English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

00:10

@Cerberus You used English instead of Dutch?

Cerberus

@Robusto Nope!

But interesting guess.

The problem is very specific and technical.

But it is related to this room in some way.

Robusto

00:44

There's an archive edition of Connections.

Tell me how someone would guess the last (purple) row.

I got the other three right off, but I never would have guessed the final one if it hadn't been a gimme.

Cerberus

Yeah the ones that break up words are very hard to see unless you have already solved the other three.

Then you would notice SSSS.

And perhaps divine the maker's intention.

Or not.

Robusto

Yes, but at the end it doesn't matter. So you never have to practice getting those right.

Cerberus

Yes.

I'm not sure I would consider this purple a good puzzle.

Then again, I'm not a puzzle man.

Vikas

02:06

I'm updating my phone after about two years.

CowperKettle

I'm thinking about buying mifepristone and taking it at my own risk, to try and reduce my cortisol. Maybe that will reduce this horrible rumination, which is like a torture

@Vikas Nice!

I want to buy a new phone for mom. A Tecno POVA 6 model, with 12 Gb memory. It's dirt-cheap by Western standards, but very expensive for me.

Vikas

@CowperKettle Last time it took about one hour to reboot after update. Hope it doesn't cause issue.

CowperKettle

I know that taking mifepristone might be idiotic, but I don't have access to medicine. Local psychiatrists offer me to undergo "treatment" with antipsychotics.

Here, psychiatry is more medieval than it is in other regions of the globe.

They prescribe antipsychotics right away, at the first session.

I have odd changes in my MRI, but nobody to show it to - the doctors just start playing soccer with me, kicking me to someone else. "I don't know what that is, consult a ..."

Robusto

@CowperKettle Please run that by @M.A.R. before you do anything so dangerous as taking mifepristone.

3

Vikas

02:27

@CowperKettle My mom's phone was broken, so she took my 6 years old phone (which was broken enough for me) XD She doesn't know much, only uses for call.

@CowperKettle Just like they prescribe antibiotics here on the first sight.

Doctor, my 29453th hair's upper half is white.

Oh! you need antibiotic.

SmokeDetector

02:49

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at beginning of body, potentially bad keyword in body, potentially bad keyword in title (49): IDM Crack With Activated Setup 6.42 Build 25 Latest 2025‭ by Afreda Aelfraed‭ on english.SE

SmokeDetector

04:53

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body, bad keyword in title, bad phone number in body, bad phone number in title, phone number detected in title, +2 more (484): CC credit loan app CUSTOMER Care Helpline Number ( 8766430231 🌀 9038279732‭ by Repay Refund‭ on english.SE

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad phone number in answer, potentially bad keyword in answer (190): CC credit loan app CUSTOMER Care Helpline Number ( 8766430231 🌀 9038279732‭ by Repay Refund‭ on english.SE

SmokeDetector

06:45

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Potentially bad keyword in answer, username similar to website in answer (75): Construction Company vs. Building Company‭ by Format Homes‭ on english.SE

Vikas

07:11

India: 5.

M.A.R.

07:31

@CowperKettle I know you're loath to take my advice, and I obviously can't assess your situation satisfactorily from behind a screen, but from what I've seen:

2

1) You've taken an assortment of antidepressants, probably haven't waited long enough for their full efficacy before discontinuing most of them, and also have probably tapered them down too quickly (I really don't know the details). It's not unlikely that you might be feeling some rebound depression/agitation/anxiety after having discontinued one antidepressant or the other too quickly.

2) I don't know what you have against antipsychotics, but as I've said before, they're only called that because they have been developed as part of the effort to come up with better treatment for psychoses. If you have taken the maximum beneficial dose of an SSRI and not achieved satisfactory therapeutic response, the next logical step is adding a 2nd-gen "antipsychotic".

Their mechanism of action is modulation of serotonin in this case, so they are bound to enhance antidepressant activity. And they certainly are not any more dangerous than mifepristone.

3) Having said those up there, mifepristone is not a good choice here. It could cause hypoglycemia, which can be concerning, especially if you're injecting insulin as well. It also generally disrupts your metabolism a bit. Lower limb edema is likely. It will mess up your GI tract (reflux, abdominal pain etc.). It does also seldom mess up body's electrolytes, which isn't good when you're exercising a lot, and thyroid function.

As I said, just generally messes up metabolism a bit. Not usually dangerous, but quite uncomfortable, and that's if it doesn't give you a rash.

More importantly though, unless you're having a typical Cushingoid syndrome (hyperglycemia, metabolic disturbances like high total cholesterol, fluid retention, fat redistribution etc.) it's not bound to be very effective. Compensatory mechanisms might keep cortisol high.

@Robusto "flowers and roses"? That's dumb

think_meaning_buildß

08:10

Much Ado About Numbers: Shakespeare’s Mathematical Life and Times - Rob Eastaway

►

CowperKettle

09:46

@M.A.R. Yes, I've read too that efforts to consistently dampen down cortisol turn out futile.

There's a homeostatic system there.

@M.A.R. Oh, I could skip insulin injections then.

I've upped my venlafaxine rapidly from 100 to 300 mg recently

I wonder what is the duration of action of mifepristone

Maybe I could just take it now and then, to avoid the body's homeostat upping cortisol back.

Xanne

11:45

Connections
Puzzle #556
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪

That was nice.

Cerberus

12:05

Oddly, different sources give very different numbers for sugar consumption.

> Germany, which ranks second in both sugar and fat consumption per capita, is among the skinniest nations in the developed world. Only 14.7 percent of its population over the age of 14 is considered obese, according to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Similarly, other countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden, are both near the top in sugar and fat intake, and near the bottom in obesity rates.

2015.

CowperKettle

12:38

@M.A.R. I value your opinion highly, because your attention to the issue is not part of a work routine, as for a psychiatrist.

I think they get a burn out from their work.

MetaEd

12:54

Wordle 1,278 3/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Connections
Puzzle #556
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

MetaEd

13:45

Strands #290
“You say you want a revolution”
🔵🔵🟡🔵
🔵🔵🔵

Robusto

14:12

#travle #735 +0 (Perfect)
✅✅✅✅✅
https://travle.earth

Araucaria - Him

Grumble, grumble. Was half way through a lengthy but pithy answer to this question when it got migrated to ELL - where it doesn't belong:

4

Q: What is the difference between OBJECT of a preposition and COMPLEMENT of a preposition in English grammar

I am an English-as-a-second-language student, and I have this doubt when studying syntactic analysis. What is the difference between complement of a preposition and object of a preposition? Or are those just 2 different names that refer to the same thing?

I've now lost the post I was writing. Grrr.

Robusto

@Araucaria-Him It doesn't even show who voted to migrate. Bah.

Araucaria - Him

@Robusto Well hidden, but findable if you click on the underlined migrated in the close message:

english.stackexchange.com/posts/628043/revisions

Robusto

Ah.

Araucaria - Him

It was Barmar, fev, Greybeard, it seems. If it was going to get migrated anywhere, Linguistics would have been the best bet. But was English-based, so EL&U it is - or should have been :-/

Xanne

14:26

@Araucaria-Him It was probably thoughtlessly migrated because the poster said he was a non-native speaker.

Araucaria - Him

@Xanne Yes, seems like a fair bet.

Robusto

Connections
Puzzle #556
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟨
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟨🟨🟨🟨

Bonehead error. Next time I should read all the possibilities.

@Araucaria-Him At least it wasn't The Usual Suspects.

#WhenTaken #295 (18.12.2024)

I scored 789/1000🏅

1️⃣📍379 km - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥇175/200
2️⃣📍24.0 km - 🗓️22 yrs - 🥈146/200
3️⃣📍1.7 km - 🗓️17 yrs - 🥈164/200
4️⃣📍906 km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥈168/200
5️⃣📍2.0K km - 🗓️10 yrs - 🥈136/200

https://whentaken.com

Wordle 1,278 5/6

⬛⬛⬛🟨🟨
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩
⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Mitch

15:50

@Robusto From what I know of Chinese (beginner's) and Japanese (the little you pick up randomly), there are only very superficial similarities between the spoken languages. The phonology is entirely different and the grammar is entirely different. There is a (large) handful of vocab borrowed into Japanese just because China is a huge cultural influence and both are right-branching (modifiers/dependent things go to the right). The writing is a big red herring.

All that said, it's not too weird that the written version of short phrases can mean sort of the same thing.

Did I say 'right-branching'? I meant left branching (modifiers to the left). I can never remember which hand goes with which.

Languages aren't always one or the other (if only it were that simple). English is mixed - big main things are right branching (like VPs and PPs and relative clauses) go to the right), but adjectives go to the left.

alphabet

16:17

@Araucaria-Him Agreed. The author says they're an ESL student but clearly this question is one a native speaker might just as easily have asked.

M.A.R.

17:50

@Mitch yeah Chinese sounds very different from Japanese when spoken

It's probably a tonal thing too, I mean I should stop talking before I embarrass myself

@Mitch whenever I try to figure out which word to use between "left" and "right" in a conversation my brain processes it so slowly that I can hear the gears turning. I'm vaguely concerned about that.

Mitch

19:27

@M.A.R. there's a mnemonic in English where you put both hands out flat with thumb extended, and the one that looks like an 'L' is your left hand.

But...I never understood that...do you put your hands palms facing you or away?

Nothing makes sense.

MetaEd

19:45

@Mitch you do the "Loser" sign on your forehead, and look in the mirror, it looks like an "L"

MetaEd

20:01

@Cerberus you've probably forgotten to shutdown AHK

Robusto

20:29

@M.A.R. Japanese has pitch accents, but aside from that, no pitch system such as Chinese uses.

Robusto

20:40

Daily Octordle #1059
🕚🔟
🕛9️⃣
3️⃣6️⃣
7️⃣🕐
Score: 71

Daily Sequence Octordle #1059
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
🔟🕚
🕛🕐
Score: 76

Tightrope, a daily trivia game | Britannica

Dec. 18, 2024

T I G H T R O P E
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🎉

My Score: 2040

Strands #290
“You say you want a revolution”
🔵🔵🔵🟡
🔵🔵🔵

alphabet

22:01

4

Q: Tap water but not faucet water?

British English uses the word 'tap' while Americans say 'faucet', to mean the place in the kitchen where one gets water from. Yet in a restaurant an American doesn't say 'faucet water' but 'tap water'. Is this correct? If so, why?

nouns

If anyone can actually find an answer to this, I'll give them a nickel I found in a trash can.

MetaEd

@alphabet To start with, the presumption in the question is wrong. "Americans say 'faucet'" is factually incorrect.

Robusto

@MetaEd I concur.

I'm born and bred American, and I've never heard anyone call it "faucet" water. It's always been "tap" water. The premise of this question is bogus in the extreme. — Robusto 13 secs ago

alphabet

@Robusto That's not really what the question is about; it's about why we don't call it "faucet water," not about whether we do so.

@MetaEd It is surely true that the thing in a sink that water comes out of is usually called a "faucet" in AmE but not in BrE.

MetaEd

@alphabet Let's also ask why we don't call it thousands of other things ending with water: pencil water, rune water, gorge water, mouse water. Well, let's not ask why we don't call it mouse water.

alphabet

From The Free Dictionary:

Robusto

22:14

@alphabet OK, but my point is that Americans do say tap to refer to the faucet as well. We do sometimes say "faucet" is irrelevant. The question is like saying "Brits are gay and Americans are straight."

MetaEd

The only reasonable answer is that we don't because we don't.

alphabet

> faucet: US and Canadian a valve by which a fluid flow from a pipe can be controlled by opening and closing an orifice. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): tap

MetaEd

From now on I'm referring to it as orifice water.

alphabet

@Robusto That use of "tap" is uncommon here, no? I'd never call that part of a sink a "tap."

Robusto

@alphabet It is very common where I come from.

alphabet

22:17

Like how here we call it "faucet dancing" and "wirefaucetting" /s

Robusto

@alphabet More to the point, that's from "Collins English Dictionary" which is published by Harper Collins in Glasgow. Other dictionaries on that page make no mention of the spurious conclusion.

alphabet

There must be some reason for this, even if it's just an accident of history.

Robusto

@alphabet Perhaps it's an accident of birthplace, as it appears to be with you.

MetaEd

@alphabet Accident of history is a great answer.

I seem to remember a question years ago that basically had that answer too. And really we only need one answer to questions of "why is the English (or American English) word for X, Y?" A: Accident of history.

or "that's how language evolves"

Robusto

I would use faucet to describe what sticks out of my house to which I attach a hose to water the plants. What I use in the kitchen sink is a tap.

MetaEd

22:22

@Robusto Now you're talking there about a hydrant.

Robusto

@MetaEd A hydrant is what firefighters use to douse fires.

alphabet

@MetaEd Boston's won contests for having the best-tasting orifice water in the nation.

@Robusto Do we know you're not a secret British infiltrator?

Robusto

@alphabet You can't prove a negative proposition.

alphabet

@Robusto Grabs tricorn hat and musket

MetaEd

@Robusto Yes. That's a fire hydrant.

@alphabet Yeah, exactly. "Mineral water?" "No, I prefer orifice water, thanks."

@alphabet Alphabet has stopped beating his wife.

Robusto

22:30

@MetaEd We don't know that for sure.

MetaEd

9

Q: Why can't we say "informations"?

Why can't we use the word information in the plural form? "Give me all the informations you've got", even if it's wrong, sounds more beautiful to my non-native ear than "give me all the information you've got", and I don't know why. Edit: This is not a duplicate question since I know that inform...

nouns grammatical-number uncountable-nouns

Robusto

@MetaEd Because we're not German?

MetaEd

"A: Because we don't."

@Robusto I'm not sure. Let me ask my Lebensabschnittsgefährte.

alphabet

This is the poorest answer to any question on this site. And it's certainly not the whole answer. — Arm the good guys in America Jul 23, 2017 at 14:28

MetaEd

@Robusto Who are you calling "es".

Robusto

22:35

@MetaEd Es gibt keine Informationen darin.

@MetaEd Dummy subject.

MetaEd

Oh, lovely, I created a forwardwisebacklink.

Who are you calling a dummy subject.

Robusto

@MetaEd You're playing with fire. If you keep that up, time will start happening backwards. You'd better watch out and anyway now you're too late.

MetaEd

@Robusto That will be your fault.

Aug 16, 2012 at 22:31, by ΜετάEd

Or perhaps it mayan willen fore-when be your fault.

jlliagre

22:53

#WhenTaken #295 (18.12.2024)

I scored 803/1000🏅

1️⃣📍13.9 km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥇194/200
2️⃣📍23.4 km - 🗓️2 yrs - 🥇197/200
3️⃣📍1.1 km - 🗓️9 yrs - 🥇187/200
4️⃣📍11.5K km - 🗓️7 yrs - 🥉91/200
5️⃣📍3.1K km - 🗓️5 yrs - 🥈134/200

https://whentaken.com

Tightrope, a daily trivia game | Britannica

Dec. 18, 2024

T I G H T R O P E
✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🎉

My Score: 2110

#travle #735 +0 (Perfect)
✅✅✅✅✅
https://travle.earth

Wordle 1,278 6/6

⬛⬛⬛⬛🟨
⬛⬛🟨⬛⬛
⬛⬛⬛⬛🟩
⬛🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟨🟩⬛🟩🟩
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

Daily Octordle #1059
7️⃣5️⃣
🔟🕛
🕐3️⃣
🕚6️⃣
Score: 67

Daily Sequence Octordle #1059
6️⃣7️⃣
8️⃣9️⃣
🔟🕚
🕛🕐
Score: 76

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…