracle had said "you will be safe behind your walls", so naturally they read that as the walls of their ships, and they evacuated the entire city.

Mahnax

02:49

Good on ya, mate.

David Wallace

And tripped Mary Decker.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Why?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Now you've crossed the line.

Cerberus

And don't you mean England by that?

Mahnax

@Cerberus It was ugly.

Cerberus

02:49

Hmm.

Colonies can be a pain.

Mahnax

Well, technically it was USA v. British Empire.

But Canada was part of the British Empire then.

Cerberus

Exactly.

David Wallace

So can colonoscopies.

Cerberus

I trust you in this.

David Wallace

Hooray for the British Empire.

Cerberus

02:50

Yay!

Oh, noes, another mountie.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Yay

Cerberus

Or canuck.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

We always get our man

David Wallace

Hey. That guy yesterday called you @Mr Sorry. I think.

Cerberus

Or whatever they call you.

@DavidWallace Hahaha.

David Wallace

02:52

But he removed his "why the downvote" question, which made the whole stupid comment thread irrelevant.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidWallace no, sim removed it

I thought

or maybe tchrist said that a "mod" did it.

I forget.

David Wallace

Oh, OK.

simchona

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Which one?

David Wallace

I feel a bit bad now. It makes it look like I started the whole argument. Which I did not.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Huizhe's whining about downvotes and blaming the puffed up native speakers who feel like they're all that.

simchona

02:54

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It got flagged.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Ah, so it was you then? Or some other mod? i.e. not him.

David Wallace

And also, there was so much to read, that I lost the sentence where he gave the correct answer. I should remove the bit where I said it was "not entirely correct"; or whatever I said.

simchona

-4

A: More than 1000 gallons of paint is/are sold each day

Paint, like water, is a liquid and, therefore, like water, noncount: "paint (noun) 1 : a liquid that dries to form a thin colored layer when it is spread on a surface [noncount]." link. In biomedical texts, when we use units of measure, e.g., milliliters (ml), the sentence always uses the singu...

Well, need to clean this one up.

Cerberus

Why waste your time?

David Wallace

In fact, my first comment no longer makes sense. I have no choice but to delete it.

Cerberus

02:57

It's just too long to read.

simchona

I purged it. It devolved into name calling.

David Wallace

@simchona you are the archetype of niceness.

simchona

@DavidWallace Don't know if you're being sarcastic or not.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@sim I like the part where you said "take it to chat" but Huizhe already rather pompously proclaimed "I don't chat".

David Wallace

@simchona I am not being ironic; I sincerely consider you extremely nice. But maybe there is a resentful undertone at the removal of my freedom to be nasty.

simchona

03:01

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I know. I got a sly sense of accomplishment from almost saying "well, you may not chat but don't do it here"

David Wallace

I have never achieved a sense of accomplishment from almost doing something.

simchona

@DavidWallace I'm sure there will be more opportunities

Simple pleasures.

David Wallace

Being nasty on Stack Exchange is better than being nasty in real life.

Mahnax

And God said unto Abraham, “Abraham.”

And Abraham replied, “What.”

Deep.

David Wallace

I don't think that's quite how it goes.

Cerberus

03:05

Spare Oom

Noah. What?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Me neither. It was more like this:

Mm, maybe not.

David Wallace

Yeah, I'm familiar with the passage. I have read Genesis many times.

Cerberus

I saw only half of that.

Cameron

Soon thereafter, "LOLJK," boomed from the sky

Cerberus

03:07

But my opinions on OT cruelty are probably predictable.

@Cameron Haha if only!

David Wallace

And it was mentioned in a recent answer on Islam.SE.

Mahnax

@Cameron Just about!

Cameron

I wonder if anyone has translated the bible into txtspk

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cameron Have you seen the lolcat bible?

David Wallace

Right, because I wish to TXT the entire Bible to all my friends.

Cerberus

03:09

Urgently.

Cameron

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 No, I haven't had the pleasure. Googling now

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

But nothing beats The Brick Testament

Cameron

Wow, that's impressively thorough. Tim Berners-Lee would be proud

David Wallace

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I can't decide whether it's offensive or brilliant.

Cerberus

Offensive?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

03:16

@DavidWallace It's meant to be both, I think.

The thing is, the Bible itself is pretty offensive in places.

When those parts are highlighted in LEGO form people get uncomfortable

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 You mean the slaughtering and torturing?

The punishing of innocents?

The OT is a bit problematic.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Damn, I read that as "tutoring".

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Well, well.

Do you still take "students"?

Do you work at Guantanamo?

tchrist

1 Solomones Song of Songz, kthx.
Teh Beluved:
2 Let him kiss me wit da kissus of hiz mouf i wuv hees mouf kissus--
for ur luv be moar delitefool den cheezbugrz. Srsly, Ai Pwnz!
3 Yu has a flavr I liekz;
yer name is like smellz poorded out.
Deh oter chikz luv yu too!
4 Take me wit yu plz, come on!
Letz go! the king bringme into hiz chamburz, k?

From da Song of Songz

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus The human sacrifice, the torture, the incest, the rape, the part where Saul commands David to go collect 200 foreskins so that David can marry Saul's daughter

David Wallace

03:21

I was thinking it might be good for teaching Christianity to children. Till I found the bit about Lot's daughters.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yeah, that was some other David.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidWallace not THE david?

tchrist

mutters about Jonathan

Cameron

@tchrist I believe bromance is the word the kids are using

tchrist

Which is about as credible as believing that the Song of Songs is an allegory of Christ and the Church.

David Wallace

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Well, it wasn't me.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

03:25

@DavidWallace ah, right

but it was THE biblical David. from whose loins eventually sprung Joseph, adopted father of Jesus thus fulfilling the prophesy (citation needed)

I should stop thinking about this. No good can come of it.

Cameron

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I have the same reaction to this

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cameron I've had one. It was meh.

Cameron

Aww, don't ruin the fantasy!

David Wallace

I'm feeling ill just looking at that picture.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidWallace It's not nearly as nauseating as it may seem. Calorie-wise, fat-wise, etc, it's equivalent to a big mac.

David Wallace

03:28

It's not very kosher.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Well, no

But the problem is that a freshly-cooked piece of fried chicken is not good finger-food and you're holding TWO of them. IT's friggin' hot and greasy and messy.

It's very inconvenient to eat.

A sandwich it's not.

Taste-wise, it's a'ight.

David Wallace

Sorry, I still feel ill.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Are you vegetarian?

David Wallace

I eat chicken.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

do you eat fried chicken?

David Wallace

03:32

Umm, yes?

Mahnax

@Cameron Haha. I made some of those.

David Wallace

I don't eat four-legged meat.

Cameron

@Mahnax how'd they turn out?

Mahnax

Fun fact: the Double Down meal with fries at KFC is healthier than the 3-piece meal with coleslaw and fries.

@Cameron They're OK.

Pretty salty/greasy.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidWallace so the bacon is the problem?

Robusto

03:34

@Mahnax Yikes.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Not the two slices of cheese and the sauce?

Mahnax

@Robusto It's marginal, but still true.

David Wallace

Umm, yes. I used to like bacon. Also, the cheese doesn't look very nice in there.

Mahnax

It's processed pepper jack cheese, IIRC.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes, yes, all that. shudders

David Wallace

03:35

Or maybe it's the sauce that doesn't look nice.

Mahnax

The sauce is actually quite good.

David Wallace

The more I try to analyse it, the more I shall feel ill.

Cerberus

@Cameron Ohhh that looks so good.

Robusto

My biologist son says flavor comes from enzymatic browning on meat and cheese. Who am I to disagree?

Mahnax

@Cerberus Really?

Cerberus

03:36

The maillard reaction, or what was it?

@Mahnax Yes!

It's cheese! And bacon!

Mahnax

They sold quite well, I must say.

People still ask for them occasionally.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@DavidWallace Well, I'll stop trying to convince you. That sandwich was a big controversy generator when it debuted in the US and CA and I was like "bah". People liked to make a big deal of nothing. Overall it's equivalent to just about any large fast-food sandwich.

Cerberus

Oh, the buns are chicken?

Mahnax

Yeah, that's fried chicken on the top and bottom.

Cerberus

I'd prefer real bread.

Cameron

03:37

There is a burger place near my house that has a burger patty between two halves of a donut with American cheese and bacon. I have yet to try it, but I hope it's as good as it sounds.

Cerberus

Deep fried, maybe—but bread.

Mahnax

I put one inside a bun when I ate it.

Robusto

@Cerberus NO UR BUNS R CHICKEN!

Cerberus

But but but...

Mahnax

The perks of working at KFC, I guess.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

03:38

@Cameron I just don't see how that would taste good.

Cameron

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I think it's more about the experience than the taste

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Are you mad?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Granted, I had the McGriddle at McDonalds... the "buns" are two small pancakes with "syrup" .... beads, or something, and inside is sausage and egg. It was awesome, and probably heart-stopping too.

@Cerberus donuts and beef are not things I usually combine.

nor donuts and "american" cheese.

Cerberus

But it's fat! And bacon!

Mahnax

Oh, this reminds me of something that a friend and I did once.

Cerberus

03:40

Wait, are doughnuts always sweet?

Robusto

God said to Abraham "Kill me a son"
Abe said "Man you must be puttin' me on"
God said "No." Abe said "What?"
God said "You kin do what you want to but
The next time you see me comin' you better run!"
Abe said "Where you want this killin' done?"
God said "Out on Highway 61."

Mahnax

We bought a double Big Mac from McD's, and a Double Down from KFC, and combined them.

Then we cut it in half and raced to eat it.

Cameron

@Robusto good tune

Cerberus

Yay!

Eat that, Abraham!

Cameron

gotta run, girlfriend's home

=[

Cerberus

03:41

Hehe.

Bye.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

►

Cameron

adios

kind retards

Cerberus

You too.

Mahnax

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Those guys are ninnies.

Robusto

I am to bed as well, night.

Mahnax

03:42

They once asked the people at Taco Bell to put a taco in one of their beverages.

David Wallace

2 days ago, by David Wallace

Yo quiero Taco Shells.

Cerberus

Night!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

man, I watched the fast food lasagne and I'm hungry now.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 God that looks good.

I want that.

NAO

Ya hear me?

I could easily eat four times the calories of what I'm allowing myself to eat now.

bacon eyes

Mahnax

@Cerberus That does not mean you should.

Cerberus

03:56

@Mahnax It does mean that it would make me very happy!

If there were no adverse consequences...

Mahnax

There's the catch.

You'd get fat quick.

Cerberus

Alas.

I'm around 1500 kcal now.

Maybe 1700.

Mahnax

My daily caloric intake varies from 200-2000.

Cerberus

200?

Mahnax

Sometimes I forget to eat.

Cerberus

03:57

Anything under 1500 is unhealthy, I believe.

You consume muscle.

And stuff.

Mahnax

Well, that doesn't happen often.

Cerberus

Good.

2000 is still not that much, I think for your age, but fine.

Mahnax

I'd say that I usually have about 2000, maybe a bit less.

Cerberus

Or is it?

Ah OK.

Mahnax

hackertyper.com

This is fun…

Cerberus

04:03

I posted that!

A day or so ago.

Mahnax

Oh, nice.

Cerberus

Did you find it on your own?

Elendil posted it in the Cooking room.

Mahnax

I've seen it on Reddit a bunch of times.

Was Elendil ever active here on EL&U?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mahnax We had someone with a name like that I think

Mahnax

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 ElendilTheTall?

Cerberus

04:08

@Mahnax I don't remember.

@Mahnax Yup.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mahnax that could be it

hm, now I can't find a user account with that name

so maybe I am thinking of a different se

Mahnax

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I recall having seen a deleted user, whose name is now delete.

But his contributions remain.

I'm fairly certain that Elendil was active here, but I'm not sure where I heard that.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

5

A: What's the difference between these sentences?

The first sentence says that you are about to eat your lunch; it may or may not imply that you are leaving the present location to do so, depending on the context. The second says that it is time for you to eat lunch and that you will be leaving the present location to do so. You would say this ...

note the comment on that answer is to @elendil

Mahnax

Ha, there it is.

Perhaps delete was someone else then.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

And I found a link to his user page: english.stackexchange.com/users/3444/elendilthetall

it 404s for me

Mahnax

04:12

User pages, once deleted, are gone forever.

Hm, perhaps WebArchive…

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Jasper commented that he deleted his account

Elendil is a registered user now. Hooray and welcome to the site! (^_^) — ЯegDwight Jan 28 '11 at 10:27

Mahnax

Nope, Internet Archive doesn't work.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Oh dear, I think Elendil has gone two steps backwards now by deleting account. — Will Hunting Feb 3 '11 at 3:17

So there you have it.

Mahnax

Yep.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

well, it's late, I should get going.

bye everyone.

Mahnax

04:17

Bye.

Cerberus

Bye.

Spare Oom

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Haha. That sounds so silly.

Spare Oom

04:35

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 @Mahnax @DavidWallace youtube.com/watch?v=-uwY3sjqYX0

@Cerberus It depends.

finally caught up with this week's transcript and may be able to sleep

Noah

10:39

Hello

tchrist

11:34

-1

Q: Is there a difference between "set out" and "laid out"?

Consider the following two sentences: There is work set out for him. There is work laid out for him. Could they mean different things? Or is one of them not used correctly?

grammar

He never gives up.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…