English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

jlliagre

12:08 AM

@Mitch The trunket in the room.

Mitch

@jlliagre The rheum in your eyes

jlliagre

@Mitch Time to close them!

tchrist

0

Q: What is the meaning of "take something out of the trunk"?

He claimed to find the atmosphere vital and creatively invigorating. Perhaps there was something to this: he had taken his languishing novel out of the trunk for the first time in nearly a year. It by Stephen King Could you guys tell what he meant by saying that the novel got taken out of the t...

meaning

alphabet

12:34 AM

@tchrist It seems we have an ESL student reading Stephen King? Usually those questions are about Dickens.

Robusto

@jlliagre The junket in the trunket.

jlliagre

@Robusto Badonkadonk

Robusto

1:12 AM

@jlliagre Hey, I'm not a donkey.

I'm not dead money at the poker table.

alphabet

2:40 AM

In 1980, someone in the UK tried to produce a sitcom about Hitler. It was cancelled after one truly bizarre episode.

Cerberus

2:52 AM

A work of art.

Intelligent humour.

CowperKettle

4:09 AM

Word of the day: boree /bɔˈri/

The pandemic is not over until the fat lady sings.

> - Honey, do you know a three letter word for ‘eggs’?
- It’s ova.
- Why? Just because I’m terrible at crosswords?

I don't get this one:

> If a Lama with one L is a holy man in Tibet... And a Llama with two L's is an adorable beast of burden... What's a three L Lama?
A big fire in Boston.

Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum — hence the name, from the Latin ratis ('raft', a vessel which has no keel — in contradistinction to extant flighted birds with a keel).

Etymology of the day: zenana - the woman's part of the house -- From Hindi ज़नाना (zanānā), Urdu زنانه‎ (zanānah), from Persian زنانه‎ (zanâne, “womanly”), from زن‎ (zan, “woman”). Related to Old English cwene (“woman”). More at quean.

In Russian, the word for wife is zhena (жена)

Nice postcard

Cerberus

4:39 AM

@CowperKettle Ah, I recognise the Persian word.

It's nice how close to Persian the Russian word has remained.

CowperKettle

Yes

Cerberus

Probably also related to greek gunê "woman", cf. gynaecology.

CowperKettle

Oh.

Cerberus

At least I would assume so, I haven't looked it up.

CowperKettle

In Ukrainian, woman is жінка (zhinka), and wife is druzhina

In Russian, druzhina means a prince's or a noble warlord's retinue.

CowperKettle

4:56 AM

Example of the use of druzhina in Old Russian

From "The Beginnings of Russian History" by Nora Chadwick

This was just on the brink of the Russian authorities becoming stationary bandits en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancur_Olson

> . In the move from roving to stationary bandits, Olson sees the seeds of civilization, paving the way, eventually for democracy, which by giving power to those who align with the wishes of the population, improves incentives for good government.

Vikas

6:05 AM

CowperKettle

6:44 AM

La Paz

In some parts of the city, lying higher than 4000 m, the temp reaches above 10°C only for 4 months a year.

While in the center of the city, at just 3600 m, the climate is much warmer.

Amazing.

Xanne

7:54 AM

@CowperKettle Three L lama = three alarm, but in a Boston alarm is pronounced alahm; a three-alarm fire is a big fire. (Not too funny, really.)k

CowperKettle

Thank you, Xanne! Never knew this.

"In the clamor and the clangor of the bells"

jlliagre

8:20 AM

Multiple-alarm fire

One-alarm fires, two-alarm fires, three-alarm fires, etc., are categories classifying the seriousness of fires, commonly used in the United States and in Canada, particularly indicating the level of response by local authorities. The term multiple-alarm is a quick way of indicating that a fire is severe and is difficult to contain. This system of classification is used by both fire departments and news agencies.The most widely used formula for multi-alarm designation is based on the number of units, (for example firetrucks, tankers, rescue vehicles and command vehicles) and firefighters responding...

CowperKettle

8:32 AM

> This political intervention culminated when the George W. Bush administration altered the National Cancer Institute website to suggest that abortion might cause breast cancer.

I never knew that there was a hypothesis that abortion increases the risk of cancer.

A woman in Moscow has just written on a forum that "I've decided to bear a child at 48 yo, because my physician said to me: another abortion, and you'll be getting cancer".

So I went and googled.

I am not shocked, because on 23 Feb 2022 a general practitioner told me that I was wrong to allow myself to be vaccinated against COVID.

Some doctors are odd.

Vikas

9:06 AM

> Only eight per cent of Chinese citizens consider India a favourable country, a new survey suggests.

> Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko was rushed to a Moscow hospital after meeting Vladimir Putin, according to a Belarusian opposition leader.

Ouch

M.A.R.

10:35 AM

@CowperKettle actually, hmm. It's plausible.

Meaning, the physician was probably not furthering some crusade against abortion.

@CowperKettle also probably not out of some malicious antivax agenda, but exercising caution and arriving at the wrong conclusion

@CowperKettle no, rather that successful pregnancies reduce the chance of cancer, AFAIK

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. Plausible?

@Vikas Looks like fake news to me. It would have flashed in big red letters on all news website I'm reading, if it were so.

M.A.R.

For breast cancer, you could make the general assumption that progesterone is a bit preventive, compared to estrogen, and the longer a woman remains pregnant, the more progesterone there will be.

CowperKettle

+32°C right now.

M.A.R.

For endometrial cancer, a huge risk factor is endometriosis. Multiple pregnancies are protective. BBL class

CowperKettle

waves

> Israel is a country where Jews of all nationalities live in peace.

CowperKettle

12:50 PM

> - How does a non-binary samurai kill people?
- They/Them

A very lucky bus in Kiev. The remains of an intercepted rocket fell on the road just half a second after it had passed the spot.

t.me/u_now/98781

tchrist

1:21 PM

@alphabet I think she must be not be talking about normally-connected telephones that plug directly into the phone network using wires, but about those expensive new-fangled tiny little hand-held cordless computers people sometimes make choppy, low-audio-quality wireless calls with if they are near enough to a cellular tower as though it were a walkie-talkie not a telephone.

You know, the kind you can take anywhere but which break when you drop them on the road or in a puddle and which make such poor doorstops once they've hit their planned fashionably-obsolescent dates that they've spawned their own recycling centers and pawn shops and criminal networks. 😈

Robusto

#Worldle #493 2/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜➡️
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

🌎 May 29, 2023 🌍
🔥 17 | Avg. Guesses: 4.55
🟨🟨🟥🟥🟩 = 5

globle-game.com
#globle

Wordle 709 4/6

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tchrist

> Regis
Iussu
Cantio
Et
Reliqua
Canonica
Arte
Resoluta

Because quaerendo invenietis sounds so much more interesting than solvitur ambulando.

5

Q: "Solvitas perambulum": Is this real Latin?

I've seen the phrase Solvitas perambulum translated in many places as "Solve it while you walk." But I don't understand the grammar, and I find myself doubting that it's really Latin. Here are my thoughts so far. Solvitas sounds like an abstract noun, meaning something like "being-solved-ness". B...

translation-explanation fake-latin

It's always a shocker to find a Latin.SE question on the Hot Network Questions. :)

J.S. Bach - Crab Canon on a Möbius Strip

►

Robusto

1:40 PM

Daily Quordle 490
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m-w.com/games/quordle

Robusto

1:53 PM

Daily Octordle #490
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Score: 59

M.A.R.

2:04 PM

@CowperKettle that was random

I would never stoop to vandalism, but I'm not above discreetly deleting the occasional 'this article contains excessive amounts of detail' tag.

CowperKettle

2:26 PM

@M.A.R. A Russian joke I saw on the web

I want to start the Wikipedia page for Non-anemic iron deficiency

Also known as Isolated absolute iron deficiency

Iron, neuro-bioavailability and depression

Because it can present as depression/anxiety and yet be overlooked because there's no clear-cut anemia present.

> According to the WHO, about one-third of non-pregnant women suffer from anemia worldwide and 40% of pregnant women [4]. In about 50% of cases, this is due to severe ID.

This is a bit suspect. Maybe they mean "at least once in the course of their lives"?

Hard to imagine every third woman right now suffering from anemia.

> Fe2+ and tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) are obligatory cofactors for the aromatic acid hydroxylases.

tchrist

> Got a secret?

No sorry, I don't smoke.

CowperKettle

Hence, with decreased Fe ions, you get decreased dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin.

@tchrist It's a joke?

Ah! Cigarette

tchrist

:)

CowperKettle

2:42 PM

> Of note that, in the CNS, there is a positive feedback loop between serotonin anabolism and its capacity to stimulate iron encephalic entry, connecting serotoninergic transmission to iron transport.

So... would a person taking an SSRI antidepressant for 30 years get neurodegeneration with basal ganglia iron accumulation?

tchrist

No data.

CowperKettle

Because all the iron will be pumped with extra vigor inside his cells in the brain.

Yes, no data thus far.

Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation

Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation is a heterogenous group of inherited neurodegenerative diseases, still under research, in which iron accumulates in the basal ganglia, either resulting in progressive dystonia, Parkinsonism, spasticity, optic atrophy, retinal degeneration, neuropsychiatric, or diverse neurologic abnormalities. Some of the NBIA disorders have also been associated with several genes in synapse and lipid metabolism related pathways. NBIA is not one disease but an entire group of disorders, characterized by an accumulation of brain iron, sometimes in the presence of axonal...

tchrist

My family seems to run borderline anaemic.

CowperKettle

Maybe anemia protects the brain from iron overload?

tchrist

No matter age, sex, or other health conditions.

CowperKettle

2:46 PM

Imagine if millions of people across the globe start having psychosis and dementia because they've been taking SSRI antidepressants for the last 30 years (since they became widespread)

alphabet

@CowperKettle As I recall, SSRIs don't actually increase the total amount of serotonin, they just affect its transmission. (Maybe I'm wrong, though.)

tchrist

Unless there were overwhelming statistical evidence, the etiology would be hard pin down.

CowperKettle

@alphabet Yes, and the review says that exactly the SERT (transporter) helps to transfer more iron inside neurons.

Not the serotonin per se.

tchrist

Whereas caffeine and other stimulants increase the production of neurotransmitters overall. I think.

gulps down his third megamug of coffee

CowperKettle

If this happens, a whole generation will be called The Brain Rust Wave

Millions of zombies roving the planet.

tchrist

2:49 PM

Not a lot of roving to be had from the ancients.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle that's one of those "if you save your cigarette money you can buy a German car" sort of conclusions.

tchrist

Hush, it's a secret.

M.A.R.

@alphabet Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor. There will be more serotonin in the synapses. The total amount of serotonin is actually probably reduced.

@CowperKettle nope. For iron toxicity the most important factor is TIBC. An entirely different beast, no correlation with Hgb levels

Robusto

@CowperKettle Yes, and death prevents you from getting any diseases or maladies.

CowperKettle

3:26 PM

> The certitude of Death, which no reprieve
Can put off long; and which, divinely tender,
But waits the outstretched hand to promptly render
That draught whose slumber nothing can bereave

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle this iron is different from the one circulating in the blood. As I said yesterday, the body will put iron where it needs it. Only if you bleed regularly do you need to worry about iron (I.e. if you're a woman or have coagulation disorders)

CowperKettle

I was just amusing myself

My AST returned to normal, along with MCH and MCHC. Probably it was due to mesalamine or omeprazole, which I stopped.

Only ALT is 150% of the upper limit, but it was 200%.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle well the thing is the type of thought experiment you're trying is actually pretty applicable to calcium. Unlike iron, calcium is constantly needed everywhere, and for many many purposes

CowperKettle

In keratoconus, iron accumulates in the cornea, creating a ring of rust. Incidentally, in keratoconus, blood levels of lactoferrine are significantly decreased.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle or not. It is not clinically significant, it could have been caused by something you ate. Heck, by how you slept.

CowperKettle

3:31 PM

Yes, because millions take omeprazole without any issues

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle some drugs deposit in the cornea. Some of those deposits can cause blindness.

CowperKettle

In Wilson's diease, copper deposits there. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kayser%E2%80%93Fleischer_ring

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle and more importantly because it's lower than the threshold for hepatocellular injury. It could even be because of the season. Because of the weather! Who knows

CowperKettle

Yes

alphabet

@M.A.R. Vegetarians/vegans also! Anemia is fairly common in vegans IIRC

CowperKettle

3:35 PM

> In large Russian cities, the share of unsold new apartments has increased. According to analysts, in Krasnodar, 83% of square meters are empty in new buildings, in Omsk - 80%, in Chelyabinsk - 74%, in Kazan and Krasnoyarsk - 73%, in Samara - 71%, in Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don and Volgograd - 69%, in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Ufa, Voronezh, Perm and Nizhny Novgorod - 60-67%, in Moscow - 57%.

@alphabet And B12 deficiency

In Moscow, some 80 000 newly-built apartments remain empty because of the lack of demand.

A whole town worth of flats.

alphabet

3:47 PM

50 years ago today: Prigozhin threatens to drop out of school unless Mom says she's proud of him, gives him cookies

M.A.R.

@alphabet yep, and several other groups of people of course. It's not an exhaustive list

CowperKettle

4:12 PM

Word of the day: Witzelsucht ("joking addiction") -- a compound of witzeln (“to joke”) + Sucht (“obsession, addiction”)

CowperKettle

4:46 PM

Dallol (ghost town)

Dallol (Amharic: ዳሎል) is a locality in the Dallol woreda of northern Ethiopia. Located in Kilbet Rasu, Afar Region in the Afar Depression, it has a latitude and longitude of 14°14′19″N 40°17′38″E with an elevation of about 130 metres (430 ft) below sea level. The Central Statistical Agency has not published an estimate for the 2005 population of the village, which has been described as a ghost town. Dallol currently holds the official record for record high average temperature for an inhabited location on Earth, and an average annual temperature of 35 °C (95 °F) was recorded between 1960 and 1966...

The hottest settled place on Earth

My condolences to people who lived there

tchrist

6:10 PM

@CowperKettle Eighty thousand apartments is surely a city not a town? :)

jlliagre

6:33 PM

A Chinese hamlet?

Robusto

@jlliagre No, this is a Chinese Hamlet: 存在还是不存在，这是个问题。

M.A.R.

7:20 PM

@alphabet I'm now imagining Russian officials as the South Park kids

SmokeDetector

7:57 PM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at beginning of answer (36): Adjective to describe a 'hurtful kind of art/music'‭ by Florian Herzog‭ on english.SE

Mitch

8:53 PM

@CowperKettle Witzelsucht? I barely knew her!

@tchrist I just saw somewhere that there are so many of these phones dropped in water in (presumably concentrated) areas that it is becoming worthwhile to harvest them for metals.

tchrist

@Mitch You mean the ones that Ma Bell rents us, or do you mean the ones with catalytic converters full of rhodium?

jlliagre

9:51 PM

@Robusto Être ou ne pas être une cité, telle est la question.

Robusto

@jlliagre Être ou ne pas être une pipe.

jlliagre

Wordle 709 4/6

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Daily Quordle 491
5️⃣4️⃣
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m-w.com/games/quordle
Lucky!
Oh, it's already tomorrow.

Mitch

10:17 PM

@tchrist cell phones

If I had a link I'd give it. Also, I've looked for it but haven't found it.

jlliagre

Daily Octordle #490
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Score: 58

CowperKettle

11:12 PM

I know the capitals of all US states. For instance, for Wyoming it's "W"

2

jlliagre

@CowperKettle Ha ha ha, je donne ma langue au chat !

CowperKettle

11:40 PM

> In the late 19th century, a tongue-in-cheek tradition arose among American students of Greek who were all too familiar with Xenophon's usage of this vocabulary item: March 4 (a date phonetically similar to the phrase "march forth") became known as "Exelauno Day".

jlliagre

11:52 PM

@CowperKettle March the fourth be with you?

Robusto

@CowperKettle No, "W" was America's 43rd president.

@jlliagre Brat. Always gotta one-up (or one-down) me. ;-)

jlliagre

@Robusto #6 was tricky.

Robusto

@jlliagre I need to have more discipline. Too often I focus on one word without taking in the whole board.

Have you ever stopped to consider that neige, genie, and eigen are anagrams of each other? I'm sure this must mean something, but I can't imagine what just yet.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…