English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

01:29

> #Worldle #128 6/6 (100%)
🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜⬅️
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜⬅️
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜⬇️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨↙️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟨➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Bleh.

CowperKettle

01:43

#Worldle #128 X/6 (79%)
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜➡️
🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜⬅️
🟩🟩⬜⬜⬜➡️
🟩🟨⬜⬜⬜➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟨⬜↘️
🟩🟩🟨⬜⬜➡️
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Cerberus

Yeah.

CowperKettle

01:54

The first native-born Canadian to be declared a saint. She married a bootlegger who sold liquor illegally to Indigenous Peoples in exchange for furs and who frequently left home for long periods for parts unknown. Despite this, the couple eventually had six children before François died in 1730. By age 30 she had suffered the loss of her father, husband and four of her six children, who died in infancy.

> d'Youville and the Grey Nuns used enslaved laborers in their hospital and purchased and sold both Indian slaves and British prisoners, including an English slave which she purchased from the Indians. The vast majority of the 'slaves' in the hospital were English soldiers and would be better described as prisoners of war.

Slave labor: a solution to the rising healthcare costs.

Cerberus

02:10

Yeah, deserving of sainthood.

CowperKettle

Maybe compared with other people of her age, she did.

Maintaining a hospital, when causes of diseases were unknown and treatment was almost non-existent was a noble deed

Cerberus

02:25

It is.

But using slaves?

CowperKettle

02:41

Soviet drone, produced from 1979 to 1989

Used for reconnaissance (so hard to type this word)

Cerberus

Hmm one wonders how effective drones were in those days.

CowperKettle

Tupolev Tu-141

The Tupolev Tu-141 Strizh ("Swift"; Russian: Туполев Ту-141 Стриж) is a Soviet reconnaissance drone that historically served with the Soviet Army during the late 1970s and 1980s, as well as the Ukrainian Armed Forces since 2014. == Development == The Tu-141 was a follow-on to the Tupolev Tu-123 and is a relatively large, medium-range reconnaissance drone. It is designed to undertake reconnaissance missions several kilometers behind the front lines at transsonic speeds. It can carry a range of payloads, including film cameras, infrared imagers, EO imagers, and imaging radar.As with previous Tupolev...

Cerberus

Ah, it was that type.

Still in use.

CowperKettle

02:56

> Compared with individuals taking non–BBB-crossing antihypertensives, those taking BBB-crossing agents had significantly superior verbal memory (recall), with a maximum effect size of 0.07 (P = .03). mdedge.com/internalmedicine/article/241878/neurology/…

Some ACE inhibitors and ARBs cross into the brain and do something there.

Cerberus

Hmm.

Do you take those?

CowperKettle

I used to take Enalapril in 2000-2009

And strangely, I felt psychologically better on it, but could not understand why.

Cerberus

Hmm.

CowperKettle

Then I came across studies in mice about how ACE inhibitors decrease inflammation in the brain, and boost dopamine production.

Cerberus

Ah, dopamine.

CowperKettle

03:00

There is even suspicion that this boosted dopamine production may tip high-risk persons closer to a schizophrenia-like psychosis.

Cerberus

Dangerous.

CowperKettle

> Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) levels are lower in individuals with first episode psychosis (FEP) and even lower in those with resistant disease, suggesting the enzyme may be a biomarker of disease severity.

ACE levels: potential biomarker of psychosis severity

It's amazing how everything is inter-related in the body.

Cerberus

Incredibly complex.

CowperKettle

I read back in the 00's that ACE inhibitors save several hundred thousand lives evey year, merely by preventing blood vessel disorders.

Discovery and development of ACE inhibitors

The discovery of an orally inactive peptide from snake venom established the important role of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors in regulating blood pressure. This led to the development of Captopril, the first ACE inhibitor. When the adverse effects of Captopril became apparent new derivates were designed. Then after the discovery of two active sites of ACE: N-domain and C-domain, the development of domain-specific ACE inhibitors began. == Development of first generation ACE inhibitors == The development of the nonapeptide teprotide (Glu-Trp-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gln-Ile-Pro-Pro), which...

Their discovery is probably one of the most important events in medicine in the XX century.

> was originally isolated from the venom of the Brazilian pit viper Bothrops jararaca

Research of viper venom has saved millions of lives.

Cerberus

Impressive.

Vikas

05:18

Look what Amazon support did with English and my name XD

CowperKettle

> The Gauls are terrifying in aspect and their voices are deep and altogether harsh; when they meet together they converse with few words and in riddles, hinting darkly at things for the most part and using one word when they mean another; and they like to talk in superlatives, to the end that they may extol themselves and depreciate all other men. They are also boasters and threateners and are fond of pompous language, and yet they have sharp wits and are not without cleverness at learning.

Vikas

Vikas means expanding, progress or development in Sanskrit. It is often used as a masculine given name in Greater India. You would find people with this name mostly in North Indian states. Vikas and Pragati both means development. But Vikas name is given to males while Pragati to females. == Notable people == === Bikas === Bikas K. Chakrabarti (born 1952), Indian physicist Bikas Mishra, Indian Filmmaker === Bikash === Bikash Bhattacharjee (1940–2006), Indian painter from Kolkata in West Bengal Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, Indian politician Bikash Bista (born 1965), Director General of ...

Good name

CowperKettle

06:12

> Koro is a culture bound delusional disorder in which individuals have an overpowering belief that their sex organs are retracting and will disappear, despite the lack of any true longstanding changes to the genitals.[1][2] Koro is also known as shrinking penis, and it is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

Vikas

07:03

@CowperKettle Yeah but people here use two spellings for same: Vikas and Vikash. I quite don't like the latter. They are written exactly same in Hindi though.

@CowperKettle It also mentions other spellings like Bikash, Bikas

CowperKettle

In Russia, Vika is the short form of Victoria, and is a very common female name.

In speech, people will not normally call a girl Victoria instead of Vika, because Victoria sounds too long and official in Russian.

Maybe if Vika is misbehaving, her parent may call her Victoria, spelling out the name in full, when reprimanding her.

Xanne

08:22

Vika Azarenka is a Belorussian tennis player. I think she’s originally Russian, but got more support from Belorus. Now can’t play Wimbeldon, of course.

Xanne

08:50

The Carpenters - Jambalaya (On The Bayou) (Live in 1974) • TopPop

►

Xanne

09:26

Just in case you missed the wordle.

Vikas

10:24

@CowperKettle Interesting.

@CowperKettle VICTORIA!

M.A.R.

12:22

@Vikas Vikash is your evil twin, the yang to your yin, the mustard to your custard, wait, does that work

M.A.R.

12:50

@Xanne it's Belli-Russian because it's in Russia's belly.

CowperKettle

Белый (belyi) is a word meaning white

Belorussia is "White Russia", whatever that means.

tchrist

@CowperKettle It means they aren't Yellow Russians or Red Russians.

Black Russians you have to go to a tavern to locate.

Something about the lighting, I reckon.

CowperKettle

My friends always comment that Belarus is very neat. Streets and villages are very clean and tidy, while in Russia they can be out of order.

Everyone I know who has traveled to Belarus commented in a very good way about it.

tchrist

13:06

Sounds like the Austrians compared with the rest of the Germans.

> 7. Be Neat & Tidy.

The entire country is an OCD dream of cleanliness. Crossing the border into Austria I swear the fields get more organised, the streets are neater and everything is more orderly. There's a woman on our street who has been spotted sweeping leaves from the footpath at midnight.

No joke - cleanliness is imperative. If cleaning your house isn't enough, they have city wide initiatives in Spring to help clean the city for incoming tourists...very serious business!

From here.

Cerberus

Somehow I suspect Holland is neater...

tchrist

> The Austrian Home
Austrians take much pride in their homes, keeping them neat and tidy.
In a formal culture such as theirs, the home is the place where people relax and let their hair down.
Only close friends and relatives are invited into the house, so it is a place where more informal communication may occur.
Neighbourly etiquette also has its rules that must be observed. It is imperative that common areas such as sidewalks, pavements, corridors (in flats), and steps be kept clean at all times by all associated with them.

From here.

I remember when some Bavarian friends came visiting and we hiked up to local mountain peak here as I had earlier done with them in Bavaria. They were surprised to find no trash at the peak here.

I said to them, but I thought Germans were always very clean about their streets and homes and countryside. They said no, you must be confusing us with Austrians.

Cerberus

Well, Germans are relatively clean.

But population density is probably a big factor.

The fewer people walk along that path, the less chance of trash.

And the kind of people, probably.

If the path is near some camping ground for young people...

tchrist

That makes sense. But I think there was also something else. Here the shame would be very great to the person who litters in a beautiful place.

Cerberus

That's good.

I think that shame is in all countries.

But not with all people equally...

tchrist

13:18

I wonder whether denizens of countries such as perhaps Belorussia and Austria share some national character or ethic in this which those of various other countries do not have in such strong measure.

It would be embarrassing to have trash strewn along the highway.

Cerberus

That is possible.

But somehow I suspect Belarus is not that clean compared with rich countries.

tchrist

You do find beer cans and such around places that are local "lovers' lanes" or party hangouts. But I can't imagine finding them at a mountain peak rather than in some ad-hoc nonce-campsite in the woods. Still, even there it's awful. If people here saw that, they would pick it up.

Yet you also find empty lots and such with signs posted that say NO DUMPING. So it must be a problem.

If you drive along the east-to-west Interstate 10 in the American Southwest, it seems full of trash. Part of that is the tumbleweed effect, though. It also has all these disgusting billboards, which seem to attract more trash.

Cerberus

Yeah I would express less trash at mountain peaks...

Ah, yes, why have billboards ever been allowed?

tchrist

I don't know. They are forbidden by law here.

Cerberus

Eye pollution.

tchrist

13:25

For that reason.

Cerberus

Oh, good.

We have in the city, which makes money off them.

And all tram stops are basically billboards.

tchrist

I'm sure people make money from them elsewhere. That doesn't mean they should exist there.

Cerberus

No.

But it is harder to get rid of them when they provide income to government.

tchrist

It's illegal to put up a billboard along a highway in Boulder County. Even on private property.

Cerberus

In some locations, they even block your view in traffic.

Robusto

13:27

@CowperKettle To distinguish it from "Red" Russia after the October revolution?

tchrist

@Cerberus Really?!

Cerberus

Yeah they're only allowed at very specific locations determined by government.

tchrist

It's always harder to get rid of things when doing so takes money away from somebody.

Cerberus

Robusto

#Worldle #128 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

Cerberus

13:29

This one, for example.

Robusto

I saw that one the other day and remembered it.

Cerberus

It's not very noticeable, but, when you're standing next to that billboard on your bike, it blocks part of the view to the right.

And you need to look right-backwards a bit because the street is curved.

I cycled there every day for work, and it annoyed me.

tchrist

I think I see five signs there. One written on the street itself and two on vehicles.

Cerberus

This is the billboard.

It looks a lot larger when you're standing next to it.

At 1 m distance.

Robusto

13:51

Wordle 344 4/6

🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Tricky one today.

CowperKettle

14:25

Word of the day: osteo-odonto-keratoprosthesis

> a medical procedure to restore vision in the most severe cases of corneal and ocular surface patients. It includes removal of a tooth from the patient or a donor. After removal, a lamina of tissue cut from the tooth is drilled and the hole is fitted with optics. The lamina is grown in the patients' cheek for a period of months and then is implanted upon the eye.

ConGovDeIn

15:03

I want to improve my English speaking skills (English is not my native language and people around me don't speak in English). Is there an app or website where I can converse in English?

I have found that no matter how much English (or any language) we know, we cannot speak it until we speak it.

tchrist

15:30

@MattE.Эллен To what good might having a bin on the QT be put? Rubbish, I tell you! :)

0

Q: What is a kutikan?

What is a kutikan as relates to trailhead amenities? We'll be adding amenities to complement the MUT like benches, water fountain, and a kutikan. "It is proposed that the existing Class II Trailhead at Quanah Parker Park be upgraded to a Class I by adding a kutikan, drinking fountain, and rela...

AND here we have water fountains AND drinking fountains AND dog fountains, which I presume simulate the condition of raining cats and dogs.

Or half of that. You never see cat fountains.

I still think kutican looks as much like an English word as Ketchikan does; ie not at bit.

Unless they've started putting ketchup in cans instead of in bottles.

> Ketchikan is a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, United States, the southeasternmost city in Alaska. With a population at the 2010 census of 8,050 within the city limits, it is the fifth-most populous city in the state.

> "Ketchikan" comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear. It may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk"; other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle". In modern Tlingit this name is rendered as Kichx̱áan.

Maybe a can on the QT is one that's silent but deadly.

tchrist

15:52

Some more famous examples: "Blessed is the man who trusts in the lord," "Black is the color of my true love's hair," "Bright are the stars that shine dark is the sky", "Late is the hour in which this conjurer chooses to appear", "All mimsy were the borogroves." — Peter Shor May 23 at 10:08

There are several rules that front constituents. One is Wh-clefting, like White is what I want to paint it from I want to paint it white. As mentioned, it's available where word order is freer, as in poems -- Home is the sailor, home from the sea/And the hunter, home from the hill. — John Lawler May 23 at 18:34

Not to mention Roger Zelazny’s Home Is the Hangman.

tchrist

16:07

Beatitudes are always expressed in this way, as in "Blessèd is he who considers the poor" — or, more classically, "Beatus qui cogitat de paupere", whence the very term beatitude itself derives. — tchrist ♦ 2 mins ago

6

Q: "Felix est rex is quem omnes cives amant". Is the pronoun "is" necessary?

Considering the original phrase: The king who all citizens love is happy. (Portuguese: Feliz é o rei a quem todos os cidadãos amam.) Here is a proposed Latin translation: Felix est rex is quem omnes cives amant Is the pronoun "is" necessary?

syntax pronouns

Happy is the king whom all his people love.

tchrist

16:21

> Blood-red were his spurs i' the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat,
When they shot him down on the highway,
Down like a dog on the highway,
And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.

> Black was his plume, black was his shield,
Braver ne'er did fauchion wield;
Showers of shafts would rattle
Round him in the battle,
Yet he knew not how to yield.

> His Bill was Raven-black, and shon like Jet,
Blue were his Legs, and Orient were his Feet:
White were his Nails, like Silver to behold,
His Body glitt'ring like the burnish'd Gold.

From Chaucer, THE COCK and the FOX; OR, THE TALE OF THE NUN's PRIEST.

But I don't know what it means for his feet to be orient.

I don't think our asker come from a language that enjoys copular inversion the way English does. But I don't know whether English comes upon it naturally or whether instead it derives from Latin word order calqued on top of us.

Inverse copular constructions

In linguistics, inverse copular constructions, named after Moro (1997), are a type of inversion in English where canonical SCP word order (subject-copula-predicative expression, e.g. Fred is the plumber) is reversed in a sense, so that one appears to have the order PCS instead (predicative expression-copula-subject, e.g. The plumber is Fred). The verb in these constructions is always the copula be (am, are, is, was, were). Inverse copular constructions are intriguing because they render the distinction between subject and predicative expression difficult to maintain. The confusion has led to focused...

Cerberus

> Proud seemed the primrose, defying rain and deer.

tchrist

Shakespeare famously wrote "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" in Henry IV Part 2.

These are all predicate complements, too, not transitive objects being fronted.

Adjectival ones in particular.

Cerberus

Yeah.

tchrist

I feel like a better answer could be made to put to that question.

Cerberus

> The verb in these constructions is always the copula be

tchrist

16:34

Well, there are other copulae.

Cerberus

So says your article.

tchrist

The point is that the adjective is linked to the subject.

Cerberus

Sometimes, it seems to me as though certain linguists never read literature nor use their imagination.

tchrist

Yes, I'm not keen on that article. It's forgetting the other ways predicate adjectives apply to their subjects.

I don't know that that article was written by linguists, who, you would think, would know better.

Cerberus

They are often narrow minded, in my experience.

Of course not all and not always.

Mitch

16:46

@ConGovDeIn Excellent idea... the ones I'm aware of are hellotalk.com (free langauge exchange) or italki.com (paid time, but pretty cheap). But I'm sure a google search would find you others. Also you probably want to search for and/or ask over at English Language Learners and Language Learning

tchrist

> Cold ran the blood of a Finnish farmer one day in 1931. His two-year-old child had been playing outside his cottage near the Russian border. Now the baby was the gone.

That isn't even poetry.

I guess E.B. White wrote a poem "Ballade of Meaty Inversions" on 3/3/33, but I can't find the source.

Mitch

He never wrote of the baby being the gone of course

tchrist

> WHITE, E. B.

Ballade of meaty inversions. (In
The New Yorker, Mar. 11, 1933)
© 10Mar33; B183341. E. B.
White (A); 23Mar60; R254067.

@Mitch Gone was the babe that played in the wood.

What do you expect when you leave your toddler in the Dingo Dingle?

> Gone was the exciting unknown of the hike and in its place an eerie feeling of displacement in a bustling society.

Not poetry.

amazon.com/Lost-Was-Key-Leah-Haley/dp/1883729033

"Lost Was the Key"

> Lost were the depths and riches of the Jewish soul.

> Thirteen thousand years ago, the Age of Great Mammals came crashing to a close in the Western Hemisphere. Lost were the giants of the elephant clan: the mammoths, mastodons, and gomphotheres, which had maintained a presence in North America for twenty million years.

> Forgotten were the elementary rules of logic, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and that what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.

Unbounded are the plentiful example.

Vikas

17:04

@M.A.R. Well

tchrist

> A plan to rob the house was laid,
The thief with love seduced the maid;
Cajoled the cur, and stroked his head,
And bought his secrecy with bread.
He next the mastiff's honour tried,
Whose honest jaws the bribe defied.
He stretched his hand to proffer more;
The surly dog his fingers tore.
Swift ran the cur; with indignation
The master took his information.

Mitch

@tchrist He'd write about that baby if he could.

tchrist

Failed is your scansion.

Mitch

@M.A.R. No. That is wrong. I mean, not incorrect. Just two things put together which is wrong.

@tchrist Doggerel is too loose to mention.

tchrist

> With reason hath deep silence and demur
Seized us, thought undismayed. Long is the way
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.
Our prison strong, this huge convex of fire,
Outrageous to devour, immures us round
Ninefold; and gates of burning adamant,
Barred over us, prohibit all egress.

> A king he was on carven throne
In many-pillared halls of stone
With golden roof and silver floor,
And runes of power upon the door.
The light of sun and star and moon
In shining lamps of crystal hewn
Undimmed by cloud or shade of night
There shone for ever fair and bright.

> ...
Unwearied then were Durin's folk;
Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

> Weary were the forests, dark on either side;
Weary were the marshes, stretching far and wide;
Weary were the wood-piles, strewn upon the bank
Weary were the cane-groves, growing wild and dank;
Weary was the wilderness, without a house or spire;
Weary were the log huts, built upon the sand;
Weary were the waters, weary was the land;

> Weary was the cabin with its gilded wall,
Weary was the deck we trod — weary — weary all:
Nothing seems so plesant to hope for or to keep,
Nothing in the wide word so beautiful as sleep,
As we journeyed southward on our lazy ship,
Dwindling, idling, loafing, down the Mississip.

> King Thingol sat on guarded throne
in many-pillared halls of stone:
there beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
and metal wrought like fishes' mail,
buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
and gleaming spears were laid in hoard:
all these he had and counted small,
for dearer than all wealth in hall,
and fairer than are born to Men,
a daughter had he, Lúthien.

tchrist

17:53

> Whence the sound of music ? Whence the merry laugh ?
Surely boon companions, who jest, and sing, and quaff ?
No! the slaves rejoicing⸺ happier than the free,
With guitar and banjo, and burst of revelry !
Hark the volleyed laughter ! hark the joyous shout !
Hark the nigger chorus ringing sharply out !
Merry is the bondsman ; gloomy is his lord ;
For merciful is Justice, and kind is Fate's award.

He's rhymed laugh with quaff!!

And given happier only two syllables.

From Life and Liberty in America: Or, Sketches of a Tour in the United States and Canada by Charles Mackay, published in two volumes from 1857–1859.

I have the vowel of HAM in my laugh but the vowel of KHAN in my quaff. He clearly did not.

I daren't post that, lest Milton's lines from Paradise Lost should painfully apply.

Matt E. Эллен

@tchrist confidential waste. secret sewers?

tchrist

Something from Cloaca Obscura, that's for sure.

Matt E. Эллен

bleugh

tchrist

What happens in the Little House of the Half-Moon should remain in the Little House of the Half-Moon.

I guess a kutikan is less upsetting than a kutikam.

Matt E. Эллен

18:18

would want them in the same place

tchrist

18:31

@Cerberus Is that Pope or Scott?

Cerberus

@tchrist Cerberus.

Just a random example with a different copula to defy Wikipedia's statement.

tchrist

> Nor nearer might the dogs attain,
Nor farther might the quarry strain
Thus up the margin of the lake,
Between the precipice and brake,
O'er stock and rock their race they take.

> Close on the hounds the Hunter came,
To cheer them on the vanished game;
But, stumbling in the rugged dell,
The gallant horse exhausted fell.

That last one is SCV not SVC or CVS.

tchrist

19:01

0

A: Is it correct to place the adjective before 'is/was'?

Yes, it's just fine. This device strengthens the writing when used judiciously. Literary you may call it, but it is not unusual in English in any way. Here’s the longer explanation, with references and citations. Intransitive verbs that accept as their complement a predicative adjective describi...

"Literary you may call it" is a deliberate example of the device, although this time with a ditransitive verb whose second complement is adjectival.

Cerberus

This order is really not that unusual.

In Indo-European languages, at least.

tchrist

To me it certainly is not.

I don't know where our guest asker is from, or what their language background might be.

They might even be a native speaker who hasn't read much.

@Cerberus This is an example of the constant sort of questions we get that never cease to amaze me for the very reason stated.

I don't know where people come from who think this puzzling or wrong.

A lawyer was she.

And clever her argument.

Cerberus

19:22

Nor I.

tchrist

19:38

Perhaps they are young and unread, a post-literate generation knowing only action movies and video games.

Robusto

20:19

Switzerland: So Many Guns, No Mass Shootings | The Daily Show Throwback

►

I'm jealous.

Robusto

20:52

Wordle (ES) #143 5/6

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜
⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩
⬜🟩⬜🟩🟩
⬜🟩🟨🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

https://wordle.danielfrg.com/

How Corruption Destroys Armies - Theft, Graft, and Russian failure in Ukraine

►

tchrist

En cent ans, sous la pression du français, le wallon a décliné de manière spectaculaire. Symbole d'un patrimoine autant linguistique que culturel, il est cependant toujours vivant, dans la vie associative surtout. Un regard sur la Wallonie d'aujourd'hui.

This makes me feel like I'm going to blind, seeing spots:

Accueul

Estatistikes ed consultacion d'el page

> Bienvnue dins Wikipédia
El libe inciclopédie

Picard

Ch'picard est eune langue pérlée in Picardie, din ch'nord del Franche (Nord-Pas-Calés) pi étous din eune partie del Walonnie in Bergike, din l'provinche Hénau (à l'ouest d'eune line Rebecq-Beaumont-Chimay). Ch'Picard, ch'est eune langue d'oil aveuc granmint ed dialectes (anmiénoé, vimeu, vermindoé, bieuvaisis, chti, rouchi) et pi din chés patoé (o pérlers); il y o auchi chés varientes aveuc chés vilaches qui pérlette à leus mots. == Chés parlés picards == El' linque picarte ale o des dialectes éq' sont des variétés jografiques. Et pi din chés dialectes in o des microdialectes (sous-dialectes,...

It may well be eune langue d'oil, but not life as we know it, Jim.

> Perret describes it as not a very uniform language, for example the verb "aller" has three present subjunctive forms in Old French: "L'ancien français est une langue beaucoup moins uniformisée que le français moderne... (un verbe comme aller, par exemple, a trois formes de subjonctif présent : voise, alge, aille)"

Ouch.

Robusto

@tchrist Without running it through Google Translate, this is what I gleaned from that headline: "In 100 years, under French pressure, Walloon declined in a spectacular manner. Symbolic of a patrimony both linguistic and cultural, it is always alive, mainly in the associative (?) life. In regard to Walloonia now."

tchrist

@Robusto Where Walloon is the tongue and Wallonia the land.

Robusto

Ah, OK.

I wasn't familiar with the land, only the language.

tchrist

The part of Belgium that speaks, well, not Flemish.

Flanders + Wallonia = Belgium

Robusto

21:07

Yeah, I get that.

tchrist

I've left off a corner that speaks another low German tongue.

Robusto

I didn't know it was a political division, though.

Or a geographic one.

tchrist

> The two areas are Flanders, consisting of the Dutch speaking or Flemish community, and Walloon or Wallonia, the home of the French community. A small community of German-speaking people also resides in Belgium, but they are an autonomous community distinct from the other two within the far eastern region of Wallonia.

Now I'm confuseder.

I think Belgium has two provinces, Flanders and Wallonia.

Blah.

Robusto

It doesn't help that one of them is called Luxembourg. Wishful thinking, or conscious mimicry?

tchrist

I wondered that.

@Cerberus would know.

It's cold and wet here today. I hope it drives away the yellow clouds of pine pollen that have killing me allergies.

Read: it's raining. Thundering even.

Robusto

21:15

Very windy here today.

tchrist

It got windy here yesterday.

Robusto

I cut my ride short to 43.5 miles because it was getting dangerous. When not in my face, the wind was pushing me off the road or into traffic.

tchrist

The cold and wet have brought me tanagers and orioles seeking sweet, sweet jelly.

Cold, wet winds blowing fiercely leave canopies stripped of their bugs.

Somebody must have tried to have a picnic.

Cerberus

22:14

I had forgotten.

tchrist

Complicated.

Cerberus

I think so!

jlliagre

22:58

If you want to hear various Belgian idioms: atlas.limsi.fr/?tab=BE

tchrist

Do champignons speak champenois? :)

jlliagre

No, they don't drink champagne either!

tchrist

That's really a very nice demonstration.

It does a good job of showing how these are all langue-d’oïl variations, not langues d’oc or some other Romance.

jlliagre

23:25

There are similar maps for France: atlas.limsi.fr/?tab=Hexagone , Italy atlas.limsi.fr/?tab=IT, Iberia atlas.limsi.fr/?tab=ES , Germany and many other locations.

Cerberus

Oh, very nice.

MetaEd

23:40

@tchrist I was writing a bug report on the Perl Syslog module, and saw your name in the credits

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…