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5:21 PM
@Fountain The latest update is a perfect example of a non-sequitur.
 
Grrr. I hope that I wasn't too harsh here. But he really hurt my feelings.
-3
A: Spelt and Spelled

C. Logan'Spelt' is correct - regardless of what the dictionaries say, 'spelled' is incorrect. Besides, spelled looks and sounds childish. Unless you are a 15 year old writing something on Facebook, I would definitely use 'spelt', 'dreamt', and 'learnt' instead of 'spelled', 'dreamed', and 'learned'.

Reminds me of this:
Feb 4 at 16:06, by RegDwight
@Robusto: and now I just want to cry, just see what someone commented on my MSO question: "I think EL&U is dominated by US English, whereas there is a far wider user base on SO, which, I think, makes it a better place for questions about the pronunciation of programming terms when it is likely that it will vary a great deal between different flavours of English."
Feb 4 at 16:08, by RegDwight
I'm sad and infuriated at the same time.
Do we have a general image problem? Or are these just two isolated incidents?
 
I ignored the answer until he added the comment.
 
@RegDwight — It's the know-nothings who make the blanket generalizations.
 
I object to your blanket generalization about know-nothings such as myself.
 
@Robusto But that's the point of my question. I'm not worried about people who are already here and know very well what this site is and is not about.
 
5:34 PM
You just miss your blankie.
 
Feb 16 at 15:44, by RegDwight
Everything is a generalization. Always.
 
@RegDwight — If they stay, and are hostile, we deal with them. If they leave in a huff, that's no skin off our ass.
 
@Robusto But what if they leave only to tell all their friends and relatives, don't go anywhere near the crap site that is EL&U?
 
@RegDwight Ummmm ...
Feb 8 at 15:59, by Robusto
And remember: all generalizations are false.
 
Feb 16 at 15:39, by Kosmonaut
And everyone loves to make generalizations.
 
5:37 PM
@RegDwight — Do you really want all their friends and relatives coming to the party?
 
@Robusto Why not? What is a priori wrong with their friends and relatives? (Sweeping generalizations aside.)
 
@robusto I've been missing parties here? Curse my lateness at discovering EL&U.
 
Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
 
@RD01 Yes. Parties with bagels.
Feb 24 at 2:36, by Orbling
@Kosmonaut Your parties must be very well "catered". ;-)
@Robusto But the point of this site is to be an educational resource for everyone. We're not here just to educate each other.
Oh peoplez, puhleeeease, who's upvoting this?
1
A: Why is anyone in a porn movie considered a porn star?

vgv8This is because the symbol of human body, Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man resembles a star.

 
Holy Pron. That question is still getting traffic.
 
5:44 PM
Looking through the list of his recent answers, I absolutely had to downvote three of them.
People should be less hesitant about downvoting crap.
 
@RegDwight Amen.
 
14 hours ago, by Robusto
Hmm ... #1 and #2 on the "Most Viewed" section of the mod tools page. Do I detect a pattern here?
"Porn star" and "female ass" questions, respectively.
 
Yeah well, post a question about how to pronounce Linux...
 
I'll take the under for that one.
 
Or post a question about whether Vista is better than Ubuntu. In the three seconds it will take me to close it, it will get more views, answers, and comments, than all of our sex questions combined.
 
5:48 PM
@RegDwight I'm trying not to downvote his questions on reflex
 
@Rhodri Not talking about reflex. And not talking about questions, for that matter. I'm talking about crap answers that don't even address the question.
-1
A: Are there examples of terms named after a person that are no longer capitalized?

vgv8What about former abbreviations like: laser - light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation sonar - SOund NAvigation Ranging nylon - New-York + LONdon scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus asdic - antisubmarine detection investigation committee lol - lot of laugh p...

And I'm not singling out vgv8, by the way.
People should be checking the /review pages more often.
 
Ew, you're right.
 
Any reason why there isn't a link to that page? Or is that something that is added with reputation levels?
I was on SO for months before I discovered /reputation and /review.
 
@RD01 They are both easter eggs.
They are accessible to everyone, but only to everyone who knows about them.
 
Huh, nobody has a generalist badge on this site? It seems like several of you should have it (or at least be close).
 
5:57 PM
@RD01 The top 40 tags must have 100 questions each.
 
Ah, that's my ignorance born of an SO education.
 
Or even 200. I dunno. The blog mentions 200, but that post is almost a year old.
"One thing the badge doesn’t say, is that there must be at least 200 questions in all 40 of the top tags before this badge is awarded to anyone. That’s why you won’t see it on meta for a bit longer, or any new sites for about a year. I don’t feel you can accurately measure a generalist until the top tag list settles down."
Posted by Jeff Atwood on May 22nd, 2010

After a whopping 18 month gestation, we’ve finally implemented the Generalist badge.

The Generalist badge works as follows:

Provided non-wiki answers of 15 total score in 20 of the top 40 tags.

The top 40 tag list is surprisingly diverse across the entire Trilogy. Just check out the top 40 tags (as of this writing) on Stack Overflow:

One thing the badge doesn’t say, is that there must be at least 200 questions in all 40 of the top tags before this badge is awarded to anyone. That’s why you won’t see it on meta for a bit longer, or any new sites for about a year. I don’t feel you can accurately measure a generalist until the top tag list settles down. …

 
@RegDwight Well, that's the second interesting fact I've learned about the site today. The first was that all of the site's users are American.
 
@RegDwight — Here's my all-time shill question suggestion: "Which Ubuntu distro allows the fastest downloads of porn?"
Katie bar the door!
 
@Robusto: We have a new trend du jour. "What is the difference between literary device A and literary device B?" Either we've run out of adjectives for those "What is the difference between 'good' and 'bad'?" questions, or people want to take them to a whole 'nother level
@Robusto Not enough cowbell.
 
6:07 PM
@kiamlaluno's example of a synecdoche isn't really a synecdoche.
@RegDwight — Here's my all-time shill question suggestion: "Which Ubuntu distro allows the fastest downloads of porn and more cowbell?"
 
@Robusto The funny thing about synecdoche and metonymy is that everybody defines them as they see fit. Even Wikipedia disagrees with itself (and don't you dare compare it to what the German or the French or the Russian Wikipedia says, head assplode).
 
@RegDwight I suppose that makes it a good question to ask.
 
@Rhodri Yes, but it also makes it an impossible question to answer.
 
The correct answer would be an image of the Vitruvian Man.
 
It appears that some will say that every metonymy is a synecdoche, some will say that every synecdoche is a metonymy, some will say that not even every metonymy is a metonymy, and everybody will be just as right as he will be wrong. It's a free for all.
 
6:13 PM
Btw, the word for an instance of metonymy is metonym. Just sayin' ...
Commie non-native speaker.
 
That is true in every single language I am remotely familiar with, native speaker or not.
No sneak edits in starred posts, buddy!
Big Russki is watching you.
But back to a metonymy, that's what the question actually uses. Also, note how it's being asked by a Proffesor.
 
Yes, I didn't like to mention that
 
Proffesor => Professor
 
No freaking way!
 
Way.
 
6:21 PM
That's a giant WHOOOOOSH for you, Robusto.
 
Back to reading comprehension class for you.
2
 
Who reads your shit?
 
Haha. Well, certainly not @RegDwight.
 
7:21 PM
I agree that Wikipedia etc. etc. is a mess regarding metonymy, synecdoche, and metaphor. I am planning to clean it up some day. Yuck.
(AFK)
 
7:41 PM
BTW, it's a slate, @RegDwight. Nobody in film calls it a clapperboard. It's used as both a noun and a verb.
I know you dumped your purse out on the table and said "Take what you want," but that's not as useful as handing someone the exact word they need.
 
@Robusto I knew you would say that.
 
Ha! Lies!
 
Rubbish.
 
8:42 PM
As far as I can remember, this is the first time I have ever cast the 5th closing vote. It was on the complete/completed question. It still surprises me how often askers refuse to edit their questions upon request.
 
Yeah, I left the decision to the community on that one.
 
Yeah I saw that.
 
Admirable restraint.
 
It was not very clear cut.
 
8:43 PM
Frankly I think none of the answers are entirely satisfactory; but I am not really sure myself.
Hmm I can't watch videos right now, alas.
Ah!
Yeah his Jazz Suites are great.
 
Soviet composer ... pfft.
 
What is the difference between "x is complete" and "x has been completed"? The only clear difference I can think of is that "has been completed" implies the involvement of an active agent.
 
@Robusto Don't you dare insult poor Shostakovich like that.
 
X may have arrived complete.
 
Hey at least the Soviets stimulated some art.
 
8:49 PM
@Cerberus — You don't have to suck up to Alex now that he's a moderator.
It's not like CCCP will take over Holland soon.
 
I know he is a commie but... you know, sometimes you need to suck up to people.
 
Meh, no time for videos. I'm on a deadline.
 
By the way, my father used to be scared of a Soviet invasion.
 
So did mine.
 
8:51 PM
He is a reserve Major in the cavalry who used to have drills in Western Germany.
He claims plans were found to invade W-Europe.
@Rob: Really? In America?
 
The US are still collectively scared of a Soviet invasion. Look no further than this chat's transcript.
 
Well, invasion by ICBM.
 
Well... then they'd have got plenty of ICBMs back, right?
 
@RegDwight — We just don't want you people to destroy our Purity of Essence.
@Cerberus — Small comfort, that.
 
Is that a metaphor for S. Palin?
Hey mutual deterrent!
That might be what actually prevented conventional wars during the Cold War...
 
8:53 PM
M.A.D.
Mutual Assured Destruction
 
Right.
 
@Robusto Sounds like yet another Japanese cream we shouldn't let our wives know of.
 
I noes.
 
None of this asymmetric warfare crap.
 
Hehe.
 
8:54 PM
@RegDwight — Word.
 
When/If Mr. Bin Laden gets nuclears, we will be afraid to attack.
Cf. Pakistan.
 
Don't worry. If nukes are ever used anywhere, there will be one or two that just happen to find their way to northern Pakistan.
 
Btw, is "nuclears" a current word? Suddenly it sounds a bit unusual to me.
 
No.
It would be nuclear weapons or "nukes".
 
Them's nuculars, folks.
 
8:55 PM
@Rob: Okay, BUT currently it prevents us from invading Pakistan conventionally.
Ah ok, that's what I thought. Is it an old term, like Asimov's "atomic power"?
 
@Cerberus Wait, what? The Netherlands are planning on invading Pakistan?
 
Hehe. By "we" I meant NATO or something like that.
So technically yes.
 
NATO's just a euphemism for Antje.
 
Antje? Is that a Dutch peasant woman or something?
Oh wait, I think she represents some food brand?
 
8:59 PM
(As you know, I am generally culturally ignorant.)
Right, that looks somewhat familiar.
 
Frau Antje is the prototypical Dutch woman, as far as Germans are concerned.
How's them goudas for WMDs?
 
Hehe.
 
The Dutch will subvert you with sex and drugs.
 
You know, it is funny that everybody calls them goudas; we's never say it like that.
 
Rock 'n' roll? Not so much.
 
9:00 PM
Perhaps not...
My kitchen is about 1 foot from a prostitute's work room.
 
@Cerberus I was actually joking, I don't think gouda is countable.
 
I sometimes hear things; but I think it must be something else, or possibly my neigbour on the 1st floor.
 
Well, not more than any other cheeses, anyway.
 
@Reg: Isn't it? It might very well be countable...?
I have no idea.
We'd say "Goudse kaas".
 
At least you don't hear them smoking.
Jan 29 at 19:51, by Kosmonaut
But it's die Bong!! :)
 
9:03 PM
In my previous house, I could smell the weed when tourists were hanging out below my window, as they usually were.
Now I see Reg at 31.1k, Rob at 31.2k.
Q:
Never mind.
Has anyone been following the Guttenberg scandal?
Poor Merkel.
 
Mar 1 at 14:38, by RegDwight
The six degrees of Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg!
 
Six, even?
I am glad that you are following it.
 
@Cerberus I don't know how the numbers are calculated in your corner of NATO, but I'm seeing Reg at 31.2k, Rob at 31.3k.
And if you click on Rob's profile, it's 31.3k.
 
Hey now I see 31.2 for you! I just refreshed chat.
And yes 31.3 for Rob.
 
Which means that everybody's mysteriously gaining points as we speak.
 
9:07 PM
So that was it. D'oh.
Perhaps I have had this chat open all day.
 
Mar 4 at 12:15, by RegDwight
Arbitrarily awarded hotness points.
 
I really wonder how frequent thesis fraud is.
The board of my family foundation is meeting here atm., and my far uncle just mentioned that he nearly falsified his doctoral thesis.
I was shocked and appalled, mostly because he even admitted it.
He didn't even seem ashamed, even though my father and I averted our eyes and asked subtly critical questions.
 
@Cerberus Well Guttenberg didn't admit it. It's only after not admitting it that he did admit it.
 
But... he did it!
 
"Gravierende Fehler beim Zitieren" happen. Like, all the time.
 
9:12 PM
And for good measure Ghadafi jr. turned out to have received some degree from the LSE for some fake thesis. Sir Humphry would know what to say...
 
At first I thought those "Fehler" would not be so bad, as did Merkel probably; but I read that he actually copied large parts literally? Will read that link.
Wow thank you very much for that link! Pretty neat.
That looks very bad, doesn't it?
 
Yup. It's only after looking at this stuff side by side that I was shocked.
I wonder who took their time to research it all. I mean, it's not like it's all from the same place.
 
Probably people hired by his political opponents.
I sort of liked him before this affair.
 
@Cerberus Well, it sure took them quite a while. He's been minister for how long? A year and a half?
Yeah, everybody liked him. He's got charisma, that's for sure.
 
9:19 PM
Yeah, there is no telling how this developed.
And a nobleman too.
 
Yeah, his family is quite rich, something like 500.000.000 Euro.
 
To be honest I'd not expect any more nobility of our Dutch noblemen.
Most I know are either stupid or crazy. Not all though.
 
Well, at least you have a government. (Belgium, I'm looking at you!)
 
Hehe true.
Come to think of it I think my family has a noble branch in Germany, yikes...
Belgian nobility is mostly brand new.
 
Yeah, those German noble branches spread everywhere. Sweden, UK, Russia, you name it.
 
9:23 PM
Yeah in fact our branch was ennobled by the Swedish king when that part of Germany still belonged to Sweden.
Hoe about Russian nobility? Does any still exist in Russia?
 
@Cerberus Ah, yes. I wasn't thinking that far back, actually.
Silvia Renate Sommerlath (Heidelberg, 23 december 1943), is sinds haar huwelijk met Karel Gustaaf in 1976 koningin van Zweden. Achtergrond Koningin Silvia is de enige dochter van de Duitse zakenman Walther Sommerlath en de Braziliaanse Alice Soares de Toledo. Haar vader was directeur van de Braziliaanse afdeling van het Zweedse bedrijf Böhler-Uddeholm. Silvia werd tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog geboren in Heidelberg (Duitsland). Na de oorlog, in 1947, verhuisde de familie naar Brazilië en Silvia groeide op in São Paulo. In 1957 keerde de familie terug naar Duitsland. Silvia heeft drie n...
 
Haha wow that was a funny effect.
 
Hehe.
 
I'll do that to you too some time, with French and Russian.
 
@Cerberus but anyhow, there are like fifty thousand people claiming to be grandchildren of Anastasia, but most of them are not to be found in Russia.
 
9:27 PM
Die "nicht ebenbürtige bürgerliche Silvia"
Funny: Dutch princes are allowed to marry burgers, as our Crown Prince did.
Haha, really, 50,000? That is remarkable.
But are there still noblemen in Russian society?
 
I pulled that number out of you-know-where. 71.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
 
I imagined it was either you or someone else who had made up that estimate...
I did hear that in some parts of Asia about 1 in 7 people is a descendent of Genghis Khan.
 
@Cerberus Uh, you're probably asking the wrong person, but there is certainly no shortage of people who claim to be noblemen, be it in Russia or elsewhere.
 
So I imagine! Perhaps even more so in the New World.
I read that Bulgarian nobility was thoroughly eradicated, though.
 
@Cerberus Well, I wouldn't be surprised if I were a descendent of Genghis Khan. It would explain a lot.
 
9:32 PM
No you are too much of a democrat.
 
That's a horrible misspelling of misanthrope.
 
Incidentally, is there any modernish Russian writer you could recommend? I like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy o.c., or generally themes like intrigue, decay, city life.
Eh, what? Democrat->misanthrope?
 
@Cerberus Uh. You better ask my wife I guess. Grishkovets, perhaps.
 
Ah I'll look him up then. I hope he has been translated.
(Was that a synecdoche? Metonym? Metaphor?)
 
@Cerberus Nice edit, I had to laugh at domcrat, as that's Russian for jack.
A jack is a mechanical device used to lift heavy loads or apply great forces. Jacks employ a screw thread or hydraulic cylinder to apply very high linear forces. Mechanical jack A mechanical jack is a device which lifts heavy equipment. The most common form is a car jack, floor jack or garage jack which lifts vehicles so that maintenance can be performed. Car jacks usually use mechanical advantage to allow a human to lift a vehicle by manual force alone. More powerful jacks use hydraulic power to provide more lift over greater distances. Mechanical jacks are usually rated for a ma...
And now guess where we stole the name from.
Dommekracht.
 
9:37 PM
No really?
Nice.
 
Домкра́т (от ) — стационарный, переносный или передвижной механизм для подъёма опирающегося на него груза. Домкраты бывают реечные, винтовые, стремительные, гидравлические, клиновые и пневматические. Наиболее распространённая версия этого механизма — переносной или передвижной домкрат для подъёма автомобиля с целью замены одного или нескольких колёс. Обычно к легковому автомобилю прилагается небольшой винтовой домкрат, приводимый в движение мускульной силой человека. Гидравлический автомобильный домкрат, называемый трансмиссионной стойкой, используется в автосервисах для подъёма и переме...
 
Probably thanks to Peter the Great?
Cool.
 
Ah damn, the most interesting part is omitted due to broken inlining.
 
I can pronounce your letters (somewhat).
Oh.
 
I was hoping it would say "Домкра́т (от нидерл. dommekracht)" right here.
 
9:39 PM
Ah, нидерл is Dutch?
 
Нидерландский.
 
Funny that you guys dropped the -and(s).
Yes that sounds more like it.
 
That's an abbreviation, note the period.)))
 
Oh wait I only now notice the dot.
 
Semi-jinx. Or something.
Anyhow, inlining still sucks.
Feb 25 at 11:53, by RegDwight
Feb 7 at 15:17, by RegDwight
The Mariana Trench is the deepest part of the world's oceans, and the lowest elevation of the surface of the Earth's crust. It is currently estimated to be up to deep. It is located in the western Pacific Ocean, to the east of the Mariana Islands. The trench is about long but has a mean width of only . It reaches a maximum-known depth of about at the Vityaz-1 Deep and about at the Challenger Deep, a small slot-shaped valley in its floor, at its southern end. If Mount Everest, the highest mountain on Earth at , were set in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench, there would be of ...
 
9:40 PM
We probably need a native speaker for the correct term, preferably a 16-y-o girl from the Mid West.
Huh why are those numbers omitted? I know little about javascript or html...
 
Well, them's not in plain text, them's a Wikipedia template.
 
Oh I see.
 
Just like that нидерл. thing.
 
And the templates do not get transferred hither.
 
3
Q: Numbers mysteriously stripped from inlined Wikipedia articles in chat

RegDwightCase in point. For those too lazy to click, the original Wikipedia article reads: The Mariana Trench [...] is currently estimated to be up to 10,971 m (35,994 ft) deep. [...] The trench is about 2,550 kilometres (1,580 mi) long but has a mean width of only 69 kilometres (43 mi). It reaches a...

 
9:43 PM
I see.
That is bad.
 
Nah, there are what, like 50,000 Wikipedia templates?
 
It is good to see that you send a few owls to look into the issue.
Or at least complain.
 
Well, I didn't want to. I was forced by Orbling.
 
I think I even once made templates on Dutch Wiki... so any fool can make them.
 
No wait, it was Eldros.
 
9:44 PM
That's what those guys are like.
By the way, I think Robusto's weekly rep gain is crazy.
 
Yeah, there was a time when I was churning out those templates by the dozen, in my capacity as Wiktionary bureaucrat.
 
He must be cheating, by thinking of good answers about humanly possible speed. Evil.
Ah you were a bureaucrat; not surprising, for a commie.
 
Feb 16 at 12:31, by RegDwight
I'm just wondering how long it will take you to reach the point where you'll be hitting the rep cap from passive rep alone.
@Cerberus I still am.
 
Nice.
You had a different name on Wiki, you mentioned?
Was it English Wiki?
I have never been very active outside Dutch Wiki.
 
It's super geheim.
 
9:47 PM
I see.. then I shall have to go through all articles that might be within your field of interest and find edits with commie undercurrents.
Or perhaps I'll have Rob do it.
Anything to distract his mad rep gain.
 
Well, it's not that hard. I mean, you can't swing a dead cat in any Wiktionary (or Wikipedia, for that matter), without hitting me.
 
Hehe.
Then I'll start with Latin Wikipedia; Russianisms in Latin are easy to spot.
 
I think I posted some stuff on Nahuatl and Icelandic Wiktionaries.
 
Really? Other than reference tags to English etc. versions of articles?
 
Translations and stuff. Even templates here and there.
 
9:50 PM
Do you really know Nahuatl (I had to look it up) and Icelandic?
 
"Know"? Not really, no.
 
Enough to write in those languages?>
 
Feb 5 at 14:04, by Kosmonaut
Yes, a linguist ends up knowing something about almost every language, but not much practical knowledge about actually speaking and understanding the language
 
I barely dare write on English Wiki.
Then how...?
 
Feb 5 at 14:07, by Kosmonaut
So, for example, I know that in the language of Nakanai, they do infixation as part of their standard grammar that is similar to the way that hip-hop artists do iz-infixation ("house" -> "hizouse")
Feb 5 at 14:08, by Kosmonaut
But could I so much as say hello in Nakanai? No.
 
9:53 PM
I know the feeling.
I'd only write on a foreign Wiki if I were convinced that either my level was high enough or the Wiki's level low enough (as it was on Latin Viki).
By the way, do you think my previous sentence would have been better had I written "... which it was..."?
I think it would have been better with "which".
But I think "as" is more frequent.
 
Anyhow, just checking the master list of my contributions, I see af, arz, be, bg, cv, de, el, en, es, fr, gu, he, hu, hy, id, io, is, it, ja, ko, lt, ml, nah, nl, no, pl, ro, ru, simple, sl, sr, tet, tr, uk, vi, zh, zh-min-nan, commons and meta.
And I don't even know what some of these stand for, I would have to look them up.
And I don't think I can say as much as hello in most of them.
 
Wicked.
Then what did you contribue to say nl?
By the way, I have put your link to Des Spiegels Guttenberg comparison on my Facebook, if you don't mind.
 
Three edits on Wikipedia, eleven on Wiktionary.
@Cerberus You're plagiarizing!
 
But what kind of stuff did you add to the body of an article if you don't know how to write in it? Or is it rather form changes than content?
Hehe... well I hereby grant you the right to publish a link that I will give you to a Spiegel article on my copying your link. Satisfied?
Just let me arrange for the Spiegel article first.
 
I added a Russian translation here and there. On Wikipedia, I dunno, I would have to look it up. Perhaps fixed a typo that was obvious enough even for me.
 
10:04 PM
Okay, those kinds of edits.
I may have done some of those too, though not on as many different language versions.
Something different:
How come it is usually much easier to write very complicated recursive embedded constructions than read them?
I think the same applies to computer coding.
I'd explain it thus:
Complex embedding is just much easier in non-language thought than in actually human language; embedding is just a difficult thing to communicate, not think about in the mind.
 
I thought you turned into a pumpkin way before this, Alex.
 
Welcome back.
 
Who says me ain't a pumpkin?
Some Russians are bots, others are pumpkins.
 
I meant a cute pumpkin.
 
Nonono, hell no. No Russian is a cute pumpkin.
@Cerberus But back to your question, I think it's always easier to produce complicated stuff than try to understand it. Even if it's your own stuff. See maths.
 
10:10 PM
True.
But I wonder why.
What is related is this:
If you embed using different markers of embedding, it is easier to understand than with identical markers.
 
Well, help is always appreciated. By anyone.
Except by Russians, of course.
 
I would rather write code than maintain code.
 
Example: I expected her to think that I was imagining her downfall. I thought she thought I thought she was going down.
I am listening to German cabaret in the background; this guy is singing about Berlusconi's Bunga-Bunga... European politics suck.
 
Well, I am still parsing that "I couldn't fail not to disagree with you less" sentence.
 
Oh that one. I skipped it. It was too much.
For me at least. I don't like that kind of puzzle.
 
10:15 PM
Another funny thing is how the verb order is just a tiny bit different in Dutch than in German.
 
Yeah it is somewhat close.
 
It it somewhat exactly backwards.)))
 
At least closer than Rob's weirdish language.
Well, backwards? You mean with long verbal phrases?
Ich kann dich nicht sehen - ik kan je niet zien.
 
Nah, I mean stuff such as "I saw you help him swim."
Schwimmen helfen in German, exactly the other way round in Dutch.
 
Right, the more verbals you have, the weird the G... I mean, the greater the difference.
Though in fact the German order would be possible too in Dutch.
 
10:18 PM
@Cerberus — What my language weirdish about?
 
The thing is that it's a mystery how a human brain can process the Dutch order at all. It's much more computationally expensive than the German.
 
It can sometimes look impossibly old fashioned, but it can be 100% normal in other cases.
What, why is ours more complex?
@Robusto: This is weird: I do not know you (cf. I know you not).
Your ancestors did something wrong and ruined your negations.
Kosmonaut explained it some time with Chomskyesque diagrams.
Ik weet niet wat we daaraan doen kunnen - ich weiß nicht was wir daran tun können - I don't know what we can do about that.
 
Meh, cyaz later.
 
Here Dutch can very well use German order.
Ok later!
(The order I just gave does sound a bit dialectical.)
 
I had it explained to me by a linguist who also had a PhD in CS. In Dutch, your stack grows much higher.
Or something.
And it's not clear which element to pop first.
Except to the human brain, somehow.
Well, the Dutch brain.
But I'm really the wrong person to ask for details. I was happy enough to just remember the general lesson.
 
10:28 PM
Hehe ok.
 
I am sure @Kosmonaut could explain it to you in his sleep.
 
Possibly so...
Perhaps it is the fact that variation in our order is possible that makes it hard to parse.
 
10:46 PM
Anybody here?
Anyone ever in chat, really?
 
Everybody is here. All the time.
But I will be leaving in a minute.
@Robusto At least it ends in 191. Mine ends in 911.
Mar 4 at 16:27, by Robusto
So it is a conspiracy.
I'm out! Night all!
 

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