English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

23:00

No, I guess not.

RD01

I meant Martha, but methinks you doth protest too much.

Cerberus

I imagine that most of Manhattan is imported from all over the world?

Next time her sister comes by, we should all talk dirty to her and pretend it was normal. Or maybe not.

Michael Myers

Manhattan is the upscale part of the city, if I remember correctly. Lots of families who have been there since the Dutch.

Cerberus

Really? I thought it was full of yuppies and such?

(Is "yup" still current, by the way?)

Robusto

Yup.

Cerberus

23:03

In Amsterdam, we have about 75% that are not really from around here.

Robusto

But yuppies are kind of dated, although everyone knows 'em when they sees 'em.

Cerberus

Right.

Michael Myers

@Cerberus They came for the marijuana, I presume.

Cerberus

That what do we call 'em nowadays? Apple users?

@Mich: Hehe, no, that would be the British tourists; but they never stay long enough to notice their own barf littering the streets.

Robusto

<= Using a Mac at this moment.

Cerberus

23:04

I knew it!

I'd rather chew off my own foot, but that's ok, I am fine with that.

Robusto

Also have Win XP, Win 7 and Ubuntu available through VMWare Fusion on the very same Mac, btw.

Michael Myers

@Cerberus Might want to rephrase that a bit.

Cerberus

Hmm? Rephrase what?

Robusto

I'm one of those Mac users who actually likes doing things in Unix, btw.

I'm what you would call a "sudo-user" :)

Cerberus

Okay, then perhaps you are one of the GOOD Mac users...

sudo?

As in pseudo?

RD01

23:06

make me a sandwich.

Michael Myers

@Cerberus Unless you're really fine with eating your own body parts, of course.

Robusto

Cerberus

Make me a palindrome, we are at EL&U.

Michael Myers

xkcd oneboxes here and even brings the title text with it.

Robusto

Oh no! On, Ho!

Michael Myers

23:07

Robusto

JINX

You owe me a coke.

RD01

Oh snap.

Michael Myers

Well done. You are a quick learner, I see.

Robusto

But I don't see no freakin' title.

Cerberus

So this must be a Unix joke.

Michael Myers

23:08

Mouse over

Robusto

Ah. That's what we call a tooltip. :P

Cerberus

Alt text?

Robusto

But you're right, the attribute is the "title" attribute.

Michael Myers

I got yelled at for calling it the alt text once. :P

Robusto

No, IE doesn't show "alt" as tooltip.

Cerberus

23:09

Haha.

Michael Myers

Firefox does, though, doesn't it?

Robusto

Still waiting for my coke.

Michael Myers

I'm sorry, this is a drug-free room.

Robusto

My son got me this T-shirt for Christmas:

Cerberus

I never understood what the finer distinctions were. I get the text, whatever it is, in a tooltip yes; but I remember I had to install some Greasemonkey script years ago to get it, so that must be somewhat new in FF.

Nice.

RegDwight

23:11

@Robusto We've been there before.

Robusto

That's cuz I'm a RegEx freakin' master.

RegDwight

Feb 2 at 19:07, by Robusto

This one is my fave: http://xkcd.com/208/ ... my son even got me the T-shirt for Christmas! And I wear it proudly.

Michael Myers

I prefer "regex ninja", myself.

Cerberus

I think everybody's been in xkcd's you-know.

Robusto

@RegDwight BTW, RegDwight is an example of a negative look-behind.

2

RD01

23:12

Any time I see that all I can think of is this: "Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems."

Michael Myers

@RegDwight You are the Grace Note of this room, aren't you.

RegDwight

@Robusto Shouldn't that be a positive look-behind?

@MichaelMyers Well, not today.

Robusto

I'll make my own comments here, thank you very much

RegDwight

51 mins ago, by Michael Myers

@RD01 I hereby dub thee Honorary Grace Note for the Day.

Cerberus

I wish we got more questions.

RD01

23:13

I'm unsure of the meaning, but I was assured it was a good thing.

Michael Myers

@RD01 Some people, when confronted with a regex, think "I know, I'll quote Jamie Zawinski." Now they have three problems.

Cerberus

Perhaps I should ask one myself. But what?

RegDwight

@Cerberus We have a lot, actually. It's just that we also have more users these days.

RD01

@michael Indeed!

Robusto

(?<!@RegDwight).+

Cerberus

23:14

@Reg: Yeah we just have too many knowledgeable users with too much time.

God there are so many things I should be doing.

Michael Myers

I'm pretty sure I saw the second version somewhere but I can't remember where.

RegDwight

10

Q: What does the JWZ regex quote mean?

What does Jamie Zawinski's quote mean exactly? Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems. I've always had trouble understanding what he was getting at.

Michael Myers

And now it is nearly quitting time and I haven't gotten enough done to quit yet. Time for me to go.

Robusto

I wrote my own HTML formatter using RegExp and Javascript, so don't mess with me, baby. Oh, and it works.

Michael Myers

@RegDwight You should really hang out in the lounge more. Please?

RD01

23:16

Formatter? or Parser.

RegDwight

Feb 17 at 19:07, by RegDwight

I'm on all sites 24/7.

Feb 25 at 16:40, by RegDwight

I can't be on every site 25/8!

Robusto

@RD01 — Formatter. If I need parsing I'll use a parser. This is for when I just need to reindent markup. You know.

But it is smart enough to handle non-closing tags and all that.

RD01

Thank the gods. I'd hate to need to see a link to the mother of all answers again :)

Cerberus

Are there geeks who enjoy advice columns about manners and such?

It would seem an antithetical interest.

Robusto

@Cerberus — Are there geeks who enjoy advice columns would narrow it down sufficiently, I should think.

RD01

23:19

I'm sure there are manners geeks out there somewhere.

Robusto

@RD01 They're too polite to talk about it.

Which means THEY'RE NOT FRICKIN' GEEKS.

Cerberus

@Rob: Yeah I was trying to exclude "advice columns" as in tech blogs.

RD01

Badum bum!

Cerberus

I think I have succeeded in falling in no specific category.

Robusto

Nerd rage and etiquette don't exactly go hand in hand.

Cerberus

23:21

Right.

I suck at programming so I think I am not a real geek. And I like social events and going out and stuff.

Am I a freak?

RegDwight

@Robusto Now get your vocabulary straight. Are them geeks or are them nerds?

Robusto

@Cerberus — There is still hope for you. You can become a dental hygienist.

Cerberus

I try to stick with geek because it sounds friendlier...

Robusto

@RegDwight — A native speaker would know that the two things are the same.

Cerberus

@Rob: Haha what the...? That stinks.

Lies!

RegDwight

23:23

2

Robusto

@RegDwight Who cares what Mickey Mouse thinks?

RegDwight

That chart is by a native speaker, and approved by thousands of native speakers.

Cerberus

Nice.

I think I have seen it before; but I don't recall ever encountering a dweeb...

Robusto

Geeks can be socially inept.

Cerberus

Nah-uh!

RD01

23:24

yayeveryday.com/post/7602

Robusto

Look at @RegDwight: Smart, obsessed, and hopelessly inept when it comes to socializing.

Cerberus

Haha that one is cute.

RegDwight

Cerberus

Hey I say Reg's doing quite well in socializing; he posts very friendly backlinks.

Robusto

There are three kinds of people in this world: those who can count, and those who can't.

RegDwight

23:25

25 secs ago, by Cerberus

Hey I say Reg's doing quite well in socializing; he posts very friendly backlinks.

Cerberus

See? He is contributing, that is a social skill.

RegDwight

That's not a skill at all.

Robusto

14 mins ago, by Robusto

@RegDwight BTW, RegDwight is an example of a negative look-behind.

RegDwight

@Cerberus "Gibblegobble burtasyub nicetrump. – Master Of Disaster Aug 26 '10 at 1:31". That's a contribution, too.

Cerberus

He is a bit like a serial killer, mailing letters cut out of newspapers: he is communicating, in his own way.

Right...

Does anyone happen to play Bridge?

Robusto

23:27

OK, I forgot to mention. By socializing I don't mean chatting on the computer in English.SE chat.

Cerberus

What? But then, what else?

Robusto

I mean going out and talking to people IRL.

I know it's scary ...

But that's real socializing.

Cerberus

Oh you mean, those sacks of water and bones outside...

RD01

I play Euchre. If you live in the state of Michigan for any period of time it is mandatory to learn Euchre.

Robusto

And ... and ... talking to women!

RegDwight

23:28

Hey, don't star that image! Go upvote my answer instead, it's CW!

46

A: "Geek" vs. "Nerd"

VonC's answer is more to the point, but I just can't resist the urge to post this Venn diagram, so I'm marking this CW: Image credit.

Cerberus

Euchre, I have heard of that... what is it like?

Women...

Dating sucks sometimes.

Robusto

Only if it's good.

RD01

It's similar to Hearts or Spades but with teams and stuff, and other stuff.

Cerberus

Why doesn't everyone have a traffic light attached to his forehead?

RegDwight

@Robusto Thwack. Where's @Martha, anyhow?

Cerberus

23:29

Sucking is overrated, but never mind.

She is probably doing stuff with her sister.

Robusto

►

RegDwight

►

Robusto

Not my point.

Cerberus

So this is communicating huh...

RegDwight

Well, you mentioned bridge!

Cerberus

23:32

Huh wait, okay I'll click your video...

RegDwight

The video has nothing to do with bridge. Except in the musical sense, perhaps.

Robusto

Well, here's my rebuttal to your video:

►

Cerberus

Oh... well those hands are OK.

RegDwight

@Robusto Your rebuttals are never available in my country.

Cerberus

Man were are you?

Robusto

23:34

They are available in my back yard ... oh, wait — you haven't invaded that yet.

Cerberus

Not Russia?

Robusto

He's like in Libya or something.

Cerberus

Hehe.

Robusto

North Korea.

Cerberus

Probably Lybia then.

Martha

23:35

@RegDwight Thank you.

Cerberus

Hey!

Robusto

Which reminds me: are Libya and Dubya related?

RegDwight

@Martha Not at all.

Cerberus

Who do we have here? Please tell me you play Bridge?

Robusto

I play bridge about as well as Jon Skeet plays professional basketball.

Cerberus

23:37

Eh... damn your native references!

RegDwight

142

Board and Card Games – boardgames.stackexchange.com

Beta Q&A site for people who like playing board games, designing board games or modifying the rules of existing board games. Card games, too, because some games really can be classified as both.

Currently in public beta.

Sounds like a bridge site, to me.

Robusto

^ Negative Look-Behind in action!

Cerberus

Hmm thanks.

Martha

@Cerberus I was, indeed, talking to my sister on the phone a little while ago. Then we had to hang up because the niece was in danger of, um, running out of room in the diaper.

RD01

I love the backhanded slap at card games. Uh, we'll include card games too. I guess.

Robusto

23:37

Or negative lookaround.

Cerberus

@Martha: I knew it! Man everybody's getting babies these days...

Martha

2 days ago, by Martha

RegDwight

Right. I was just about to post that video of double-entendre drawings, and then Martha kills my momentum.

RD01

Thanks Martha.

Robusto

Yeah.

RD01

23:42

(really)

RegDwight

Haha.

Robusto

OK, I'm outta here.

RegDwight

See? Momentum killed. Luft raus.

Cerberus

Nooooooo not the baby again.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Too little, too late.

Cerberus

23:43

Incidentally, thanks for the boardgame link; there are a few Bridge questions on it that are pretty great, such as weak vs. strong 1NT openings.

Yeah sorry. Babies scare me. Adulthood and all.

RegDwight

@Cerberus Really? It was really more of a joke. I only follow a few tags that don't have anything to do with cards.

RD01

Adult dressed as babies scare me too.

Martha

@Cerberus Aw, she's not scary at all.

Cerberus

Yup. I never realized that I was playing American style.

Martha

Edible, yes. Scary, no.

Cerberus

23:45

Scary! People with babies must lead responsible, settled lives! Nooo!

Wow I suddenly get a huge urge to play Bridge again. Is there porn for Bridge?

RD01

There is porn for everything.

Martha

But, see, she's not my baby. When she starts getting too stinky, I can say, "here, have her back".

RegDwight

@Cerberus Rule 34.

Fat fingers.

Cerberus

Good point. Babies for a few hours are ok.

@Reg: Right, I actually get an internet meme! I am proud of myself.

RegDwight

Eltern werden ist nicht schwer, Eltern sein dagegen sehr.

Cerberus

23:48

Haha right.

Nice.

Okay I bid 3NT. Computer going downnn....

RD01

Ta Ta

RegDwight

@Cerberus I read through that 1NT question a few times and now I feel like I don't understand English anymore.

Cerberus

Bye!

@Reg: Aww why not? Did you play Bridge or not?

RegDwight

I can't even begin to spell it.

Cerberus

If not, you should learn it; it is rather popular among those interested in mathematics and programming.

It is the best game I have ever played so far.

RegDwight

23:53

@Cerberus I never got a chance. You need many people.

Cerberus

Possibly even including Civilization.

You can learn on the computer (though yes it is more fun with real people).

RegDwight

I have never played Skat, either.

Skat (card game)

Skat is an early 19th century trick-taking card game devised in Germany. Along with Doppelkopf it is the most popular card game in Germany and Silesia. Skat features prominently in Günter Grass's novel The Tin Drum and leads a trail connecting the plot. It is also played by many soldiers in Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front, and was a favorite game of Richard Strauss, who included a hand in his opera Intermezzo. History Skat was developed by the members of the Brommesche Tarok-Gesellschaft between 1810 and 1817 in Altenburg, in what is now the Federated State of Thuring...

Kosmonaut

Isn't that like Euchre?

Cerberus

I believe that is a simplified version of Bridge?

You make tricks, but you don't bid for a contract?

RegDwight

@Cerberus If that is a simplified version of Bridge, then I quit. Like, life.

Cerberus

23:55

Well perhaps I didn't get what Skat is, lemme read more...

RD01

That certainly does sound similar to Euchre.

Kosmonaut

I am a big fan of Euchre

RD01

Moi aussi.

RegDwight

I am a big fan of all and any games, but there are usually only two of us, me and my wife.

Cerberus

Okay Skat is rather different from what I thought it was.

Kosmonaut

23:57

Forever alone, together

Cerberus

But the essential part from Bridge is missing, the bidding for a contract.

RegDwight

@Kosmonaut Waiting for the Miracle

Kosmonaut

Bidding for a contract sounds like something I should be paid to do.

Cerberus

The beauty of Bridge is that the rules are quite simple if you play it at the lowest level.

RegDwight

If I could play it alone, I would.

Kosmonaut

23:57

I play everything at the lowest level.

Cerberus

@Kos: Answering questions about language is, too.

No you don't.

Kosmonaut

I am paid to answer questions about language.

Cerberus

I am hardly at an intermediate level with Bridge, but that is fine; it can be great fun after maybe a few hours.

And yet you do it here unpaid!

Just learn Bridge whenever the opportunity arises; you will not regret it.

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