English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

01:22

@Robusto criminy that takes work

Robusto

No pain, no gain.

Xander Henderson

01:43

Ugh. The neighbors are being super noisy. And they blocked of the street. Because one of their dumb kids graduated high school.

CowperKettle

02:42

I was feeling fear and unreality (derealisation) for several hours yesterday, while carrying Behemoth to the clinic again, with another ureteral obstruction of his; so this morning I'm feeling broken mentally.

@XanderHenderson Here, when Mining University students receive their diplomas, they gather in the park nearby and scream through the night: "Я горный инженер!" at the top of their lungs. And the crowd replies "yeaah!"

And take an old bathtub and drag one of them on it by a rope through a street, or ride it on stairs in the street, where there's an incline.

CowperKettle

03:24

I wonder if there's a quick way to stop hours-long feelings of unreality and hypervigilance.

user 85795

Therapy, perhaps.

CowperKettle

04:11

@user85795 I had 3000 rubles remaining on my card yesterday. An hour of therapy costs 3000 to 5000 rubles. My cat developed ureteral obstruction again yesterday, I took a day off work (minus 1500 rubles) and went to the clinic (minus 5000 rubles; mom added 2000 rubles).

Now the payment for the previous week arrived, it's 9000 rubles, and today at least 4000 will be gone, to be spent on doctors and drugs.

If I go to therapy, I'll have to rummage around in garbage boxes for food.

I've just given him drink and put the collar back on.

CowperKettle

04:46

Carlo Acutis

Carlo Acutis (3 May 1991 – 12 October 2006) was an English-born Italian Catholic website designer who documented Eucharistic miracles and approved Marian apparitions. Acutis catalogued them on a website he created before his death from leukaemia. He was noted for his cheerfulness, computer skills, and deep devotion to the Eucharist, which became a core theme of his life. Acutis was beatified by Pope Francis on 10 October 2020, two days before the 14th anniversary of his death. Currently, he is on track to become the first canonized millennial in the Catholic church. == Early life == ==...

M.A.R.

08:13

What can a 14-yo know about religion? No disrespect meant of course

user 85795

Ask Pope Francis.

Who also blessed the heavyweight boxing championship belt.

May 18 at 3:56, by user 70432

Pope Francis blesses special WBC belt on the line in Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk undisputed clash

Vikas

08:28

> I offer to the Lord the sufferings that I will have to undergo for the Pope and for the Church

Could anyone decipher?

jlliagre

@user85795 What can a 87-yo pope know about boxing?

2

jlliagre

09:32

@Vikas Offro tutte le sofferenze che dovrò patire al Signore, per il Papa e per la Chiesa, per non fare il purgatorio e andare dritto in paradiso

user 85795

Hypocrisy at its finest.

jlliagre

09:55

@Vikas It's a Pact with ~~the Devil~~ God. Acutis trade his life for a direct trip to the Paradise.

M.A.R.

@Vikas I will suffer because of my Christian beliefs, or because of things I will do because of my Christian beliefs. This suffering will be my ticket to heaven after I die.

jlliagre

@M.A.R. Ticket to heaven yes but I don't think he thought his beliefs were the cause of his sufferings, or at least that's not expressed in the quoted sentence.

Criggie

10:22

What's this got to do with boxing ?

jlliagre

@Criggie The Pope.

M.A.R.

11:45

@jlliagre that's the impression I'm getting from the "for the Pope and for the Church" bit. Though of course it makes no sense that he was suffering from cancer "for the Pope and for the Church".

@Criggie dude you should have seen when half a dozen conversations were going on in this chat at the same time

Everyone was confused but somehow the conversations went mostly fine

jlliagre

12:23

@M.A.R. Per (for) is more like 'in favor of', the Pope and the Church in general are the recipient of his offering.

Mitch

12:41

@M.A.R. To be clear, most of his suffering is directly from the cancer.

Vikas

@jlliagre @M.A.R. OK. But I don't get this part: "for the Pope and for the Church". What I am assuming is this part means: his sufferings were caused by Pope and Church (so he is being negative (criticizing) about them).

jlliagre

13:06

@Vikas No, he wasn't criticizing the Pope and the Church, otherwise he wouldn't have been in the process of being promoted to a saint! On the opposite, he offered his suffering to the Church, like in 'it's a present for you'.

Mitch

@jlliagre like he's a martyr, @Vikas

Xander Henderson

@Vikas In Catholicism, "suffering" is seen as good. Suffering is a virtue. You suffer for your salvation. It is good to suffer for the Church and for the Pope. It is not that the Church, or the Pope, or g-d causes your suffering, but it is through that suffering that your piety is tested, and you can prove that you are devout and deserving of saving.

Mitch

which is an admirable sign of control of one's natural emotions. But with respect to @M.A.R.'s point, what can a 13-yo know of the theological ramifications of all this... which I take to imply that someone else is feeding him these ideas.

Or actually, that might be an insult to the kid...he may well be pretty smart/saintly.

Xander Henderson

13:23

@Mitch Since when are saints supposed to "know of the theological ramifications of all this"?

I have always understood saints in the Catholic church to be exemplars of people who suffer (often greatly), yet retain their faith. It is a fetishization of the Job story. You don't have to know anything to have faith (indeed, faith is often contrasted against knowledge).

Note that I am speaking as a complete outsider here, but these are my impressions of how the Church behaves.

Vikas

@XanderHenderson Ah. Makes sense to me now.

jlliagre

@Vikas Don't forget the best-know symbol of Catholicism is technically a torture device.

Xander Henderson

@jlliagre "Technically"?! No, it is straight up a torture device. And the whole Passion thing that's done in the spring is... creepy.

jlliagre

@XanderHenderson Okay, I should have written originally.

Mitch

13:40

@XanderHenderson Good point

Robusto

14:02

#WhenTaken #87 (24.05.2024)

I scored 929/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 372 km - 🗓️ 5 yrs - ⚡ 183 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 93 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 194 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 706.7 metres - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 200 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 357 km - 🗓️ 17 yrs - ⚡ 153 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 3 km - 🗓️ 1 yrs - ⚡ 199 / 200

https://whentaken.com

Wordle 1,070 5/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨⬛
⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟨🟨⬛🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Xander Henderson

#WhenTaken #87 (24.05.2024)

I scored 972/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 321 km - 🗓️ 0 yrs - ⚡ 190 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 98 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 193 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 3 km - 🗓️ 5 yrs - ⚡ 195 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 30 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 197 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 172.8 metres - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 197 / 200

https://whentaken.com

jlliagre

Wordle 1,070 5/6

⬛⬛🟩⬛⬛
⬛⬛🟨⬛🟨
🟨⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛🟨🟩🟨🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Xander Henderson

There is a super good hint in the background of (2). Otherwise, I have no idea how one might figure it out.

@Robusto Did you not notice the year in the poster in the background in (1)?

jlliagre

#WhenTaken #87 (24.05.2024)

I scored 933/1000 🎉

1️⃣ 📍 454 km - 🗓️ 3 yrs - ⚡ 183 / 200
2️⃣ 📍 173 km - 🗓️ 7 yrs - ⚡ 184 / 200
3️⃣ 📍 4 km - 🗓️ 2 yrs - ⚡ 198 / 200
4️⃣ 📍 202 km - 🗓️ 9 yrs - ⚡ 179 / 200
5️⃣ 📍 1.9 metres - 🗓️ 8 yrs - ⚡ 189 / 200

https://whentaken.com

Robusto

@XanderHenderson I just guessed the year based on my impression.

jlliagre

14:13

So did I.

Robusto

Daily Octordle #851
🕐4️⃣
🔟🕚
3️⃣5️⃣
🕛7️⃣
Score: 65
Coulda been a lot better.

jlliagre

I hate when a French game is unable again to precisely locate a picture in Paris.

Robusto

@jlliagre Heh.

jlliagre

#3 location is definitely not what they say.

Okay, that's a 100 anyway but I don't like it.

Robusto

Feb 7, 2011 at 15:29, by Robusto

In heaven, the cooks are French, the engineers are German, and the police are English. In hell, the cooks are English, the engineers are French, and the police are German.

Apologies. I heard this a long time ago and it was funny when I heard it.

Xander Henderson

14:15

@Robusto Oh! There was a poster:

jlliagre

Not very readable.

Robusto

Agreed.

Xander Henderson

No, not very readable, but it gets the job done.

Robusto

But is the game worth the candle?

Xander Henderson

But more readable than the "Iowa" in the background of (2)...

Robusto

14:17

That one I got.

How about the two-meter-tall woman? I totally guessed that one and it was one of my best.

Xander Henderson

@Robusto For the year, I noted the iPhone. For the place... I just guessed. It looked very "continental Europe" to me, and the statue in the background just... felt?... French.

jlliagre

Xander Henderson

@jlliagre That looks very much like my guess, but I guessed in the other direction.

@jlliagre Oh, you found it!

Robusto

@jlliagre Mine was northwest.

Xander Henderson

Cool.

Robusto

14:31

@jlliagre I think they must find pictures that are posted by people who are unreliable and just take their word for it.

jlliagre

Daily Octordle #851
7️⃣5️⃣
9️⃣🔟
3️⃣4️⃣
🕚🕛
Score: 61

Xander Henderson

@Robusto Indeed. But I just dropped a pin in "Paris", when Paris was just a dot on the map.

Robusto

With Paris and London I always shade toward the center, which means I'll be close most of the time. With New York most things are in Manhattan, midtown. And so on.

Xander Henderson

@Robusto Yeah, I'm not generally that careful, unless I have a good idea of where something is. Just drop a pin in the dot and move on. :D

Robusto

@XanderHenderson Well, you do seem to get pretty lucky with that.

Xander Henderson

14:45

@Robusto I think it is about the same strategy as you have: go near the center of the city.

Robusto

If I recognize something obvious, then that narrows it down. Like the one that was in Columbus Circle in Manhattan.

Xander Henderson

@Robusto Oh, yeah, that was an easy one.

I'm kind of proud of getting the place on (4) today: "Hey, that looks like Germany in the late 80s, but it was not Germany then, and these people don't look like communists, so it must be East Germany---stick a pin somewhere in eastern Germany."

On the other hand, that thinking actually got me farther from the correct year, since I figured "late 80s---somewhere between 85 and 90---87 is in the middle."

I would have been better off just guessing 1990, which was my original thought. BUT THEN I SECOND GUESSED MYSELF. :(

Robusto

I just thought of the Munich Olympics and so was wrong on the date and the location.

jlliagre

@XanderHenderson There was a bigger Iowa.

Xander Henderson

@jlliagre HA! I didn't even see that!

X(

Oh, shoot! There it is! D'oh!

jlliagre

15:02

I'm glad to have spotted #5 location with a 1.9 meter precision.

Koro

15:18

how do you pronounce lacunae?

aai at the end, or ae?

luhkunai or luhkunae

jlliagre

15:30

Daily Sequence Octordle #851
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
🔟🕚
🕛🕐
Score: 76

Xander Henderson

@Koro I pronounce is "lah-KUN-ay".

But Google says I'm wrong. :(

google.com/search?client=opera&q=lacunae+pronounciation

According to Google, it is "lah-KYOO-nai". :/

Koro

As per a dictionary with voice feature too, there is ai at the end while pronouncing it.

But I asked it to see what people from US would call it.

there's has been a mixed response so far: some say ae at the end, while the others say otherwise.

Xander Henderson

15:50

@Koro I learned to pronounce it from my phd advisor, who is French. So I would not take my pronunciation as gospel for Americans.

jlliagre

@Koro Just call them 'lacunas', problem solved.

Xander Henderson

@jlliagre So tempted to kick you from the room for that... :P

That's just painful.

X(

jlliagre

@XanderHenderson You should have more respect for pronunciation advice from French people ;-)

3

When in Rome: /laˈkuː.nae̯/

Koro

$\ddot\smile$

alphabet

16:28

I say /ləˈku.naɪ/ but I don't know if that's the most common pronunciation.

Some dictionaries only list /ləˈkju.ni/ or seem to prefer it, so that's probably the best option

Presumably it's one of those odd words that was imported long enough ago to get a /j/ but not popular enough for the /j/ to become ubiquitous

tchrist

17:35

@Koro Me personally I pronounce it as one might pronounce the English word aye. So I say /aj/ there not /i/. But I am atypical among Americans for having studied Latin and rather many of her daughter tongues, and so this influences my vowels in a way that leaves them mostly untouched by the traditional pronunciation of Latin in English, upon which the Great Vowel Shift was inflicted. In short I pronounce Latin with a Spanish accent not an English one.

Lahkooneye not Laekyoonee.

Saying Lack You Knee grosses me out once it stops confusing me.

Stephen Frye also uses the same pronunciation as I do, but he too is indelibly marred by having had a classical education. It stands out as a class distinction, the mark of the (fussily (over-)) educated. It is certainly a minority pronunciation among native English speakers, but is also one that none will ever dare "correct".

Lambie