English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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8:06 PM

@jlliagre LIVE - Gladiator Fight at Arles Roman Arena | Facebook

BTW, when I listed the radicals in "black" I said paddy, soil, water. It should have been paddy, soil, fire. D'oh! If I can't tell fire from water I'd better watch what I drink.

Mitch

Well...close enough

@Robusto at that point maybe you've had enough

Robusto

No doubt.

Mitch

Arènes de Lutèce

The Arènes de Lutèce ([a.ʁɛn də ly.tɛs], "Arenas of Lutetia") are among the most important ancient Roman remains in Paris (known in antiquity as Lutetia), together with the Thermes de Cluny. Constructed in the 1st century AD, this theatre could once seat 15,000 people and was used also as an amphitheatre to show gladiatorial combats.The terraced seating surrounded more than half of the arena's circumference, more typical of an ancient Greek theatre rather than a Roman one which was semi-circular. The orchestra was surrounded by the wall of a podium 2.5 m (8.2 feet) high, surmounted by a parapet...

That's a business opportunity right there

@CowperKettle maybe the trainers could redirect that bullying energy

Heck, tell the bully's they get to do 'extreme' bullying

"Awesome! What is extreme about it?" "Oh you'll see."

@Robusto Another great example proving pinyin's superiority

Which radical is it sorted under? If you knew that you wouldn't have to look it up in the dictionary.

With pinyin, it's spelled how it is pronounced.

Robusto

8:22 PM

@Mitch If pinyin is so damned superior, why do the Chinese still use hanzi?

Mitch

Cuz they're dumb

Robusto

@Mitch It's sorted under four-stroke radicals. But that's not why I misspoke. I did it because I had a brain cramp. I get those even about English words sometimes.

Mitch

There's a word for it.

I don't know what it is

Robusto

Suddenly I forget what aphasia means.

Mitch

Crimp?

Cump?

Something like that

Cramp?

No not that

Robusto

8:26 PM

Camp?

Kampf?

Mitch

A brain Kampf? Hm

I have those all the time

CowperKettle

8:40 PM

New calculations suggest that the event horizons around black holes will ‘decohere’ quantum possibilities — even those that are far away -- so black holes are eyes that look at the Universe. They are Observers.

Spooky.

Fixed link.

Robusto

@CowperKettle Why do I think none of that will have any bearing at all on our current problems?

user4539917

'cause our current problems pale in comparison

M.A.R.

@Cerberus I dunno if remembering dreams is all that bad, but waking up at night definitely is

@user4539917 as opposed to what problem

I mean I dunno about you but I think I haven't offended any black holes

user4539917

8:57 PM

The hard problem of consciousness, for one.

Robusto

9:08 PM

@M.A.R. I'm not sure you can call them that these days.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

9:26 PM

Recently I've been using off in French to mean not in like I might be off. Does that meaning actually exist or does this only mean below par/wrong or something like that?

Long story short can you use off as the antonym of in to mean not in touch with what's modern?

Modern or young or casually known to all.

Robusto

@CrissyFroth-Seapickle Absolutely. This is quite common in English, as in the expression: "I feel a little off today."

You can say a musical or stage performance was "off" or someone's attitude was"off" and so on. Lots of different ways to use it.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

@Robusto Thanks, but consider a situation where you're tying to say that you might be wrong because you're no longer knowledgeable about what's current in a field, would you say "I think I'm a little bit off" as in "removed from"?

Robusto

@CrissyFroth-Seapickle You could say you were a little bit off in your assessment or knowledge of something. But you wouldn't be likely to use off about yourself. It's more likely to be used to assess some property or aspect of yourself.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

Like my understanding of the trends might be a little bit off ok

Robusto

Yes.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

9:34 PM

Thanks there.

Robusto

De rien.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

@Robusto I often use this just after I've stated I'm no longer young. I think I might mean something else and I'm over-extending the meaning of off in this context.

Not very much "in"

something.

Maybe I would use "déphasé", "plus tellement à la page" in French.

Robusto

@CrissyFroth-Seapickle I understand what you're aiming for. But we are more likely to use out of for that purpose. "I'm out of the loop" or "I'm out of the mainstream on this" and so forth. Also "I'm not in step with current events/customs/crazes" etc.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

Maybe also out of touch? I hear you, I must have confused those with what I was talking about for some reason.... age hahahah

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

9:53 PM

@Robusto It may also be that's a non-standard use of the loanword in my French sociolect (Montreal), I just found an example in a newspaper, it might be related to offbeat.

Robusto

@CrissyFroth-Seapickle Yes, out of touch is one of a number of things you can say.

@CrissyFroth-Seapickle But offbeat can have a positive connotation. "I enjoy music that's more offbeat, less mainstream."

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

"S'il ne connaît pas des gens qui sont comme ça, c'est qu'il est off". I understand, but it would be not knowledgeable of the conventions...

Whether it's offbeat or just some non-standard way to use off, this happens with loanwords.

Robusto

Language is always changing.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

I will ask for a synonym of this on the French site to see from context what people think of this type of usage and of what it might mean.

Indeed.

Robusto

It may be that this usage of off may come from an idiom like "off the mark": meaning an archery shot that didn't hit the center of the target, which was marked in early times with a scrap of cloth.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

10:02 PM

Possible. Although I suspect such changes might not be based on longer source idioms or phrases. I consider in France they take more liberty with loanwords and often adapt them more or change the meaning in drastic ways, whereas I thought in Quebec it feels more like code switching when English loanwords are used but I might be... off here.

Robusto

Indeed.

Crissy Froth-Seapickle

I also suspect it would be easier to simply say "à côté" for that sort of "off (the mark)".

And we do indeed say this.

But it's really à côté de la track I feel. Anyways.

Interesting. Thanks again. Cheers!

Robusto

Ciao.

alphabet

10:41 PM

A phonological puzzle in the GOP: nymag.com/intelligencer/article/…

jlliagre

@Cerberus Ah, not movies in Latin! I misunderstood it while ChatGPT got it right. I would have expected A latino movie to mean a Spanish/Portuguese language film.

Maybe latinx.

jlliagre

11:19 PM

I was off the mark, à côté de la plaque.