English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

00:03

28

I'm confused about this. Most of us have been told that there is no goto statement in Java. But I found that it is one of the keyword in Java. Where can it be used? If it can not be used, then why was it included in Java as a keyword?

0

A: Is there a goto statement in java?

The grand slam that you put on the goto keyword is incorrect. It is useful for debugging and can be removed before final compilation to avoid confusing those who read the code later. It is a real pain not to have the goto keyword during development. It causes the programmer to have to concentrate...

That guy’s answer is hilarious.

MετάEd

@tchrist For his purposes I find the COMEFROM statement to be much more effective.

tchrist

smells like setjmp

MετάEd

It's better. Because it's worse.

Robusto

01:22

18

A: Phenomenon of overused and popular words

What you describe is actually the definition of cliché. From the Wikipedia article: A cliché or cliche* (UK /ˈkliːʃeɪ/ or US /klɪˈʃeɪ/) is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at s...

This is what is wrong with crowd-sourcing. The OP is not asking for a definition of the term, but the process that brings them about. Yet people don't know anything about that, they only recognize what they dimly perceive as a word that is somehow related to the question.

tchrist

@Robusto That’s a bit subtle, at least for me, at least this late at night.

Sorry.

So you think he wants to know the name of the process by which this occurs?

So some sort of -ation or -ment type of word, you mean?

KitFox

@Robusto Did you copy-paste your answer from a different answer that you gave before? It sounds really familiar and reminds me of Ham and Bacon for some reason.

tchrist

It must have been collided; it has an aggregate 57 votes all told, which is really rare for so young a question on ELU.

@Robusto Do you think that, with what your take is on what he is saying, that you might be able to edit it into a form that @RegDwighт would then deem a RQ again?

@KitFox Why do you imagine that Reg both closed and protected it? What good does protection do on a closed question? Insurance?

Robusto

02:47

@KitFox Let's not say things we can't take back.

2

Mahnax

05:14

I would just like to announce that we're at 1000 questions on our Meta.

Hitesh Dhamshaniya

05:44

hi, Good Morning every one

I would like to why I can't post a question

Mohamed Ahmed Nabil

hello everyone :D

When did "Sir" change from a name for knights to a name for anyone of higher rank?
*(respect)*

Mechanical snail

06:09

@HiteshDhamshaniya You mean you're question-banned?

If so, see

128

Q: What can I do when getting "Sorry, we are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account"?

IMPORTANT: CLICK HERE AND READ CAREFULLY! While trying to ask a question, one could get: Oops! Your question couldn't be submitted because: Sorry, we are no longer accepting questions from this account. See http://goo.gl/C1Kwu to learn more. Likewise, for answers: Oops! Yo...

support faq asking-questions post-ban

@MohamedAhmedNabil That sort of change, reverential -> honorific (-> plain) is extremely common cross-linguistically.

@MohamedAhmedNabil That sort of change, honorific -> respectful (-> plain) is extremely common cross-linguistically.

Gigili

07:26

Morningen.

Mechanical snail

07:40

@Gigili Здравствуйтеen.

@Gigili おはよー円.

Gigili

Exactly.

@Mechanicalsnail समझ में आता है.

Shyam K

07:57

@Gigili really?

Gigili

Umm, not really.

RegDwighт

08:47

@tchrist because look at the timestamps, that's why.

I protected it first, closed later.

tchrist

10:39

Good hours-before-cockcrow.

tchrist

10:50

Just saw a question on SO get downvoted to -11, closed, and deleted (no mods, either), all in under 15 minutes. And people still think ELU is tough on folks?

-3

A: get child from parent in Qtreeview

postpartum depression . Postpartum Depression Treatment - In Many cases we have noticed that the new mothers undergo severe symptoms of postnatal depression or baby blues. Learn how to overcome and face these situations of postpartum depression. postpartum depression .

RegDwighт

11:07

Just got my first Steward badge.

tchrist

Really? On what? Good for you!

First posts?

RegDwighт

Close votes. SO.

tchrist

No shortage of those, that's for sure.

5

Q: Is there a word like "sides" that means "top or bottom"?

"Sides" can be used to describe positioning relative to the left or right of an object. Is there a corresponding word that has the same meaning for the top or bottom of an object? For example, if I say "side padding," it's pretty clear that I'm talking about padding from the left and right edge....

single-word-requests complement

The constant hunt for the One True Word That Replaces All Others.

Don't know why people hate spaces so much.

tchrist

11:28

> C/2012 S1 won't just be bright; it'll be large enough to see without the need for binoculars or a telescope Late next year, there will be a new object in the night sky nearly 10 times brighter than the full moon.

I’ll believe that when I see it. Which I hope to do.

KitFox

11:41

wiggles with excitement

tchrist

wonders who’s tickling her toes

Ug. It’s 46 degrees here. Had to shut the windows. What happened to summer?

KitFox

It ended last week.

RegDwighт

Last week?

How about four weeks ago?

tchrist

I just don’t like to let it end at Labor Day; September can be so pleasant. But it too passes.

KitFox

@RegDwighт If you're European, sure.

If you're normal, it ends on the equinox.

tchrist

11:55

The general populace thinks of summer as unofficially spanning the gap between Memorial Day and Labor Day. We aren’t talking about astronomy here.

In which case, Reg is Wright.

RegDwighт

Summer

Summer ( ) is the warmest of the four temperate seasons, between spring and autumn. At the summer solstice, the days are longest and the nights are shortest, with day-length decreasing as the season progresses after the solstice. The date of the beginning of summer varies according to climate, culture, and tradition, but when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa. Timing From an astronomical view, the equinoxes and solstices would be the middle of the respective seasons, but a variable seasonal lag means that the meteorologic...

> From an astronomical view, the equinoxes and solstices would be the middle of the respective seasons

KitFox

rolls eyes

RegDwighт

I would be right if we were talking about astronomy, too.

tchrist

That’s why they call it Midsummer’s Day.

Reg, are you far enough north to be from a two-season culture?

RegDwighт

Look, people. I'm just right™. You go out on a limb, I will saw it off.

tchrist

11:59

> The ancient Germanic/Norse year was divided into two seasons: Summer and Winter.

I often think we in Colorado have only two seasons, with the things that people call spring and fall just being tug-of-war games between winter and summer until one or another gives up.

RegDwighт

For all intents and purposes, I live in a maritime climate. Summer: 17 degrees and rain. Winter: 17 degrees and rain.

Though last February we had 24 degrees with people sunbathing.

tchrist

Yes, but the first number is in Fahrenheit and the second one in Centigrade.

Or vice versa.

RegDwighт

Sep 24 at 15:27, by RegDwighт

@tchrist in my house we use Réaumur, as is well documented in this very room.

tchrist

What is this, an echo chamber?

RegDwighт

Apr 13 '11 at 13:19, by RegDwight

Lots of echo in here.

Anyway. Nobody has so much as heard of "Fahrenheit" here except a couple people who saw that Michael Moore movie, but they've long forgotten, too.

I sometimes miss the continental climate, too. Except when I am actually reminded of how frigging hot and how frigging cold it was.

tchrist

12:06

Where the hell are you?

I thought you were inland.

RegDwighт

I am inland.

The next coast is some 800 km away, methinks.

tchrist

Arctic Sea?

Baltic?

RegDwighт

Actually, I think all three coasts are 800 km away. And the fourth is right underneath me.

Hm. Now I have to look it up.

tchrist

Under. Hm.

Black Sea?

If you’ve retired to San Diego, I’m going to hate you.

RegDwighт

Wiki sez.

But I was looking for coasts.

tchrist

12:10

Are those highs and lows? You have no fluctuation!

RegDwighт

What did I just tell you?

Someone pay attention already.

tchrist

But that is not an inland pattern.

RegDwighт

Compared to Moscow, it's an equator pattern.

tchrist

Hence what I said about hating your early retirement to San Diego.

Did they shuffle you off to Timbuktutustan?

RegDwighт

This is Moscow. Allegedly.

Robusto

12:13

I thought you lived in Farmville.

RegDwighт

Except the last three winters killed a gazillion people because they never got above -9000 Fahrenheit.

tchrist

I thought it was the summers that burnt people out.

RegDwighт

No, no people was left. Them burnt birds out instead.

True story, btw.

All those swamp fires produced toxic gases that killed millions of birds in Moscow.

They were literally falling from the skies.

tchrist

Hm.

Robusto

More evidence of snotty Brits and their disdain for everything. Cheeky bastards!

tchrist

12:15

@Robusto Here I thought you were reading ELU again.

Robusto

ELU, BBC ... what's the dif?

tchrist

We didn’t get birds falling from our skies this summer of megaburning.

RegDwighт

What about canaries? Or parrots?

tchrist

Just crispy kine.

RegDwighт

Those were dying off like, well, canaries.

Robusto

12:16

> But some British terms can be useful, says Sheidlower, and fill in a gap where there is no direct equivalent in American English - he cites one-off (something which is done, or made, or which happens only once) as an example.

tchrist

Keep them out of the mines.

"One-off" is what we always called "one-shot".

Robusto

Hmm, I've been using "one-off" for decades. It's American enough for me.

RegDwighт

I was just going to say that.

tchrist

We don’t have wild canaries.

RegDwighт

Who said anything about wild?

tchrist

12:17

Well, we do. But they’re Carduelis.

As do you.

RegDwighт

Moscow doesn't have wild anything. Except moose.

If you check out the cinema in which I saw Captain America as a child, you will notice it's not far away from one area named Moose Island.

tchrist

For work, I was the other day talking to a programmer from somewhere in urban India. He has never seen a wild animal. Ever.

Mitja

Hi, what is the second party when I share something? Sharee?

RegDwighт

Recipient.

Mitja

receiver?

RegDwighт

12:20

A receiver is an apparatus. A recipient is a being.

Mitja

thanks

tchrist

Compartitioner, but don’t tell I told you.

RegDwighт

No compatriotism in this chat.

tchrist

Whatever you say, comrade.

RegDwighт

That's summa comrade to you.

Xblast time.

Whatever happened to my plan to find out where the coast is.

tchrist

12:23

Yes, what of it?

I grew up near the coast of Lake Michigan, but now all such water is far far from me.

@Rob Almost none of those terms they’ve highlighted seem especially un-American to me.

A few, ok. But most, no.

I’ve finally figured out Reg’s accent.

Moose Island, Maine

Moose Island is an island in Maine located at the entrance to Cobscook Bay from Passamaquoddy Bay in the Bay of Fundy. Connected to the mainland portion of Washington County at Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Reservation by a causeway, the city of Eastport occupies several islands, including its major land mass, Moose Island. Other islands comprising the city include Carlow Island, Spectacle Island, Goose Island, and Treat Island, along with other islets. Quoddy Village lies at the northwestern end of Moose Island, while the city's downtown lies at the eastern end of the island. The Eastpor...

He must be an escapee from Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Reservation.

Say that one fast.

Is that that one that Garrison Keillor always talks about?

I can’t find it. I hate that.

> A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded pistol on your coffee table - There's nothing wrong with them, but it's hard to stop thinking about it.

> I think the most un-American thing you can say is, 'You can't say that.'

> It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn't hear the barbarians coming.

> Vodka is tasteless going down, but it is memorable coming up.

> People will miss that it once meant something to be Southern or Midwestern. It doesn't mean much now, except for the climate. The question, 'Where are you from?' doesn't lead to anything odd or interesting. They live somewhere near a Gap store, and what else do you need to know?

I like the un-American bit.

@Reg Because you have never been here, it is difficult to convey to you the ubiquity of the measurement system used here. 300 million people all using the same set of common benchmarks all the days of their lives, even if nobody else does, really does change things. The non-scientist has virtually no trek with using SI units for everyday things — ever.

I remember European friends’ first visits stateside, how it really opened up their eyes.

Before the visit, they thought we were all stupid and assholish for not using metric.

@Reg But after being here a while, they realized that such value judgements do not apply. It is simply how things are done, and so if you wish to understand what people are saying, or wish to make yourself understood to them, you simply must speak their language. That’s all it is.

That said, science and medicine really is only in SI in any environment I’ve ever been in.

It makes for a strange separation of contexts.

But they all got over their sense of umbrage pretty quickly. Before they came here, they could never do that.

15

Q: Phenomenon of overused and popular words

Certain words or phrases become really popular. These words are picked up by many people, are overused, and sometimes misused to such an extent that the whole meaning of the word changes, or is even lost. I would describe these words as fads, because they become popular, but then (usually) disapp...

word-choice phrases

Well, he has edited to try to make it better, @Reg.

But I don’t really know about reopening it. I think you might still be right.

@Rob I have never seen any signs of a d/m/y trend intruding on m/d/y. I have only seen YYYY-MM-DD, and that usually only in a computer-related/heavy environment.

Cerberus

12:48

@tchrist Don't get me started!!

tchrist

Bit late for that, eh now?

Cerberus

Who ever thought it made sense or was helpful to use m/d/y??

clenches fists

tchrist

It’s the natural form mimicking speech.

Today is September 28, 2012.

Hence 9/28/12.

Cerberus

Well, the older form is "the 28th of September", I believe.

tchrist

It sounds mildly-to-super–old-fashioned to say that today is the 28th day of September.

Cerberus

12:51

But when did people start using m/d in America?

tchrist

When did people start saying month-day in America?

Cerberus

And why not base the order on the most official-sounding version?

tchrist

Because it is unnatural.

Cerberus

How?

tchrist

Writing mirrors speech.

Given that people say month-day, it would be perverse to write day-month.

Cerberus

12:52

Writing mirrors writing, and dates are used in very formal contexts too...

tchrist

As might write well with everything other every pair word around swapped.

Cerberus

And I think "the 28th of September" was much more common when people started writing short dates for the first time.

tchrist

That is rather hard to substantiate. Not impossible, perhaps.

KitFox

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

And the Fourth of July.

Cerberus

I haven't heard your substantiating your claims yet...

KitFox

12:54

And el Cinco de Mayo.

Cerberus

Yes, not to mention all other languages...

"September 5" is impossible in Dutch. I rest my case.

tchrist

No hablábamos del castellano, de ahí que no tiene puta que ver con lo nuestro.

Then speak Dutch.

But in English, it doesn’t work that way anymore.

Tough noogies.

RegDwighт

@tchrist I am aware of all that. Not sure what that was in reply to in the first place.

tchrist

People just are quick to hate anything that seems foreign to their own experience.

Cerberus

@tchrist I repeat, this convention was not created now, so the current situation is not very relevant.

KitFox

12:56

@RegDwighт You've never been to the States?

RegDwighт

Your asshole government won't let me in.

And that's the politest I can be.

KitFox

Oh right.

tchrist

@RegDwighт It was replying to this.

RegDwighт

@tchrist I fail to see how it was even related.

Gigili

What's the difference between share, stock and listing?

RegDwighт

12:58

I mean, where does it say that Fahrenheit is stupid? Where does it say that I need an eye-opener?

tchrist

@RegDwighт I really don’t understand that. You have my genuine sympathies. On a lighter note, your past activities with the IRA probably don’t help you.

Gigili

Are all financial terms synonymous?

Cerberus

RegDwighт

@tchrist they won't let me into UK, either. So much for the IRA.

Boring Friday meeting.

tchrist

Don’t be an asshole, @Cerb.

RegDwighт

12:58

Lators.

KitFox

@Gigili No, I don't think so. But I don't know the differences.

Cerberus

Bai.

RegDwighт

@tchrist See, that wasn't my point at all.

Cerberus

@tchrist Excuse me?

RegDwighт

I could have understood that picture triggering your tirade.

tchrist

12:59

@Gigili I think you need to talk to people who work in the financial industries.

RegDwighт

AFK

tchrist

@RegDwighт That was not a tirade. I was trying to explain.

Cerberus

As you can see, all other English-speaking countries have some form of d/m, so there could not have been a "forcing" reason in the USA.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…