English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

00:00

@Noah Good.

Bye!

David Wallace

I suppose you could use the public folder to publish a web site, if you felt sufficiently perverse.

Cerberus

Sure.

Why perverse?

You can also use Droppages.

David Wallace

Hah! I just discovered that the half-finished family web site that I half put together about 6 years ago hasn't been taken down yet, even though I am no longer a customer of the ISP that is hosting it.

Cerberus

Very easy and free way to publish and update and change a website through Dropbox.

Nice.

David Wallace

Yes, the more I think about it, the less perverse it seems.

Cerberus

00:07

Your family will be an archaeological artefact.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Yeah, I don't think I could log in and remove it if I tried.

Cerberus

I even managed to encrypt pages with a password.

David Wallace

I would have to phone them up and ask them to remove it. But it's fairly harmless; there doesn't seem much point.

Cerberus

Yeah.

David Wallace

It actually works quite well, but looks a little dated. You want a link, @Cerberus?

Cerberus

00:09

Sure.

KitFox

Damn you people.

Cerberus

(Droppages looks very polished, by the way.)

KitFox

Is it "there was no debris" or "there were no debris"?

Cerberus

Was.

To me it is always singular.

David Wallace

@KitFox Was. It's a mass noun.

Cerberus

00:11

But it could be plural in French. I don't think so, but I'm not sure.

David Wallace

@Cerberus You have it.

KitFox

Massive noun.

Cerberus

The plural is more likely to be an English semantic contamination.

Cute!

And dated, yes...

David Wallace

According to the French dictionary in my hand, the singular "débris" means "fragment", but "les débris" means "the debris".

Cerberus

Right, so it can be either in French.

David Wallace

00:13

No, it's a count noun in French, but a mass noun in English.

(This is the Collins Robert French Paperback Dictionary, FWIW)

Cerberus

I mean it can be plural and singular in French, same form.

David Wallace

Oh, sorry, I thought you meant it could be mass or count.

KitFox

Un débris, deux débris, trois débris...

David Wallace

Exactly.

(Suddenly imagining KitFox dressed as the Count from Sesame Street)

KitFox

Ah ah ah ah ah! Trois débris!

lightning flashes

David Wallace

00:19

Yes, that's the one.

Whatever happened to that show?

My son had the computer game, but I'm trying to think whether we've ever seen it on TV.

KitFox

It's still on.

We used to watch it, but moved to less wholesome things.

My little one still carries his Elmo around everywhere though.

Journeyman Geek

sesame street!

One of the things I can blame for me speaking good english

(and 3 2 1 contact for me being a geek)

KitFox

One of the things I can blame for me speaking good Spanish.

Contact is the reason, is the notion, that everything happens.

Notion? Motion? Hmm.

Journeyman Geek

lol

yes!

KitFox

Oh, the moment. That makes so much more sense.

Contact is the secret,
It's the moment when everything happens.

Contact is the answer,
It's the reason why everything happens.

Let's Make Contact!

I had it a little mixed up, but it's been thirty years or so since I've seen it.

The Electric Company has gotten totally Bad Ass since I was a kid too.

Journeyman Geek

00:30

ya, pretty much ;p

KitFox

►

Journeyman Geek

ooh, and this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_One_(TV_series)

KitFox

Oh yeah, Square One. I forgot about that.

The whole reason I'm a math genius.

Well, I was.

Journeyman Geek

lol, I remember mathnet more than square 1 ;p

KitFox

Until that unfortunate incident involving the Al-Gebra movement. I'm not allowed to talk about it though.

Well, I'm off. Good night!

David Wallace

00:36

Me too. Bye all.

Cerberus

01:02

Bai!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

good evening

Cerberus

Hello.

I have just had the worst onion experience ever.

It was terrible.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

what kind of experience

Cerberus

I was cutting an onion.

I started crying.

It got worse and worse.

My whole face was flooded in tears, dripping from my chin onto my shirt.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Maybe you were just really sad

Cerberus

01:11

The pain became unbearable, I could only open my eyes for maybe 20 seconds at a time.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

►

Cerberus

My eye whites were solid dark pink.

I have never experienced this.

Have you?

With contacts in, I barely notice anything.

Without, I cry a bit, it hurts a bit, but nothing serious.

This was several times worse.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I have cut onions maybe 8 times in my life

Cerberus

Why?

I have done it many times.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

onions disagree with me rather violently

Cerberus

01:14

Never a problem.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

so I tend not to use them in cooking

Cerberus

The cutting, or the eating?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

the eating

Cerberus

They disagree with me too, in that area.

I only use them when I am alone.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

although lately, emboldened by my wonder drug, I have tentatively introduced them into cooking.

Cerberus

01:15

You have a drug? Wait, I think you have told me about this.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Well, when I say "disagree", I mean "stomach pain so bad I cannot stand up"

yes

beano

Cerberus

Oh, okay. I only get a little pain.

Yes, I remember now.

I should get that...

Do you like the taste of them?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

onions? yes.

Cerberus

I do.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

If they didn't bother me so much I'd eat them all the time.

Instead I avoid food that has "onion" in the description on menus, and I get my burgers with no onions, and I avoid eating them at home, etc. Until recently.

Actually it was after we last spoke about this that I decided to experiment more

Some food, like commercial salsa or chili I can handle quite well as long as I take my pills, but it has lots of onion and/or garlic (both bother me). So I was wondering what the difference is between those and the other onions I've been avoiding.

So I've started trying adding onions at home when I feel it's important to the recipe.

Also I work from home so if I have a really bad episode I might still be able to work. So there is less risk.

Cerberus

01:28

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh no, garlic too?

That's terrible.

Thank God for your meds.

So why do you think there is a difference between salsa onions and other onions?

The former you can eat with Beano, the latter not?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus Well, I don't know what difference there is, if any. I just know that I was eating salsa (and beano) and it was okay.

Cerberus

And when you eat other onions with Beano...?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

well, I was avoiding them

So I am curious to see what the Asus Padfone 2 is like when it is announced

because frankly I'm not getting that excited about the LG nexus

Mahnax

Good evening.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

good evening Mahnax

Mahnax

01:32

Oh, @Cerb, I purchased a blazer today.

Hi Mr. S!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

why do they call them that.

Mahnax

shrugs

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Neither am I.

@Mahnax Hi! Oh! Picture!

Mahnax

@Cerberus Hrm, let me see.

I'll take a picture of it without me inside, OK?

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Presumably because of their potentially blazing colours?

@Mahnax As you wish.

Mahnax

01:35

It's not blazing, it's grey.

OK, BRB.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Good.

@Mahnax The only thing is, we can't say anything about the cut/size if you're not wearing it.

You could take a picture without your head?

tchrist

Most people use their hands.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Ugh, fine, I guess.

Half a moment.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Yay!

tchrist

mumble

Mahnax

01:45

It's a bit blurry, but it'll do.

Cerberus

Ah lookin' good!

Mahnax

Heh, thank you.

Cerberus

From what I can see, size is OK.

Mahnax

Good.

Cerberus

But I can't see your shoulders, nor the length of the sleeves.

Mahnax

01:47

Well, I've been told that it fits properly.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

If this guy in the shop looked at it, and you did too, then I'm sure it will be fine.

Mahnax

Yep.

Cerberus

It's not that hard to get it right.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

is that a sony camera?

Mahnax

Nah, an old Samsung.

Cerberus

01:48

And the greyish circle is the reflection of the camera?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

ah, okay.

Cerberus

BRB

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

because sony is evil

I would have to scold you

Mahnax

@Cerberus Either that or some weird reflection, because I don't see that on the blazer now.

tchrist

@Cerberus Sure you can.

@Mahnax What camera is that?

(Pardon me for being more interested in the hardware than the gentware.)

Mahnax

01:51

@tchrist Samsung D760.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Why? Because of their rootkit?

@Mahnax Good!

tchrist

@Mahnax Ah, now we know how big your hands are! :)

Mahnax

It's not a particularly good camera.

Cerberus

@tchrist Hao?

Mahnax

@tchrist Are they large? I don't honestly know.

tchrist

01:52

teases, very lightly

Cerberus

Do you think you could take a close-up of the fabric?

Mahnax

@Cerberus Not with this camera…

Cerberus

Oh OK.

Well, never mind.

tchrist

@Cerberus You can see how it hands on his hands/wrists.

Cerberus

I'm sure it'll be fine.

Mahnax

01:53

Anything moderately close gets awfully blurry.

Cerberus

Hangs?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus yes, among other things

Cerberus

You can't exactly tell whether the length of the sleeves is right without hanging your arms straight down.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 What other things?

Mahnax

@Cerberus Where should the end of the sleeve be when my arms are straight down?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Cerberus like removing features from the PS3 because they're scared of hackers. And then letting their PSN get hacked to bits.

tchrist

01:54

You could just ask him about the facric.

@Mahnax Earlier than your knuckles.

@Mahnax It has no close-up mode is why.

Mahnax

@tchrist Yeah.

Cerberus

Mahnax

Ah, OK.

Well, I'm off for now. Bye!

Cerberus

Bye!

tchrist

The camera is about 3½″ × 2½″ × 1″.

Cerberus

01:59

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Wow.

tchrist

See ya!

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