English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

> knife (n.)
"hand-held cutting instrument consisting of a short blade and handle," late Old English cnif, probably from Old Norse knifr "knife, dirk," from Proto-Germanic *knibaz (source also of Middle Low German knif, Middle Dutch cnijf, German kneif), a word of uncertain origin. To further confuse the etymology, there also are forms in -p-, such as Dutch knijp, German kneip. French canif "penknife" (mid-15c.) is probably of Germanic origin, perhaps from Frankish.

Robusto

Oh, it means penknife in French?

So it was a knife that was used to cut quills to make pens. Very interesting.

CowperKettle

12:50 AM

Xanne

2:59 AM

Daily Duotrigordle #455
Guesses: 37/37
3️⃣0️⃣ 3️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣5️⃣ 0️⃣6️⃣
0️⃣7️⃣ 1️⃣6️⃣ 0️⃣3️⃣ 3️⃣4️⃣
1️⃣7️⃣ 0️⃣4️⃣ 1️⃣8️⃣ 0️⃣5️⃣
0️⃣8️⃣ 3️⃣5️⃣ 2️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣9️⃣
2️⃣5️⃣ 2️⃣8️⃣ 1️⃣9️⃣ 0️⃣9️⃣
2️⃣0️⃣ 3️⃣1️⃣ 2️⃣2️⃣ 2️⃣1️⃣
2️⃣4️⃣ 1️⃣0️⃣ 2️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣4️⃣
3️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣6️⃣ 1️⃣2️⃣ 3️⃣6️⃣
https://duotrigordle.com/

CowperKettle

5:06 AM

> Если вы бог из скандинавской мифологии, нажмите "Один".

A Russian joke with some wordplay.

Vikas

@jlliagre Nice.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle it has all these weird things in the words, I can't read it

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. It's easy: use Google Translate

And here, on this screenshot, you can guess the jokeness of the joke, if you notice something. Even if you know absolutely nothing about the Russian language.

Vikas

Does it have to do something with "God is one"?

CowperKettle

Close, but no cigar

@M.A.R. I think that people with astigmatism might find it torturously hard to read the Arabic script, because it's so fused.

I wonder what is the best script in terms of easiness of reading, from an ophthalmology standpoint

Xanne

5:36 AM

For the cigar, Odin in Russian = one.

CowperKettle

Yes :)

M.A.R.

11:20 AM

@CowperKettle SE botches up RTL fonts, and Arial for Arabic looks bad. I expect some words would be especially difficult for dyslexic people. I think the main difference is it depends a lot more than English on handwriting, but otherwise we use cursives and such in a way that a decent handwriting shouldn't be difficult.

As opposed to English, where cursive often make it more difficult to read

Robusto

12:49 PM

#Worldle #496 1/6 (100%)
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🎉
⭐⭐⭐🏙️🪙
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr

This one was easy because it looks like a penguin in a straitjacket.

📷 #WhereTaken🇺🇸 #79 1/6
🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🎉
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
wheretakenusa.teuteuf.fr

🌎 Jun 1, 2023 🌍
🔥 20 | Avg. Guesses: 4.53
🟧🟥🟩 = 3

globle-game.com
#globle

CowperKettle

1:24 PM

@M.A.R. Yes, English cursive is very hard for me.

And Russian.

Robusto

1:34 PM

Daily Duotrigordle #456
Guesses: 37/37
2️⃣8️⃣ 0️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣6️⃣ 0️⃣8️⃣
0️⃣5️⃣ 2️⃣9️⃣ 3️⃣2️⃣ 3️⃣3️⃣
2️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣9️⃣ 2️⃣5️⃣ 3️⃣7️⃣
3️⃣4️⃣ 3️⃣1️⃣ 3️⃣0️⃣ 2️⃣7️⃣
3️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣6️⃣ 0️⃣7️⃣ 3️⃣5️⃣
2️⃣1️⃣ 1️⃣1️⃣ 2️⃣0️⃣ 1️⃣2️⃣
2️⃣2️⃣ 1️⃣6️⃣ 1️⃣5️⃣ 1️⃣7️⃣
2️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣9️⃣ 1️⃣8️⃣ 1️⃣3️⃣
https://duotrigordle.com/

@jlliagre OK, I did one. What a lot of work.

CowperKettle

2:02 PM

I've been prescribed rosuvastatin 10 mg.

Because my cholesterol is from 6.2 to 8.5, according to different labs, this spring.

HDL is also elevated.

Maybe it's good.

LDLs are way elevated at 5.2

I'm eating like an astronaut. No bad fats at all.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle aren't you taking dexamethasone?

If so, that's the culprit. And necessary too, I might add.

Statins are nice drugs. They prolong life probably more than any drug class in the world. As long as your muscles don't hurt (too much) they're drugs I always tend to recommend

CowperKettle

2:19 PM

@M.A.R. No! Could it be taken chronically at all? I only took it maybe 5 times in my life, for the Dexamethasone suppression test. Because my total daily cortisol sometimes is 2 the upper limit.

Back in 1998, I was injected with dexamethasone in my eyeball, a lot. Maybe several dozen times in total; because the cornea was constantly trying to reject itself.

Once I had an injection just 10 hours before New Year. Luckily, the eye clinic was having a New Year party, so there was a nurse. She said "You don't mind being injected in the eye by a slightly drunken nurse?" LOL

Maybe my cholerterol is elevated because my cortisol is sometimes chronically elevated.

It's long time since I last took a daily total cortisol test.

M.A.R.

2:35 PM

@CowperKettle it's interesting that corticosteroids aren't used for maintenance of corneal transplants, though it makes sense I suppose. I suppose now I'd need a full history to guess why your total cholesterol is high, and neither of us want to go through that here :)

Either way I don't see any downsides to taking statins if you do need them, which you apparently do. Just don't panic if your muscles hurt a bit, or your liver enzymes rise a bit, both are almost always benign if tolerated.

jlliagre

3:32 PM

Daily Duotrigordle #456
Guesses: 36/37
3️⃣4️⃣ 3️⃣3️⃣ 3️⃣2️⃣ 1️⃣5️⃣
3️⃣0️⃣ 3️⃣5️⃣ 1️⃣6️⃣ 3️⃣1️⃣
0️⃣5️⃣ 0️⃣6️⃣ 1️⃣8️⃣ 2️⃣9️⃣
0️⃣9️⃣ 1️⃣9️⃣ 2️⃣8️⃣ 0️⃣7️⃣
3️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣7️⃣ 2️⃣6️⃣ 2️⃣0️⃣
2️⃣5️⃣ 1️⃣4️⃣ 2️⃣4️⃣ 2️⃣1️⃣
0️⃣4️⃣ 0️⃣3️⃣ 1️⃣3️⃣ 2️⃣3️⃣
1️⃣0️⃣ 2️⃣2️⃣ 1️⃣1️⃣ 1️⃣2️⃣
https://duotrigordle.com/

Lambie

4:00 PM

@CowperKettle A friend of mine in Brittany told me several friends of her did this and their LDLs went down: One tablespoon of olive oil first thing in the AM and a handful of almonds in the later afternoon. She swears by it. Do it for one month and it will go down. [I would appreciate not receiving any sarcastic comments about this. Thanks, Just trying to help.]s

alphabet

@CowperKettle They've stopped teaching cursive in a lot of US schools. Someday it will be like heiroglyphics

Instead I assume we'll start having classes on emojis, which I believe are our new orthography

jlliagre

#SexagintaQuattuordle 434 ~ words unsolved: 3
(score 2579, 48%)
🟧🟧🟠❤️🟥🟥🟥🟥
🟥🟥🟥🔺🔴❌❌❌
🟧🟧🟧🟧🟪🟧🟧💚
🟧🧡🟩🟩🔵🟡🟨🟨
🟨🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟨🟨
🟢💛🟦🟦🟨🟨🟨🟦
🟩🟦🟩💙🟩🟩🟩🟣
🟨🟪🟪🟨🟩🟪🟪🟩
https://64ordle.au/?seed=557
That one is insane...

Cerberus

@alphabet That's horrible.

@alphabet I refuse.

CowperKettle

4:23 PM

@Lambie I know, I've read studies about almonds and other nuts, even Brazil nuts, which also work

So it's not some folk cure :)

@alphabet Once I was receiving bad grades in English at school, because I had spent some time in a clinic with hepatitis. So I decided to catch up, and spent a month in the summer doing English in cursive, I mean, replying to a self-study textbook's questions in cursive. :)

I liked it after a while.

I had a whole copy-book written up in cursive.

Never in my wildest dream would I imagine that I would actually use English someday to chat with actual English speakers.

So it was probably doing it because it was cool.

Cerberus

4:41 PM

@CowperKettle Why not?

CowperKettle

@Cerberus I did not know that there would be the Internet

@M.A.R. When my total cortisol is high, it feels very bad psychologically. That's why I've read up a lot about cortisol.

Once it was caused by an antifungal ointment. I discovered some studies showing an elevation of cortisol in some users. I stopped using it, and voila! It just went into the normal range.

I had been feeling very depressed during the period when it was elevated.

Cerberus

@CowperKettle OK that makes sense.

CowperKettle

@Cerberus Maybe I had some vague dreams of.. dunno.. moving to Moscow when I'd become an adult, and there meet some foreigners :)

Cerberus

@CowperKettle Wild!

People forget how much progress the Internet has brought mankind.

Knowledge.

Possibilities.

CowperKettle

4:59 PM

My friend who lived in the next.. (what do you call it - "the next staircase" in a building?) well, he had an army phone (two phones), and we dreamt of getting some specialized batteries and stringing a line between our flats.

But in the USSR you could not just go and buy batteries.

His dad brought this pair of trench phones from the army.

They looked cool :)

Cerberus

Why couldn't you buy batteries?

My father also has trench phones from WWII.

CowperKettle

Because a lot of goods were hard to buy.

Cerberus

We would turn the handle and electrocute ourselves a bit.

OK.

They had no batteries.

CowperKettle

Once I could not buy a replacement tire for my bycicle, the whole summer.

In the spring, I rode it for the first time, and one of the two inner tubes suddenly grew a bubble.

So that was it for the summer.

I only managed to buy a spare at the very end of the summer.

So it was wild when the market economy started, and suddenly there was anything in stores.

Can a small, almost invisible whirlpool in a river suck a person down and drown him? There's a story on the local news website, saying two people died this way near Yekaterinburg, at the same place. Or in the same river at least.

> “I lived across the street from this place. It would seem that somewhere the water is only knee-deep, and somewhere once - and went under the water. It was in this place where the boy fell that there was a whirlpool, there was always a strong current there,” Anna Tomskikh, a resident of Kamyshlov, told E1.RU. - Water runs through the stones, there is a huge funnel, both children and men drown in it every year.

e1.ru/text/incidents/2023/06/01/72354743

Such a shallow-looking river.

There was a kind of washed-away cavity, making the bottom suddenly deeper.

And they think that there's a whirlpool that forces a person down.

@Cerberus Yes, those phones also had handles, but they looked a bit flimsy

Probably these there newer phones, relying mainly on batteries :)

Lambie

5:17 PM

Why is there a guy kissing a girl with their faces blocked stuck over the image of the river??

CowperKettle

@Lambie Because the local website moved a bit towards yellow journalism in the last year. Publishing stories that would gather more views. The photo is of the guy (15 yo) who drowned. Their faces are blurred because of some recent laws forbidding to publish the faces of young persons.

Just a photo of the guy and his girlfriend.

Lambie

Ah, I get it. I thought it might be some weird type of advertising. I think someone who is really at east in the water might not have panicked and drowned. It's the panic that'll kill ya.

CowperKettle

Yes, it's very easy to drown.

Come to think of it, a boyfriend of my niece's drowned too. He was showing off, crossing a river on a narrow ledge at some small dam or bridge, I don't recall exactly. And fell and drowned.

And he was not a feeble guy.

CowperKettle

5:37 PM

I only met him once or twice, but I liked him. He loved good music.

1865 AD, when a man could buy waterfalls for his wife.

Probably some garment resembling the waves of falling water.

M.A.R.

@Lambie I would expect vegetable oils to modestly help with borderline elevated triglyceride levels and not to affect total cholesterol or LDL-C much. For example, some forms of omega-3, at doses of 2-4 grams a day, modestly lower triglyceride levels and are approved for therapeutic efficacy (normal omega 3 supplements tend to have variable amounts of omega 3 and only around 300 mg according to one textbook, so they don't help much with anything)

CowperKettle

Ocular immune system

The ocular immune system protects the eye from infection and regulates healing processes following injuries. The interior of the eye lacks lymph vessels but is highly vascularized, and many immune cells reside in the uvea, including mostly macrophages, dendritic cells, and mast cells. These cells fight off intraocular infections, and intraocular inflammation can manifest as uveitis (including iritis) or retinitis. The cornea of the eye is immunologically a very special tissue. Its constant exposure to the exterior world means that it is vulnerable to a wide range of microorganisms while its moist...

The eye has a specialized, simplified immune system with somewhat of partial privilege, like the uterus.

M.A.R.

It's possible the reduction in cholesterol is because of the concurrent medications your friend was taking at the time, or simply due to overall increased attention to diet during such period, as opposed to olive oil and almonds themselves.

CowperKettle

I wrote this Wiki article back in 2008 (oops, no, I only edited it; it was started by someone else)

A Single Consumption of High Amounts of the Brazil Nuts Improves Lipid Profile of Healthy Volunteers

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle it's a much simpler explanation actually. The more blood flow your tissue has, the more it is going to be surveilled by the immune system. A cornea has much less blood flow than a kidney or liver

CowperKettle

5:50 PM

> 2022 meta analysis: " In conclusion, the findings from this study suggest that Brazil nut consumption improves selenium status and exerts antioxidant effects, which could be considered a potential pathway for the prevention of metabolic disorders related to altered blood lipid profiles." ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8869304

@M.A.R. Yes

Brazil nuts have a lot of selenium.

That's why one should only eat one or two a day.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle careful, it's a study with ten people studied for 9 hours.

CowperKettle

"However, no significant results were found when considering blood lipid levels, including results for total cholesterol (SMD = −0.22, 95% CI: −0.57; 0.14), HDL cholesterol (SMD = −0.04, 95% CI: −0.28; 0.19) and LDL cholesterol (SMD = −0.15; 95% CI: −0.43; 0.13)."

Ah, yes.

Sadly.

M.A.R.

For many significant lipid profile changes, you need to wait weeks. For some of the most important changes that do affect the rates of cardiovascular disease, you need months.

CowperKettle

It's nuts!

M.A.R.

Selenium can be pretty psychotropic

CowperKettle

5:55 PM

> Within the brain, selenium protects against oxidative stress, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and inflammation.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle is it normally high?

CowperKettle

@M.A.R. No, thank God

It was high when my "depression" started, but escitalopram decreased it.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle I'm becoming allergic to the word "inflammation"

So there. Selenium is causing inflammation in my mind right now

CowperKettle

Ah. I read that Se is low in keratoconus, that's why I remembered about Brazil nuts.

M.A.R.

As I've probably said before, "antioxidant" means very, very little. Even littler when we're talking about brain health.

It's not even a fancy way of saying "it's good for you". It's just what the worst medical practices of the lowest evidence regurgitate to excuse bad practices.

CowperKettle

6:00 PM

Yes, probably, because brain metabolism is too complicated to explain anything by a single interaction.

M.A.R.

For example, if you find that people with a lot of tomatoes in their diet have a 10% lower chance of colorectal cancer, you first need to explain how much of the observed effect is because people who didn't eat tomatoes consumed a lot of fried crap full of acrylamide.

CowperKettle

Yes, Selenium is low in keratoconus: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7265275

And there was some article on how the metabolism of vitamin D might be a bit deranged in patients. I stashed it somewhere on my HDD.

M.A.R.

And that's just the first step. You need to identify what exactly in tomatoes helps, maybe it's 2000 different compounds. Maybe lycopene is responsible for 2% of the overall cancer-protective effect.

CowperKettle

My longtime friend wrote me recently. Her daughter's boyfriend had just died of cancer, aged 18.

They live in the USA. Probably some ultra-dangerous cancer.

M.A.R.

And then you need to prove that more lycopene provides more benefit. And then prove that your lycopene supplement had the same effect as tomatoes, and a significantly different effect than placebo.

Robusto

6:07 PM

@CowperKettle Is there any other kind?

CowperKettle

@Robusto Yes, there are some slow cancers

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle different types of cancer have different age distribution in the population. Some cancer types are more common in kids, a very few in people aged 20-30, but yes, most occur later in life

Robusto

@CowperKettle If it kills you at 18, it's pretty dangerous.

CowperKettle

Yes, that's what I meant

M.A.R.

@Robusto naturally some cancers are less invasive. Some of those less invasive cancers are easier to treat.

CowperKettle

6:08 PM

There are some intra-skull cancers that grow a millimeter a year, or slower. Tumors. Maybe benign ones?

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle prostate tumors can have a very slow progression

CowperKettle

> This is very fishy: "Vit D supplementation increased the cell availability of copper. Moreover, stabilization of KC progression was found in 60% of patients (72% of eyes) after 12 months with Vit D supplementation." pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36580321

Can't be so easy. Just eat some vitamin D, and your keratoconus stops.

M.A.R.

Robusto

@M.A.R. Yet people do die of them nevertheless.

M.A.R.

Wilms tumor

Affects kids younger than 10 years of age the most

CowperKettle

6:12 PM

I met a couple at a cancer clinic. The husband got a tumor discovered in his skull 20 years ago, and it only grew to actually produce symptoms after 20 years. It was growing very, very slow

M.A.R.

@Robusto yep. What kills are usually the metastases, not the tumor itself, or its size

CowperKettle

My tumor in the skull's cavernous sinus has remained the same for the last 13 years.

Robusto

@M.A.R. The metastases are free-floating cancers that go anywhere in the body and take root?

CowperKettle

Yes, they are like Greek city-states

They grow into Magna Graecia

The patient survived.

M.A.R.

@Robusto yep. They usually can happen when the tumor is big enough to invade lymphatic tissue or blood.

So, in giving an overall assessment of newly diagnosed cancer, it's very important if it has invaded lymph nodes.

CowperKettle

6:24 PM

Usually they seem not to operate if there are metastases. Only doing some surgery to prolong life, not in the hope of a cure.

Robusto

7:39 PM

Why swearing is a sign of intelligence, helps manage pain and more

I fucking knew it.

Vikas

8:37 PM

This is why I'm less intelligent.

M.A.R.

@CowperKettle yes, because almost always these metastases erupt after a surgery.

Which emphasizes the importance of screening and early diagnosis. If you diagnose breast cancer early, the 'surgery' will involve removal of a tissue no larger than the ball of a ballpoint pen.

(With a high success rate too, and lower chance of relapse)

jlliagre

9:07 PM

@Robusto "That perception, as it turns out, is full of, uh … baloney. " Ma ma ma my!

alphabet

9:18 PM

@CowperKettle Interesting, your earlier message about thinking you'd never use your knowledge of English & how the Internet has changed things. Do you think more people are learning ESL now because of the Internet?

Robusto

9:35 PM

@jlliagre Did you mean mamma mia! ?

jlliagre

May 10 at 14:07, by Mitch

'My Bologna' Clip 4K - Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

►

Robusto

@jlliagre Oh. Well, that could have been more artfully expressed.

jlliagre

Full of shit?

Robusto

I didn't say that.

jlliagre

I try to be intelligent, you know.

Robusto

9:39 PM

Fuckin' A.

jlliagre

Learning

Robusto

What’s the origin of “fuckin’ A”?

What the Eff Is Up With the “A” in “Effing A”?

These cites are offered in the spirit of educating non-native speakers, including those who come from the land of the Mother Tongue. You can't really be an American if you don't know—and copiously use—this handy affirmative.

alphabet

10:10 PM

Huh. I always thought it was short for "fucking ace"

jlliagre

@alphabet Get your ace out of here!

Cerberus

10:50 PM

@Robusto Fucking high quality.

The American censorship in that very article is hilarious.

Robusto

11:50 PM

@Cerberus They're just not as smart as the subject they're writing about, I guess.