English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

20:00

This seems to imply that normal soldiers who were citizens had a praenomen and a nomen.

tchrist

gens?

Cerberus

Nomen indicates gens.

tchrist

Ok.

Cerberus

> Below are the more common praenomina used with their abbreviations following in parentheses.

Appius (APP)

Manius (M', a five-stroke M)

Servius (SER)

Aulus (A [mostly used], AV, AVL)

Marcus (M)

Sextus (S, SEX)

Decimus (D)

Numerius (N)

Spurius (S)

Caius or Gaius (C or G)

Publius (P)

Tiberius (Ti)

Cnaeus or Gnaeus (Cn or Gn)

Quintus (Q)

Titus (T)

Lucius (L)

Vibius (V)

Matt Эллен

Thanks!

tchrist

20:03

I remember looking at those lists not too long ago for some reason. Some names were limited to certain families.

Cerberus

Aemilia (AEM)

Fabia (FAB)

Papiria (PAP)

Sergia (SER)

Aniensis (ANI)

Falerna (FAL)

Pollia (POL)

Stellatina (STE)

Arnensis (ARN)

Galeria (GAL)

Pomptina (POM)

Suburana (SVC)

Camilia (CAM)

Horatia (HOR)

Publilia (PVB)

Terentina (TER)

Claudia (CLA)

Lemonia (LEM)

Pupinia (PVP)

Tromentina (TRO)

Clustumina (CLU)

Maecia (MAEC)

Quirina (QVIR)

Velina (VEL)

Collina (COL)

Menenia (MEN)

Romilia (ROM)

Voltina (VOL)

Cornelia (COR)

Oufentina (OVF)

Sabatina (SAB)

tchrist

Oh yes, it was for the C. abbreviation of Gaius.

Too many newlines, dude.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

So Cerb, looking at the list of new features in Windows 8, and removed features, the only thing that I find appealing is Storage Spaces, which isn't saying much.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен So combine a praenomen with a nomen, like Appius Aemilius.

Robusto

@Cerberus The HBO series Rome had two such: Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo.

tchrist

20:04

There is a name that uses K., but that is only for one family, if I recall correctly.

Cerberus

@Robusto Two such soldiers? No more?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus Thanks a lot! that makes naming so much easier :D

Robusto

@Cerberus Two named soldiers. Plenty of extras.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен The Romans were very efficient with names, hehe.

Robusto

0

Q: Another question about brackets

Another question about brackets: A book containing a transcription of some historical conversation has someone by the name Fred asking a question: Fred: "What is the recipe for Orange Julius?" [Whispers.] George: "No, it is ..." Does the bracketed [Whispers.] refer to 1. some unknown words s...

punctuation

One can never have too many questions about brackets.

tchrist

20:05

clri

When unlink just isn’t good enough.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен So in case I was not entirely clear, pick a praenomen from the first list, plus a nomen from the second list.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus got it :D

Cerberus

@Robusto Right...

tchrist

Farmer Bruce, or Bruce the Strong.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен And these names were used in the late Republic: things changed to some degree during the Empire, I believe. When does your story take place?

tchrist

20:07

Did peasants have surnames in the Middle Ages?

Cerberus

Usually not.

Not here at least.

tchrist

I didn't think so.

Cerberus

They had a first name and a patronymic.

But there will have been some with surnames, no doubt.

tchrist

Peter, the son of John the Smith.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus Iron Age. When the Romans were conquering Britain

tchrist

20:09

Either Johnson or Smithson.

Cerberus

Many patronymics developed into surnames at some point in time. This was no doubt already happening during the Middel Ages.

@MattЭллен Ah OK, so around 100?

Matt Эллен

yes

tchrist

The weird thing is that many of the old names for professions are found only in surnames now, for people have forgotten that they were ever professions.

Cooper. Fletcher.

Cerberus

Naming conventions will have been a bit different by then, but I think these soldiers' names will do.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus Ace :) thanks so much. That's really helpful.

Cerberus

20:11

@tchrist The same applies to some names.

tchrist

Cordiner.

Miller, we remember.

Barely.

Chandler is forgotten.

Matt Эллен

Except for Friends

RegDwighт

@tchrist that's too bad, because I actually meant "cheese has three" there.

tchrist

Bailiff?

Bummer.

Taylor.

RegDwighт

I mean, come on, "cheese à three" doesn't even make sense.

tchrist

20:13

Wainwright.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 And how about the removed features?

tchrist

No one knows what a wain is anymore, nor what a wright would be.

RegDwighт

Wainwrong.

Matt Эллен

wainsworld

tchrist

Oh, his parents were ok.

Sawyer. Who the hell knows what a sawyer is?

Present company excepted.

What did a Turner do?

What did a Carter do?

Or a Clarke?

Matt Эллен

20:15

I know what a Cooper did!

tchrist

What was a Mercer?

RegDwighт

What did a Christ do?

tchrist

Do you? Good for you!

Stoner.

Did you know that a Baxter was a lady-Baker?

A Bowyer strung the Fletcher’s wares.

James Bond was once a serf.

Did you know that the Warners once kept rabbits?

What did a Spencer do?

Or a Reever?

Dempster is an especially tough one.

Hoggart < hog ward.

What is a Beadle?

What about a Franklin?

The Fry families were free yeomen.

Stoddard < stot herd

But what is a stot?

Foster < forester

RegDwighт

What is this grammar?

tchrist

Cartwright.

Surnames < professions.

RegDwighт

20:20

I think we get the point by now. There are funny words in English.

tchrist

The point is we no longer know the names of professions!

RegDwighт

That's because they do not exist.

tchrist

It’s like we no longer have a score of different names for streams, or hills, or such.

RegDwighт

Back in the day, they would not know what Senior Software Architect is supposed to mean, either.

tchrist

The things are still there.

But people just do not come into contact with them much anymore, so they need no names for what they never encounter.

RegDwighт

20:22

Exactly.

For all intents and purposes, it's enough to know "CEO" and "Hey you".

tchrist

It’s like how @Cerb was saying that most Dutch people no longer know the old distinct names for male and female of various critters.

Because they do not have much trek with critterkin anymore.

RegDwighт

It's a hobby of his, lamenting the decline of all things female in Dutch.

tchrist

I know. It rubs him the wrong way.

Or she.

RegDwighт

Oh wow, we have a question about the Mary-merry merger.

Who'd have thunk.

tchrist

-kin used to be an affectionate suffix.

RegDwighт

20:24

-chen still is.

tchrist

> Some people had pet names ending in 'kins' or 'kin' So we have Atkins from Ad-kins (Adam-kins) and Wilkins. We also have Dawkins. (Daw was a pet name for David so we also have the surname Dawson). Huggins is from Hugh-kins. Jenkins is from Jan-kins.

RegDwighт

Funny that nobody even mentions the word merger on that page.

It's a trick question and he's got you by the balls.

tchrist

Teddy Roosevelt called his son Quentin “Quinikins”.

bawls

RegDwighт

9

A: Pronunciation of names that end in "h"

I think this question is a little bit confused. First of all, there is a phenomenon in some varieties of American English called the Mary-marry–merry merger, where all or some of the words Mary, marry, and merry are pronounced the same; that is, the vowels /e/, /æ/, and /ɛ/ are all merged before...

Just copypaste that already. You can thank me later.

tchrist

It’s all @Kit’s fault, you know.

RegDwighт

20:28

Oh I know.

But still.

It even has a map, you know.

You're not gonna beat nohat at his own game.

Unless you think like a nohat.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I did not lament it. I don't know the names myself.

@tchrist Is it not the same in English?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus I didn't mean the names. Tchrist was talking about the names. I was referring to you lamenting the decline of feminine and masculine in favor of neuter.

And lament that you did.

It's in the transcript.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Oh...am I lamenting that?

nohat

I knew I had answered this question before!

I just forgot where

RegDwighт

@nohat haha.

Cerberus

20:32

Do you mean in English?

Because in Dutch, genders decline in favour of masculine.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus no, silly. When I say Dutch, I usually and for the most part mean Dutch.

@Cerberus same difference.

Cerberus

Uhh...

If anything, neuter is in decline in Dutch.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus obviously it is same difference. Otherwise people wouldn't be using one instead of the other.

Native speakers, in fact.

Cerberus

Uhm.

What do you mean?

RegDwighт

Quite literally what I say.

Cerberus

20:34

Then I say green sock.

RegDwighт

But you take me literallier still, and that confuses you.

@Cerberus It's a bingo!

Cerberus

Congratulations!

RegDwighт

Dank u.

Cerberus

I hope you will have a great time with your toothbrush.

RegDwighт

Sorry, dank het u.

Cerberus

20:35

Nijn.

RegDwighт

That's nijn for you.

Cerberus

Nijntje.

Do you know Nijntje?

Matt Эллен

Nijntje Nijn problems, but Dutch ain't one

RegDwighт

@Cerberus I only know Heintje.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Uhm what?

RegDwighт

20:37

►

Cerberus

Ugh.

Nijntje = konijn.

MετάEd

Does EL&U have a "random question" feature?

Matt Эллен

oh! so google translate is correct!

Cerberus

Is it?

RegDwighт

@MετάEd all questions are completely random.

Matt Эллен

20:38

@Cerberus Nijntje Nijn -> Miffy Miffy

RegDwighт

6

Q: Dice Stack - Find a random question

DiceStack Screenshot About Fetches a random question from a StackExchange site of your choice. I may add some filtering options later. License Free-to-use webapp. Source not available. Features Ability to filter by tags (no auto-completion yet, though), score and answer status Conta...

app random

Robusto

In fact, the non-random questions are more likely to be closed.

Matt Эллен

99 Problems

"99 Problems" is the third single released by American rapper Jay-Z in 2004 from The Black Album. Throughout the song Jay-Z tells a story about dealing with a racist cop who wants to illegally search his car, dealing with rap critics, and dealing with an aggressor. The song reached number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. Description The track was produced by Rick Rubin, his first hip hop production in many years. Rubin provided Jay-Z with a guitar riff and stripped-down beat that were once his trademarks. In creating the track Rubin used some classic 1980s sample staples such as "The Big B...

RegDwighт

I liked problems more when they were red balloons.

Robusto

You're so '80s-retro ...

Cerberus

20:40

@MattЭллен Ah right, that's what you call her?

Matt Эллен

yeah, those were better problems

MετάEd

@RegDwighт Oooooooh.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus yes, well I don't call. Restraining order, etc.

MετάEd

That works nicely as a bookmark.

RegDwighт

Good.

Robusto

20:41

@MattЭллен Yeah ... remember Andropov and the Stasi, and imminent Armageddon? sighs wistfully

RegDwighт

They didn't have the Maya back then. Suckers.

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Ah, yes, ever since the Incident.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto back before I had to make adult decisions. So, other people's problems. The best kind.

RegDwighт

6

Q: Why is a story not called a “-logue”, though it has a prologue and an epilogue?

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines -logue as: indicating speech or discourse of a particular kind. I understand that -logue is a combining form noun, but it has always struck me as odd that a narrative does not have a more formal name to match epilogue and prologue. Is there a more form...

single-word-requests synonyms writing

What is that? Only just saw it.

Matt Эллен

apparently I've seen it before

RegDwighт

20:44

We have foreword, afterword, and word. Problem?

Matt Эллен

we have fore, aft and midship, and ship

I don't think we have aftskin

Robusto

Why do we have foreskin and skin, but no postskin or afterskin?

Jinx.

Matt Эллен

jinx

Robusto

Double jinx!

RegDwighт

You can't have logue due to blocking, because word already exists. Likewise, nobody uses foreword or afterword for much the same reason.

Matt Эллен

20:45

damnit

Robusto

In a similar vein, we have prepuce and puce, but no postpuce.

Matt Эллен

RegDwighт

Afterpuce.

Matt Эллен

preface, face, no postface?

Robusto

All words in English should be required to have symmetrical prefixing.

RegDwighт

20:46

As in, "good afterpuce to you, sir!"

Matt Эллен

@Robusto we have bread, but no postbread or prebread. this madness must end!

Robusto

We have market and aftermarket, but no pre-market.

RegDwighт

We have Morten Harket.

Matt Эллен

I think we do have premarket

Robusto

@MattЭллен Exactly.

Matt Эллен

20:48

the phrase "premarket buyouts" rings a bell

Robusto

OK. Maybe in England.

Barrie England.

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен Nonono, the bell is rung aftermarket.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт the premarket is apparently an informal market that happens before the market opens

like prenuptials

RegDwighт

Yeah, like premadonna.

Robusto

BTW, is MIDI dead? Are we après-MIDI?

We can have premonitions but not monitions or postmonitions? Whoa, we do have monitions!

Matt Эллен

20:50

this is what happens when @Martha isn't here

RegDwighт

Actually I looked at a MIDI-to-sheet-music converter just last week. It seemed very much alive.

@Robusto monitions, monitions, monitions, always funny, in a rich man's world.

Robusto

@RegDwighт I have such a thing already. It's called Digital Performer. And I think we've had this discussion already. But I'm wondering if something newer hasn't come along to remove MIDI from the equation. I haven't kept up with the whole music software thing.

RegDwighт

I never was on top of it to begin with.

nohat

MIDI will never die. It's now available in javascript, even.

RegDwighт

All my instruments are analogue, remember.

nohat

20:53

mudcu.be/midi-js

Robusto

motu.com/products/software/dp

Cameron

People keep trying to get MusicXML to the point where it can be used to move digital scores around, but most of the composers I know still use midi for that, even though you tend to lose articulations

nohat

furthing proving Atwood's Law

Cameron

@RegDwighт What do you play?

MετάEd

@RegDwighт I think it will be good to edit the occasional random question.

Robusto

20:54

@nohat We're familiar with the laws of JA Rule.

Matt Эллен

baibai

nohat

@Robusto Thankfully the reign of terror was brought to an end by the gemini revolution

MετάEd

Welcome to afterterror. Have a drink.

Robusto

I actually wrote a shareware MIDI recorder/keyboard/player back in the day using Quicktime.

And not in Javascript, either.

MετάEd

@Robusto Yes, but was it Hypercard compatible?

Robusto

20:56

@MετάEd No.

RegDwighт

@Cameron some piano, some guitar, some accordion, some Chinese funny doodle schmoodle woodwind thingamajig. For variously neglectable values of some.

Robusto

I can't get a single sound out of a shakuhachi, though I own one (a gift) and have tried on several occasions.

Multiple occasions.

RegDwighт

There was a Gemini revolution? Where's my luxury cruise in space?

Cerberus

@Robusto Blow harder.

RegDwighт

Hulusi

The hulusi (traditional: ; simplified: ; pinyin: húlúsī) or cucurbit flute is a free reed wind instrument from China. It is held vertically and has three bamboo pipes which pass through a gourd wind chest; the center pipe has finger holes and the outer two are typically drone pipes. It is not uncommon for a hulusi to have only one drone pipe while the second outer pipe is merely ornamental. The drone pipe has a finger hole, which allows it to be stopped. Advanced configurations have keyed finger holes similar to a clarinet or oboe, which can greatly extend the range of the hulusi to sev...

Robusto

21:03

@Cerberus Doesn't help.

Cerberus

Strum it with a piece of metal.

RegDwighт

I swear one of mine's bourdon pipes is broken.

Robusto

Shakuhachi

The is a Japanese end-blown flute. It was originally introduced from China into Japan in the 6th century and underwent a resurgence in the early Edo Period. The shakuhachi is traditionally made of bamboo, but versions now exist in ABS and hardwoods. It was used by the monks of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism in the practice of . Its soulful sound made it popular in 1980s pop music in the English-speaking world. The instrument is normally tuned to the minor pentatonic scale. Overview The name shakuhachi means "1.8 shaku", referring to its size. It is a compound of two words: * means ...

Cerberus

Let your cat lick the valves.

Cameron

@RegDwighт sounds like a pretty wide mix. I don't think I've ever heard of a hulusi

Robusto

21:03

The sad part is, I used to be a pretty good flutist.

RegDwighт

@Cameron neither had I until a couple months ago.

nohat

@RegDwighт codinghorror.com/blog/2012/02/farewell-stack-exchange.html

Robusto

And my friend, who beat me out for the principal flute position in the orchestra, picked up my shakuhachi and could play it right off. Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Cameron

@Robusto I too have tried to make a sound on a shakuhachi and failed. It's just too wide for my breath

nohat

also twitter.com/codinghorror/status/165546374597840896

Cerberus

21:04

See some Shakuhachi guru or player or teacher and ask him.

RegDwighт

@nohat wait what, he got twins?

Robusto

@nohat Are those anything like jellybabies?

@Cameron Life sucks and then you die. sigh

RegDwighт

Obviously I know the JA Rule story, but no children were involved to my knowledge.

Robusto

Commute.

RegDwighт

0

A: which word to use Proof or prove?

Grammatically speaking, you would use prove in this sentence. Proof is a noun, whereas prove is a verb. Prove can be used to mean to show or, less commonly today, to test. It seems you're aiming for the second meaning here. For clarity in your sentence however, you may wish to stick to test or c...

If proof were only a noun, I would have closed that question before giving you a chance to answer... ಠ_ಠ

But it is not.

Cerberus

21:13

> The integration of the two interfaces needs to be better. But Windows 8 works. It's one operating system that can support tablet and desktop apps side-by-side. And that might just be worth a little compromise.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 See, why would I want an OS that can support tablets on my PC?

Even if I had a tablet or the desire to own one, which I haven't, and even if it could run Windows 8, and even if it worked well, and even if it had as many good programs as Android—why would I need the same OS on my PC?

Only if you use a computer both as a tablet and as a PC would this OS make any sense at all.

And only these Surface/RT hybrid devices would be suitable.

So why would anyone want to have Windows 8 on an untouchable computer?

The Metro thing is just bloatware, then. Intrusive, bothersome bloatware, even.

tchrist

@RegDwighт He was engaged in what is called proofing the stacks of a cornyard.

Cerberus

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 As to businesses, perhaps those in your field may care a lot, but I have seen plenty of cases where management and the IT guy just decide that it's time for new computers, even though 1.) the old computers worked fine, and 2.) switching costs a ton of time, energy, and money, and a switch always causes unforeseen problems. I have seen this happen at my mother's company many times.

tchrist

I really wish I had proofed my code.

Out out damn spot.

Cerberus

The IT guy is like a priest to management, and he earns money partly based on how expensive the stuff is that he procures for the company. Because they pay him, and he buys the stuff at a different price, of course.

Again, I have seen this happen.

Like when my mother's secretary had to get used to the Ribbon in Word, and they had to pay for a course to teach her too!—all thanks to Mr IT guy.

Nobody needed Office 2007 at all.

RegDwighт

@tchrist waterproofed or bulletproofed? Or bullitproofed, even?

Cerberus

21:23

At this other company, they just replaced all computers every 3 years, just because they were written off fiscally.

And a new computer may or may not come with a new OS.

tchrist

I just want C-proofed. The Perl is fine, but have you ever tried to debug an XS function loaded from a bit of C++ into Perl? Hint: you cannot start with the Perl debugger, you have to start with gdb, and boy is it a pain to run two buggers atop each other.

Cerberus

Again, nobody needed or wanted this who was actually working with those computers.

tchrist

Ok, back to $nightjob.

Because it ain’t gonna be over come dusk.

Cerberus

Have fun.

MετάEd

I'm thinking about 92.6 proof.

nohat

21:27

the answers to my marry/merry/Mary question seem good enough that I don't have to write my own

though I was kind of looking forward to it

RegDwighт

It's on the MultiCollider, too.

Let's see how long it stays there.

And whether it reaches the top spot at all.

nohat

woohoo

Cerberus

So is it still OK to pose a question and immediately add your own answer?

Zairja

It's been OK for a long, long time. It's built in to the site functionality.

RegDwighт

You should have asked about sex, sax and sexx.

nohat

21:28

@Cerberus I assume that's why the "answer my own question" checkbox is still in the "ask question" form

Cerberus

I seemed to hear something about its being discouraged or something.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus it is okay, but you can only accept it after two days.

Cerberus

@nohat Oh, is it there? OK.

Zairja

@Cerberus Maybe that we don't want it discouraged? :)

nohat

@RegDwighт maybe I should write my own answer then. For rep-whoring

Cerberus

21:29

@RegDwighт Ah OK.

nohat

I bet I could get my quincunx answer in there. I should have put the word "quincunx" in the title

I will do that now

RegDwighт

@Cerberus it is perfectly *en*couraged, in fact there's a badge for that I think. It's just not encouraged to not let others come up with better answers still.

Cerberus

@Zairja Heh. I don't think so: it was probably in the context of some unpopular user. But okay, so it is still done and OK.

RegDwighт

@nohat I think you should do it anyway.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Does the latter include posting your own elaborate answer immediately?

RegDwighт

21:30

I can't be the only one knowing about that other answer of yours.

It's a pity.

And it has a map, too!

So far only Cameron has a map. And his is a different one.

Zairja

@Cerberus That's perfectly fine.

Cerberus

All right.

Zairja

There's a big post on SO meta about it if I look for it.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus have you seen the OED questions we've been getting lately?

That is precisely what's going on there.

Cerberus

But isn't there a tiny conflict of interest in the acceptance?

@RegDwighт What do you mean?

Zairja

21:31

74

Q: Posting and answering questions you have already found the answer to

Sometimes you spend a day or more to solve a technical problem and when you finally solve it, you may want to post it on your blog (if you have one) to share with the community. However, most developers don't have a lot of time to update their blogs, and that is why personal blogs are not ranked...

discussion stackoverflow etiquette serverfault

RegDwighт

Of course. Which is what badges such as, uh, what's it's called? Public Whore?

Cerberus

@Zairja What I read was site-specific.

RegDwighт

Oh, Populist!

nohat

what I want is an answer that combines the sociolinguistic data from Cameron's answer with the phonetic detail in tchrist's

RegDwighт

Yes, that's what Populist is there for.

Also, if you accept your own answer, it will not appear at the very top unless it also has the most votes.

Cerberus

21:32

OK.

RegDwighт

@nohat if you are unsatisfied, then you are unsatisfied. Make yourself satisfied.

Cerberus

> Software used to manage equipment in power plants, military environments, and nautical ships contains an undocumented backdoor that could allow malicious hackers to access sensitive systems without authorization.

?

nohat

@RegDwighт what could be more supercollider-bait than the word "quincunx"?

Cerberus

So land ships are immune?

RegDwighт

@Cerberus there are space ships, friend ships, dictator ships. You have to distinguish them from nautical ships.

Cerberus

21:33

Then I must get a land ship!

@RegDwighт Of course, of course...but I prefer land ships.

Gaean ships, if you will.

Zairja

@nohat You need to have some ambiguous programming keyword thrown in for good measure, though.

RegDwighт

@nohat sex. Beer. Sex and beer. "What word should I use in this your-mom joke: sex or beer?"

Cerberus

I think Zairja is right.

You need some nerdy code word.

RegDwighт

@Zairja right on. Sex++. Beer#.

2

Cerberus

Better.

Maybe replace the grammar with programming syntax.

Like: what { = quincunx } while { > 5 } ?

Except that it needs to resemble Javascript.

RegDwighт

21:36

Put an eval() around it.

Robusto

Nah.

RegDwighт

That's spelled NaN. Noob.

Zairja

Was this EL&U chat room always "The Incomпrehensible Room" or have I wrongly read a p in there this entire time?

RegDwighт

That's a Russian P.

And it's not always been that way.

Zairja

Ah, then I correctly read a p this entire time.

Robusto

21:39

Needs to be a string for eval to work. Also it has to evaluate to legitimate Javascript.

RegDwighт

@Zairja chat.stackexchange.com/…

@Robusto that's for bonus points. AKA ruining the joke.

Robusto

Huh-huh ... he said Russian pee ...

RegDwighт

I can ship some your way this very moment.

Zairja

Is that Russian pee from the same producers as White Power Milk?

RegDwighт

I only drink Black Panther Milk.

nohat

21:41

proofreadbot.com/blog/1

Zairja

I only wear Black Panther Musk, which also happens to consist of Black Panther Pee. :|

nohat

it's like half-assed ass-hattery

RegDwighт

It's hilarious.

"Vary this. Vary that. Vary the word your sentences start with." facepalm

nohat

who are these "grammarians" who consider "ly" ending adverbs bad style in formal writing?

Cerberus

This has got to be a joke.

nohat

21:44

I mean, besides Hemingway

Cerberus

I never really use -ly adverbs.

nohat

I feel a new question coming on

RegDwighт

How do you even come across that stuff? I know what stuff I came across today, and it was the exact opposite of this stuff.

Robusto

Use PeePal.

Cerberus

Do you really think that site is serious?

RegDwighт

21:45

7 hours ago, by RegDwighт

Meanwhile COCA informs me of their largest, carefully-corrected, frequency-based word list of English available anywhere.

nohat

@RegDwighт it was on the grammar subreddit, which I was considering stealing from for more supercollider-bait type questions

RegDwighт

@nohat good thinking. I did that in the past.

These days it's the other way round.

I go there to get my Announcer badges.

Robusto

You think yours were SC-bait questions?

Cerberus

What's with this collider baiting? Why?

RegDwighт

Mar 7 '11 at 18:05, by Robusto

@RegDwight — Here's my all-time shill question suggestion: "Which Ubuntu distro allows the fastest downloads of porn?"

Robusto

21:46

Where were the sex and coding references?

RegDwighт

Much to learn we still have.

@Robusto yeah I told him already. He promised to improve.

Robusto

Rookie mistake.

Anyway, dead zone. CU.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus it doesn't matter if we think it's serious, or whether the author does. What matters is that literally tens of millions of people will take this seriously.

We all took way stupider stuff seriously in school.

nohat

@RegDwighт They had this amazing idea on LL a few weeks ago, which was a contest for the most reasonable-sounding fake grammar rule.

It gave me the idea that if we just flood the internet with ridiculous and stupid fake grammar rules, we could spin up all the prescriptivists arguing amongst each other about them, and finally stamp out all the dumb fake grammar rules that having floating around for centuries.

RegDwighт

But that already happened. The first part. Without the second part ever happening, or intending to do so in the future.

Cerberus

21:52

@Robusto Noo we lost you!

@RegDwighт I'm still curious.

nohat

@RegDwighт I think we need to expend more effort on thinking up plausible-sounding but incorrect grammar rules and promulgate them widely.

Cerberus

@nohat What have you done!!

A -ly adverb!

faints

nohat

ok everyone, here it comes

RegDwighт

@nohat it should be plausibly-sounding, not plausible-sounding, because you're modifying a verb there, and plausible is an adjective, not an adverb.

You're welcome.

nohat

@RegDwighт LOL

that's perfect

even though I just suggested doing that right now, I still believed you were being serious

Cerberus

21:59

@RegDwighт Hmm you're right, that sounds reasonable.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…