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user19161
2:00 PM
@RegDwighт This room is so deep that only we can understand it.
 
@JasperLoy this room is so deep that only I can remember it.
 
user19161
@RegDwighт Let's go deeper.
 
@JasperLoy In your sentence, does "we" include you, or not? :)
 
user19161
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It excludes me most of the time.
 
@JasperLoy You can go 36,000 feet deep, if you have the right equipment.
 
2:02 PM
There's a different word then, that means "we, except not me". It's "you"
 
It was 81 on the way home yesterday. Now I have to put pants on. Life is unfair.
 
@tchrist Confucius says: stand up like a man and put your pants on.
 
@tchrist You managed to spend the first 81 years of your life without pants to cover your nether regions? What a stunt.
 
And no, this has nothing to do with freeballin’. I’m American.
 
2:03 PM
I wouldn't complain.
I would rejoice.
 
poor Martin's balls! @Reg
 
I can put up with water-freeze temps this time of the year. I am not ready for brine-freeze temps.
But I would prefer neither.
 
@MattЭллен OP's comment makes it a different question entirely.
Tchrist's answer and my comment no longer apply.
 
Why can't people ask what they mean?!
 
Because they don't care. The OP accepted and went away. Some people never look for an actual answer.
COCA has some nice cites for begrudge behaving exactly the way he wants it to, but he'll never know.
His loss.
 
2:09 PM
indeed
 
Care is a four-letter word, quoth Zeno.
 
It's funny. Before I started using ELU, I had lots of questions about English. Then I learned about COCA and ngrams and the fact that I have free access to oed.com and now I have no questions.
4
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Teach a man to fish :-)
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah and now @Kit expects us to post questions.
Unpossible.
 
2:12 PM
I am such a bitch.
 
Expectans expectavit. . . .
 
user19161
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Your library subscribes to it?
 
@JasperLoy apparently yes.
Oddly it was a man in Russia who told me that.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Given your knowledge, can you construct a good question for EL&U you know the answer to? I will ask it, because i won't know the answer.
 
sighs Oh how I love the Russians.
 
2:14 PM
is on an expectorant
 
@MattЭллен Well, I can construct a question. Whether it is a good question, I don't know.
 
I guess it is true what they say, "everyone is pink on the inside."
 
what.
 
Not asphalt, no he isn't.
 
2:14 PM
@RegDwighт We must not knock, but expect patiently. —Rules of Civility 15
 
@MattЭллен Actually most of the questions I used to have are probably GR once you have a proper dictionary to use as your R. Oh, and etymonline.
 
contemplates dictionarial improprieties
 
You have to ask about very recent things, then. Like, "Yesterday on the six I heard an old man say kravummschtl. What is the origin of that?"
 
@RegDwighт California.
 
2:18 PM
Okay. How about "Today someone in chat wrote 'on the six'. What does that mean?"
 
jinx
In California, it has a unique meaning.
And not the one @Reg intended.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 that, my dear friend, is gen-ref.
 
Or else he’s been slumming.
 
Sep 27 at 10:51, by RegDwighт
}} On the 6 is the debut studio album by American recording artist and actress Jennifer Lopez. It first released on June 1, 1999 by Work Records in the United States. Lopez, who was well known only as an actress, began working on the album in late 1998. On the 6 debuted at 8 on the Billboard 200 charts in the United States, selling 112,000 copies in its first week. The album spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit "If You Had My Love", the top-ten hit "Waiting For Tonight", and three other singles which achieved moderate chart success, "Let's Get Loud", "Feeling So Good" and "No Me A...
 
> The album's title, On the 6, is a reference to the 6 subway line in New York City, which Lopez used to commute to work in Manhattan from her home in The Bronx during the early years of her career.
See, here I thought "on the six" meant "on the six o'clock news"
 
2:19 PM
Sep 27 at 10:54, by RegDwighт
She used it every day to get from the Bronx or something to somewhere else or something. When she was a poor ghetto girl. Or something.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 me too!
 
Mine is better.
It is also followed by a better picture.
 
Californians prefix numbers with definite articles. This is just as foreign-sounding to most of us as the British using England are sure to win tonight is.
 
Sep 27 at 11:18, by RegDwighт
user image
 
2:21 PM
We win sometimes!
 
@tchrist They're not referring to something named or numbered "six" then?
Can you give an example?
 
I take 93 to 470. I don’t take the 93 to the 470, because it is nonsense. If I need a determiner/qualifier, I’ll say CO-93 to I-470, which is the correct usage.
 
5
Q: US Route 101 — "The 101"

boochIn my part of the world, we refer to highways without any article. So we drive on "Highway 64", or "Interstate 64", or "I-64". But when I go to California, they say "The 101". Is there any explanation for this difference?

Old.
 
You cannot add a missing word and have it make sense.
 
The old is new again!
 
2:22 PM
Therefore, it does not make sense.
There is no elision.
Curious.
 
@tchrist hahaha "nonsense". It isn't just Californians who do that. I drive on "the 401". Because "401" is the name of the highway. Just like I drive on "the DVP" (Don Valley Parkway).
 
It might be the Santa Monica Freeway, but it is not the 17. There is nothing there there.
No.
Add a word, make it work.
Can’t be done.
 
Feb 16 at 13:37, by RegDwight Ѭſ道
Well-forgotten old is the new new.
 
The 101 WHAT?
 
@tchrist No. You are thinking of 101 as a number. It is a name.
 
2:23 PM
There is nothing to do there.
 
The Sun. The Moon. The 101.
 
I-70 is a name. Or US-66. Or CO-93.
I dare you to use a the there. It is wisible.
 
Sun is a name. Or Moon. Or Earth.
 
You cannot take *the I-70.
It is not grammatical to most of us. Only to Californicated English.
 
If they let me into the country, I would.
 
2:25 PM
Well, I can take the A1M to the M1
 
I used to call I-40 "the 40."
 
@tchrist Why can't I? In fact I would.
 
I've driven from the M40 to the M25
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Because it is ungrammatical to most of us.
That isn’t how one speaks of highways here.
 
@tchrist I wonder if your "most" needs a citation.
 
2:26 PM
I promise you.
 
Most everything is ungrammatical to most of me.
Noöne speaks my idiolect.
 
And I used to enjoy the feeling of anticipation when I would go down the A38 to Plymouth
 
Sniff.
 
but those are road names
 
To everyone native to Wisconsin, Colorado, or Texas, it sounds like a nonnative speaker with no command of English is trying to speak.
 
2:27 PM
@RegDwighт sorry, I don't understand.
 
In Canada, we drive on "the DVP", on "the 401", on "the 404", on "the Queensway", but on "King street", on "Kingston Road", on "Highway 2", on "County road 10"
 
Which is what I meant by ungrammatical.
Numbers simply never take definite articles here. It marks you as a nonnative speaker.
 
True, I would never drive up the Pall Mall
 
@tchrist I understand what you mean by ungrammatical. I don't believe you that this feature is confined to California.
 
@MattЭллен You only smoke those.
 
2:28 PM
Thanks! You're such a charmer
 
In Ontario, it would be definitely ungrammatical to "drive up 401". Nobody says that.
 
2
A: How do American dialects differ?

MarthaªI can't tell apart the various accents, either, other than to know that I'm hearing one. My one story about dialect differences came shortly after I moved to the Philly area, and happened to mention the 202. The person I was speaking to got inexplicably amused, and brought her friend over and ha...

 
One takes 36 to Denver. You cannot say "take the 36 to Denver". No one would know what you are talking about. If you must, you can say "take US-36 to Denver" or "take the Turnpike to Denver" — both of which are sometimes heard. But "take the 36 to Denver" is nonsense to us.
 
That's what you get for having stupid articles in your stupid language.
 
We have none of those.
 
2:29 PM
None of this nonsense is possible in Russian, so they have more time to devote to making money.
 
Ah, the country that gave us oligarchs.
 
But not the oligarchs.
 
I think Russians devote time to learning about articles in English, not making money.
 
@MattЭллен you'd be surprised how much money is made in Russia in spite of, because of, thanks to, and by not knowing shit about English.
I did a couple translations. I could have copypasted a random YouTube comment instead, that's how much they cared.
 
@RegDwighт You're talking about all the Russian spam I get, right? They obviously don't know any English. But I also haven't sent them any money.
 
2:32 PM
You wouldn't be surprised about how much money is made by the same token in the UK about Russian
 
@tchrist psh, "nonsense". Do ANY of your opinions have a setting other than "extreme"?
 
As long as it has a sufficient non-Cyrillic-looking-letters-to-Cyrillic-looking-letters ratio, it's considered English.
 
Wow, I didn't even know you were referring to route numbers until the moment I got to the term. — Jon Purdy Dec 10 '10 at 9:43
Exactly.
And why Martha got the "wow, you gotta say that again so my friend can laugh at you, too" treatment. It is alien/foreign/bizarre/unrecognized/ungrammatical to us.
 
Everything is alien/foreign/bizarre/unrecognized/ungrammatical to Texans.
Even other Texans.
 
@tchrist foreign, bizzare, ungrammatical, but "nonsense"? Like, literally, you cannot understand putting a "the" in front of a name?
 
2:36 PM
Phily is not in Texas.
 
@tchrist irrelevant to my point.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Go away, kid, you bother me. Go pick a fight with somebody else. /ignore
@RegDwighт Well, then your point is correct then.
 
I will never pick a point before it's riped to proper correctness.
 
They don’t call it a whole nother country for nuthin, you know.
 
@tchrist wheee! I managed to invoke condescending mode! For my next trick I'll bring up vegetarianism!
 
2:38 PM
The problem is they were not conquered.
 
@tchrist now insult him in faux French already. We're waiting.
Like, vous etes mon chapeau, pas d'un pays.
 
They pretended themselves a sovereign nation that merely joined the Union, not a possession that got routed through the territory-to-state process.
In fact, they get to carve themselves up into up to five different states if they want, to get rid of the upcoming Mexican influence, and to gain more senators.
At least, that is what the treaty says.
I doubt they’d get away with it nowadays.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 gay vegetarianism. For max effect, don't forget to mention how vegetarianism even made Hitler gay.
 
It’s the stash.
Looks very 70s-clonish.
 
2:41 PM
Pinko.
Pinkette.
Pinkissima.
 
Careful. You're one vowel away from making me puke.
 
gaufrettes
 
@RegDwighт I wonder at the motives of a person who tries to prove whether or not Hitler was gay.
 
They are called historians. They don't need motives.
They just have nothing to do.
And that's if BILD is to be believed. For all I know, they themselves invented the whole thing, including supposed "historians" supposedly supposing stuff.
In which case, I move to say "they are called journalists; they don't need motives, they just have nothing to do".
 
That's what motivates me to write stuff
 
2:45 PM
I wonder. I guess if a real historian presented lots of real evidence from the historical record, I might just accept it. But without a pile of bullet-proof evidence, I'm inclined to suspect ulterior motives.
 
Selling papers.
As noble a motive as any other.
 
@Carlo_R. Please do not make off topic comments on my personal blog.
 
or equating homosexuality and Nazism.
or equating Hitler's crimes with being a repressed gay
 
This is why we can't have anything nice. Because repressed gay vegetarian painters turn into genocidal maniacs.
3
 
@KitFox Happens every time.
 
2:48 PM
So let's all just come out of the closet already.
 
That's why you can't. I have a sandwich.
 
I have a nice gay painting of a vegetarian entree with rainbows
 
Oh lovely!
 
wait, who made that?
checks closets
 
Hey, @Mr.Shiny, weren't you the one who made me straight?
Oh, that's all kinds of coming out wrong.
 
2:50 PM
:D
 
And again.
Did I tell you that my girlfriend is dating a Republican Catholic?
Mind-boggling.
 
You mentioned something
 
You know, you keep mentioning that, but I honestly don't know how I would have accomplished that, or why I would have done it. Maybe by accident, I suppose. sigh my super-powers are sooo unpredictable!
 
I can't recall where. I do remember your disappointement
 
@KitFox You did mention that.
 
2:53 PM
Jan 31 at 19:15, by Matt Эллен
@Kitḫ I don't know. I am sat here wondering if girls and electrical sockets are similar
Haha.
Anyway, I was searching for what it was.
 
— "So you prefer dumb and lazy to religious?" — "Dumb and lazy, I understand."
 
@KitFox They are both shocking if not handled properly
 
@RegDwighт So Carlo R has defaced my blog again. This time not to excoriate me, but to get a message to you.
 
@RegDwighт Hmmm.. what's behind door number 3?
 
2:54 PM
Got it!
But I can't quote it.
 
@MετάEd he's been taken away his toys, so naturally he keeps looking out for others.
 
> Mr.Shiny: licks pumpkin donut
> KitFox: But that donut comment just grossed me out, and I'm thinking of swearing of women for awhile.
 
wow, so it WAS a total accident. AND my donut-related super-power! awesome
 
Never saw you swear of women.
 
> Mr.Shiny: It was an actual pumpkin donut! Maybe the most delicious donut ever crafted by a commercial donut vendor!
 
2:56 PM
@RegDwighт Indeed. Do you want the message?
 
> KitFox: Well, delicious or not, it's made me straight.
 
I've been craving those donuts for a while now. I wonder if they're back in stores.
 
@MετάEd I'm waiting for it, yes.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 It was on 10/20/2011, so there's a good chance they are out again this year.
 
@KitFox they usually come out in the fall. But lately I haven't been eating many donuts.
 
2:57 PM
OK, I'm getting a little grossed out again.
Glazed donuts.
Oh. throws up a little in her mouth
 
glazed donuts gross you out?
 
@RegDwighт Okay I have approved his comments for publication so you can see them. If you could most kindly let me know when you're done reading, then I'll clean up my blog. metaed.blogspot.com/2012/09/adamah.html and metaed.blogspot.com/2012/08/parting.html
 
Oh yeah. He wrote the exact same thing via the internal message system. You can delete it.
 
@MετάEd seriously? he needs to learn a thing or two about how the internet works.
 
I got it straight to my inbox. I don't need a detour via a blog.
> This time I'll tell all to Jeff Atwood, who, I am sure, put you away, just as he rejected the unilateral action of Cantarino when he closed ELL proposal.
 
user19161
3:02 PM
@RegDwighт Cantarino?
 
"dear guy who just banned me, please unban me and try to be more like someone else. or else I'll tell the teacher who doesn't work here anymore. Please quit your job. fuck you very much."
 
I actually laughed at Cantarino.
@JasperLoy Cartaino.
 
user19161
@RegDwighт Is that Carlo's comment?
 
That's one part, yes.
 
user19161
How did I guess?
 
3:03 PM
> Worst regards.
 
@JasperLoy context?
 
That's a nice touch.
 
because cantar is spanish for sing?
 
@MattЭллен Isn't he italian?
 
user19161
But Cartaino sounds Italian too, Carlo should know.
 
3:03 PM
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah, but I don't know Italian :D
 
Cantarino would be a little singer.
 
So are we allowed to talk about that message since he made it public?
 
@MattЭллен lol
 
@simchona we are allowed to talk about the two bits I quoted before it was made not public anymore.)))
Besides, what's there to talk about.
 
@simchona I subscribe to @MετάEd's blog, and I can see the whole letter
and I'm no diamond
 
user19161
3:05 PM
@RegDwighт I give you permission to talk about all things.
 
@reg ok. Anna is going to pop into the mod room later to discuss
 
Oh crap, I should have quoted the most important part. Too late.
> In my story here, the only right suspension that I have had is the one I had by Reg. Reg is an excellent moderator; try to learn from him.
 
user19161
@RegDwighт Geezis.
 
Who else wants to get suspended by me? I promise to make it your most enjoyable suspension. Way better than what you'd get from Kit.
6
 
user19161
No offence to other mods, but in my heart, I think waiwai is the best mod on SE!
 
3:06 PM
He does a hell of a job, indeed.
 
user19161
I would like to give him a medal.
 
The Jasper Loy Order of the Pineapple with Saw Leaf Cluster?
4
 
user19161
I am now trying to understand Robusto's name for this medal.
 
Philosophers have pondered this question for ages.
 
3:14 PM
A saw leaf.
 
Genau.
 
LEGO teaches you the world.
Everything about orders.
Pineapples, too.
 
gunge swab hair pants!
 
@simchona I don't see why not.
 
Perhaps Jasper knows it better under its official name, "Green Plant, Tree Palm Leaf Small 8×3"?
 
3:16 PM
@RegDwighт Gods know, that's what I always call it too.
 
Commute!
 
@JasperLoy Oak leaf clusters are rank insignia.
 
@KitFox That’s surely one of the most amusing things you’ve ever said, but it would do no good to star it because it needs a great deal of surrounding context to be funny.
 
@KitFox They are add-ons to medals and ribbons.
 
Etc.
 
3:30 PM
:Not to be confused with the oak leaf rank insignia of a Major or Lieutenant Colonel For service members of the seven uniformed services of the United States, an oak leaf cluster is a bronze or silver miniature oak leaf device that is worn on the suspension ribbon or service ribbon of decorations and awards issued by the United States Army, Air Force, and Department of Defense to denote subsequent decorations and awards. Description and wear An oak leaf cluster is made of metal and formed as a twig of four leaves with three acorns on the stem, 13/32 inch long when worn on the suspensi...
 
I got leaves on my trainer badge too.
 
Not to be confused with the oak leaf rank insignia of a Major or Lieutenant Colonel
@KitFox You didn't even have leaves on your training bra.
 
I didn't have a training bra.
 
user19161
I have tea leaves in my cup.
 
user19161
I have no bra at all.
 
3:34 PM
Is there a better SE site for this question?
2
Q: When did British and American crochet terms diverge?

dumbledadIn crochet basic stitches are called different things. For example a single crochet in America is called a double crochet in the UK, a double crochet in America is called a treble crochet in the UK, etc. I think (and this is a guess) that they are both consistent, with the American versions named...

Is there a handicrafts site, or whatever you call knitting and needlework and crochet?
Hm, what do you call those, collectively?
 
I cannot see one live or in beta
 
checks 51
 
there is a home improvements one
 
user19161
Did any of you see aliens in Area 51?
 
always
 
user19161
3:38 PM
I hope some UFO comes and takes me away to another planet.
 
13
Fibers & Fabrics

Proposed Q&A site for professional quilters and sewers, spinners and weavers, knitters and crocheters, tailors and dressmakers, and all others who make a living from their crafty notions of haberdashery.

Currently in definition.

 
user19161
I am sending out my signal to all aliens now.
 
hope another planet comes along to take me to a starship
 
You don’t like the one you’re on?
 
@tchrist heh, I didn't notice that one!
 
user19161
3:39 PM
@MattЭллен Now that does not make sense at all.
 
@tchrist I'd like an adventure in space!
 
user19161
A planet is a plant with an E.
 
@Jasper Sure it does. You don’t want to be a tin bucket for interstellar travel. You want to be inside a minor planet qua asteroid.
Maintaining appreciable acceleration for that much mass is a great challenge, however. Where do you get the energy from?
Plus it will always be a generation ship.
I’m not sure I like the idea of anything whizzing around at barely subliminal speeds, let alone big things.
 
I guess that why they only let photons do it
 
I said barely.
 
3:43 PM
naked photons?
 
Hey, look at this:
97
Q: What is the origin of ZOMG?

RegDwighтI have looked in a number of places, with contradicting results. The Urban Dictionary provides a whopping 73 "explanations", of which I will quote just a few. (Original spelling and punctuation preserved.) ZOMG is a varient of the all-too-popular acronym "OMG", meaning "Oh My God". ZOMG...

 
user19161
@MattЭллен Naked photos.
 
aye. it's a good question
@JasperLoy I've none myself.
 
If you have enough energy to accelerate a planet to barely subliminal speeds, you might consider the new idea some physicists recently described where given enough energy you can actually fold space and effectively move an object faster than light.
 
user19161
@tchrist I like the preservation of misspellings in the question.
 
3:45 PM
@MattЭллен That should be easy enough for you to resolve.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 alas, there is no will, so there is no way!
 
♬ Said the Night Wind to the Little Lamb: Do you see what I see?
 
user19161
@tchrist I know that song!
 
Nude photos of men. Meh.
 
Whoa, where?
 
3:46 PM
Matt has some apparently.
 
user19161
@tchrist You sound very excited!
 
Also, taco pants.
 
@KitFox I do not!
 
Hardly.
 
where did you get that idea?
 
3:47 PM
You said you didn't have any.
 
@tchrist "hardly excited", eh? nudge nudge
 
user19161
I am excited to see them.
 
I expressly said I have no nude photos myself
 
I prefer the night wind.
 
ornaked
or whatever
 
3:47 PM
@MattЭллен Precisely. Which means that obviously you do.
 
:O
I am I that transparent?
 
We've talked about this before. The best way to spread rumors.
 
@KitFox er, wait. How, then, would one express the true fact of not possessing any nude photos of themselves?
 
user19161
I will look for Matt's photos on the internet.
 
@KitFox oh yes, I do recall!
 
3:48 PM
I don't care what you've heard, Matt Ellen would never have nude pictures of himself.
 
eRg is always complaining that oRb has more badges than he does: I see a near-gold at 97 going on 100.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Never bring it up.
Evade, evade, evade.
 
@KitFox you could be just dodging the question!
 
It's the only way.
 
user19161
@KitFox De Nial is a river in Egypt.
 
3:50 PM
So once you even mention the possibility of nude photos, everyone who's heard you must be assumed to have some?
 
I know what you're thinking, but I'm sure Mr. Shiny is not a donut licker.
 
I most certainly do not have naked photos of Mr Shiny's Hiny.
 
user19161
@KitFox I certainly lick donuts.
 
Case in point.
 
user19161
This chat is degenerating fast.
 
3:51 PM
I heard that Matt has pictures of Mr. Shiny butt-ass nekkid.
 
I don't what you've heard, but I've no work to do.
 
Aug 20 at 12:31, by RegDwight АΑA
Chocolate starfish, of course.
 
Ack. Work.
 
@MattЭллен I'm pretty sure there are no photos of my hiny in existence. There is a video, from when I was a baby though. Not sure if that counts.
 
@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 exactly, exactly. None at all nod, wink
 
3:52 PM
restarts the regenerators
 
@MattЭллен read more closely. I said "of my hiny".
 
it still says that when I press my nose to the screen
 
I don't have any nude pictures either.
 
This is actually Not A Real Question, believe it or else:
0
Q: How and when did American spelling supersede British spelling in the US?

coleopteristConsidering that Webster published his first dictionary in 1806, is there a recognised tipping point (year, decade, etc.) that marked the move from traditional British spelling to Webster's American? Was this shift a gradual but chaotic process or was it a deliberate and possibly collective decis...

 
3:55 PM
Anyway, if there were naked pictures of me, hypothetically speaking, they'd be encrypted and offline.
 
@KitFox of course. You're too respectable for that sort of chicanery
 
It’s like asking a bachelor whether he’s stopped beating his wife. See the problem?
 
@tchrist Why?
 
@KitFox I hear you can get those on the Internet.
 
I hadn't thought of that.
 
3:56 PM
Because it presupposes that such a thing exists, and is one thing.
All you can do is look at individual words. There is no overarching collective group.
 
All these rumours I hear about Kit's nude photos are total bunkum
 
@tchrist Sounds like the beginnings of a good answer
 
Damn.
 
@tchrist Sure there is. That group is "the words which Americans spell differently than the British."
 
@MετάEd I had hoped that I could talk enough people into disparaging it that I wouldn’t have to do that.
It’s based on a false premise.
 
3:58 PM
Hi-ho.
 
So yes, I could explain that.
But it takes time.
 
time for me to run!
 
Or are you saying that it presupposes that the whole group shifts at once? Or that the whole group consists of "all the words Webster spelled differently"? Which I don't think it does.
 
Why do people do the pop off and back again thing when they leave?
 
WTH now, I ignored the user but the whole page is @you-know-who.
 

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