English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

KitFox

13:04

@Matt I'm on the edge of my seat. Now you really must finish.

Also, and I say this with a smile, you are one sick fuck.

Matt Эллен

:D yeah. I had to have a shower myself after that bit.

@KitFox Thanks! I'm going to try 4K words a day over the weekend. hopefully that'll put me back on track.

KitFox

I did a kill scene last night. My husband interrupted me right at the end.

He walked in the bedroom and looked at me and said "Uh, are you OK?"

Matt Эллен

It's kinda disturbing, thinking those things.

KitFox

It's more disturbing that it's arousing.

Matt Эллен

yeah

KitFox

13:13

But hey, that's human nature.

Matt Эллен

It's what we're trying to explore!

I put the thought that my mother will read this to the back of my mind...

KitFox

Right. Mine won't, so I'm safe there.

And I'm sure my mother-in-law would respect my boundaries if I asked her not to read it.

Matt Эллен

My mum's been urging me to write a book for ages. I'm not sure she had this in mind.

KitFox

I'm not sure what to do next in my story.

RegDwighт

Kill some more.

KitFox

13:16

I'm not quite halfway through, but I kind of just did a big climax.

Well, the big kill is coming up, and this was supposed to set the stage for it.

Except I killed the guy who was going to do it.

RegDwighт

Then you're doing it wrong.

Matt Эллен

don't the stories always do that? You've got this plan and BAM the characters all do something do scupper it

RegDwighт

That only happens when you write in American English. Which is considered the lowest form of English anyway.

Matt Эллен

lol

KitFox

Bake, motherfucker, bake.

That still makes me chuckle.

Almost daily.

RegDwighт

13:19

We need a new pun. Same pun and no other pun makes pun a dull pun.

KitFox

And I'm wasting my writing time in chat instead of writing this crap novel.

Matt Эллен

I did that yesterday

KitFox

I caught up an entire day yesterday.

The most I've written to date.

Matt Эллен

yay!

RegDwighт

I will give you over several dollars if you title your novel thus. Crap Novel.

KitFox

13:20

2500-odd words.

RegDwighт

Expect to be sued by Tarantino, though.

Matt Эллен

I'm 2300 behind

KitFox

I'm still a day behind, but now I'm all giddy at the thought that I might catch up.

The real problem is that the holidays are coming up.

So there is no way I can stay on pace unless I spend my vacation days writing.

And that means not mudding and taping.

Matt Эллен

in between childcare?

oh

KitFox

And not earning extra monies from consulting.

And not making apple pie. Or pumpkin.

Matt Эллен

13:22

teach your children to consult?

KitFox

The horror.

@MattЭллен I wish. I keep thinking that maybe my oldest can learn to write some code...

Matt Эллен

no apple pie thanksgiving is a sin. it's been proven by science

KitFox

But of course he can't even write yet.

Gigili

Hello. Something is preferred over something else? OALD has no entry as to what preposition one must use there.

KitFox

@Gigili Yes.

Hi!

Gigili

13:23

Thank you.

Matt Эллен

short but sweet

KitFox

Are you talking about me?

Matt Эллен

yes! and Gigili's visit

KitFox

Because I'm rather medium-sized and savory, actually.

Matt Эллен

oh, well, I can't be right all the time :Þ

KitFox

13:25

So are you Alex?

In your story, I mean.

Matt Эллен

me, no I think I'm Mr. Tibbles.

KitFox

That suits you.

Jez

Mr. Flibble

Matt Эллен

@KitFox :D Who are you in yours? Any of them?

KitFox

Did I ever tell you about the stupidest letter to Dan Savage that I ever read?

Matt Эллен

13:26

no

RegDwighт

Savages can't read anyway.

Don or Dan, doesn't matter.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Since when has Windows solved anything?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт Was Fred Savage just repeating what he heard, in the Wonder Years?

KitFox

This college girl wrote in to ask Dan if she should stay with her boyfriend who had raped her twice.

Matt Эллен

Well at least she didn't just go ahead and do it

Robusto

13:28

@MattЭллен I used Fred Savage in a radio spot once. True story.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto How did you use him?

Robusto

As voice talent.

KitFox

See, the first time, they went to a party together and got drunk and had sex, so that meant he raped her, and he agreed he wouldn't do it again.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto nice! What was he voicing?

Robusto

What, he would only rape her sober?

KitFox

13:29

But then, like six months later, they were at a party and she got drunk and had sex with him again, so she thought he should go to counseling because he's a fucking rapist.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Commercial for an airline. He was a kid, so he was the kid who was afraid he would not be able to go to Florida this winter.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I see...

Did counselling help?

KitFox

(Because she couldn't consent to sex because she was drunk, despite the fact that they had sex regularly otherwise.)

Dan told her to stop being a nutcase. And he advised the boyfriend to run far, far away if he was reading the column.

Matt Эллен

lol

RegDwighт

@Robusto exactly. QED.

KitFox

13:35

I'm off. Later.

Robusto

Google 1, Siri 0

RegDwighт

Really, people still hack at speech recognition? I don't get it. It cannot be done. Now go waste your money on world peace or prolonging erections.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox CU

@KitFox thanks for the encouragement

Robusto

@RegDwighт How about money spent on world erections?

RegDwighт

That's a huge bingo. Is that how you say it? No matter, it's a huge bingo!

Robusto

13:42

@RegDwighт It is gigantic. And hard. And throbbing. By every measure, that's a bingo.

RegDwighт

> If you’re so meteorologically challenged that, upon hearing the unmistakable crack of a storm while staring out a rain-soaked window, you still need to coquettishly inquire, “Is that rain?” then Siri is totally for you.

Hahaha.

What a dumb commercial.

Robusto

I know, that is priceless.

RegDwighт

Not to mention the Crystal Pepsi one.

tchrist

People are starting to bitch about missing tag wikis. But do they edit them? No.

RegDwighт

Actually I edit a lot and do not bitch. About wikis, that is.

Robusto

13:44

More name-dropping: I used Caleb Deschanel for a TV campaign for beer, and he brought his daughter to the location we were using. Her name? Zooey.

RegDwighт

I had to work on that, what's it's called, Cartologist badge or something.

tchrist

I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about people. You, sir, are clearly a mole.

RegDwighт

At least I am not Sarah Jessica Parker's face mole.

tchrist

But just think of the places you’d go and the people you’d see!

Robusto

Jul 6 at 14:52, by Robusto

We are not neighbors. You are in my back yard.

RegDwighт

13:46

@Robusto I watched Almost Famous the other week and almost didn't recognize her until she put on tons of makeup.

Robusto

That would be a mole.

tchrist

@Robusto And they say bunny and foxy can’t be friends.

Robusto

But Frog and Toad can be, and are.

tchrist

Frog and Toad are kissing cousins.

Matt Эллен

so are Toad, Badger, Ratty and Mole

Robusto

13:48

QED

RegDwighт

> Siri Thinks Hurricane Sandy Is in First Place in the NHL's Southeast Division

LOLWUT

Go Sandy, go!

Robusto

@MattЭллен Ah, yes ... The Wimps in the Pillows.

Matt Эллен

I know I had it read to me a million times. I'm not sure i've read it myself.

Robusto

@MattЭллен You should get Siri to read it to you. Hilarity would no doubt ensue.

Matt Эллен

:D

RegDwighт

13:50

OK. The Horny Back Toad is friends with Elton John. By Adolf Nobel.

tchrist

Horny toads ain’t kissing cousins with frogs so much as they are with geckos.

RegDwighт

Ah, but you're forgetting the back part.

tchrist

I thought it imprudent to mention his orientation.

And you will note who was just called a gecko.

RegDwighт

I only know Jacko.

And Jackie O.

tchrist

Badge is RA.

RegDwighт

13:54

Mushroom! Mushroom!

Matt Эллен

Goal! It's a goal!

tchrist

No, stool. It’s a toadstool. Or a cucking-stool.

Robusto

@tchrist But a normal RA gets paid in more than badges. Not a lot more, but more.

Matt Эллен

I was an RA as an undergrad. I had to pay for the privilege. Badges are a step up for me

Although I probably learned a lot more than I would from editing tag wikis

Robusto

@MattЭллен No bennies at all? That sucks.

Matt Эллен

14:08

@Robusto aye. it was a voluntary position, and I had to pay tuition fees for the year (despite it being a year in industry, and I wasn't being tutored)

Robusto

> Siri is a “curated” experience—it draws its answers from specific sources that Apple has signed deals with. For instance, if you ask Siri about Barack Obama’s age, she’ll give you an answer from Wolfram Alpha.

tchrist

RAs are usually grad students, or sometimes postdocs. Depends.

Robusto

Who didn't see that coming?

tchrist

RAs are paid next to nothing. Even postdocs, kids with newly minted PhDs, are barely remunerated. I heard like $40k. Hope they aren’t married with kids yet.

Robusto

@tchrist That's the whole deal for grad school, at least in the sciences. You become an RA, get free tuition and a small stipend, while you work on your doctorate (or post-doc, as you say).

tchrist

14:12

We had TAs, RAs, and PAs if you were in grad school, where it was indeed tuition and bus-money. Postdoc RAs get a teensy bit more. The predocs are superlow.

But if you could swing a halftime appointment, you got benefits.

I’m not sure if that’s an appropriate sense of halftime.

Sounds like recess appointments.

But if you were booked for the full year instead of for two semesters, even at half-time you got benefits.

Fix by nuculation:

-1

Q: divide this passage into paragraphs

the childhood years are supposed to be the best times of one's life, playing and having fun. yet there are many children who are deprived of this childhood. they are tortured and physically and verbally abused. there is no reason or excuse for child abuse. abusers claim they do it because of stre...

tenses

What a FW!

Robusto

@tchrist I'm tempted to comment, "Who was your copy-edit monkey last year?"

tchrist

Needs a smack down.

And his Shift key is broken.

I regret that it takes so long to delete.

But I’m doing my best. :)

Only problem is that a too-quick deletion might fail to get the message across to him.

RegDwighт

Exactly.

Robusto

Maybe we could go for the down-vote record on this one?

Jez

i really hate it when you get a social situation sprung on you and you're not prepared

RegDwighт

14:24

At −5 it's off the radar.

So it's unlikely to get to −15.

Jez

some nice girl says "hi" and you're taken by surprise so you just say "hi" back and nothing else, sounds like you dont wanna talk to them or something. argh.

i need a more.... engaging "shoot-from-the-hip" response to people

RegDwighт

►

0

Q: Better word for choices/options

I provide some services on my website, and users can opt for one or more services, as per their wish. I am looking for a term that describes the selection of choice(s)'user made. Are there some alternatives to words like choices, options Choices, Options, Alternatives, Blend, Package, Option, ...

thesaurus

Matt Эллен

@Jez so... not screaming and running away?

then I can't help you

Gigili

I see no relevance between my question and the duplicate you mentioned @Robusto.

Jez

if you said "hi" to me politely, though, and i just quickly said "hi" back and nothing else, you'd read that as "piss off, with all due respect", wouldnt you?

Matt Эллен

14:30

@Gigili Nap is an noun in one sentence and a verb in the other. Architect is a verb in one sentence and a noun in the other.

@Jez depends on the tone of voice. maybe.

Gigili

That was a triple ping!

@MattЭллен Right, and?

Matt Эллен

Sorry!

Jez

@MattЭллен i guess i should be glad i got past just grunting

although barely

Matt Эллен

@Jez heh, that would have been off putting.

tchrist

Sack. Nap sack. Knapsack. Snapsack. It’s napsacked.

Gigili

14:33

@MattЭллен Not a problem.

So there is no rule whether to use the noun or the verb?

Matt Эллен

other than the normal grammatical rules? I don't think so. I haven't voted either way on your question.

Gigili

OK, I deleted my question since I got the correct answer. Thank you for your help @Matt.

Matt Эллен

No need to delete, @Gigili - there might be a better answer. You're welcome, of course :)

Robusto

14:48

@Gigili Link question? Oh, the nap question. I thought you were asking about verbing nouns (napping) vs. using the noun form (take a nap).

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

14:59

Matt Эллен

is that the larval stage of a narwhal?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Manatee

Manatees (family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. There are three accepted living species of Trichechidae, representing three of the four living species in the order Sirenia: the Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), and the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). They measure up to long, weigh as much as , and have paddle-like flippers. The name manatí comes from the Taíno, a pre-Columbian people of the Caribbean, meaning "breast". Taxonomy M...

Matt Эллен

> They measure up to long, weigh as much as

lol

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

yeah the inlining feature could stand to be a better wikipedia parser

Matt Эллен

the wiki import script is chortlesome

RegDwighт

15:13

Obligatory:

►

tchrist

Awwwww!

RegDwighт

This animal is on my list for MOCs.

tchrist

TLA check, bitte.

RegDwighт

Tour de las Américas?

Or the Truppenluftabwehr?

Matt Эллен

Manatee Of Chats?

tchrist

15:16

Ministry of Cuteness.

Matt Эллен

Master Of Ceremonies?

RegDwighт

Nov 7 at 14:13, by Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox MOC = "my own creation". LDD is a lego cad tool

Matt Эллен

ah

RegDwighт

I've been making animals all week.

Two weeks, actually.

But it's only for three days that I've been up to full speed, with an animal a day.

Matt Эллен

nice

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

15:19

Ever since you mentioned putting all your lego on two billys, I've had a bee in my bonnet to do the same.

tchrist

Given that we have antilocaprine critters and ovibovine critters, why aren’t the manatoids called maribovines or aquabovines or haliabovines?

RegDwighт

Waiting for good weather to make photos. It's so dark and gloomy, and the electric lights are too yellowish, and flash is awful.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I am considering fast-tracking some renovation plans for the house in order to more quickly accomplish that goal

RegDwighт

A noble pursuit if there has ever been one.

tchrist

Use bounce flash, and if you use incandescent lighting normally, you need to use a #85B color filter on the flash to remap the daylight-balanced color temperature of the flash to match the lower color temperature of your incandescents. Then you use an explicit color temperature of incandescent, or ~2800–3200K. Otherwise you need auto white balance, but the flash will have to completely overcome the neighboring incandescents, and you may never get it right.

RegDwighт

15:24

0

A: Plural Possessive of a Singular Noun

How in the freaking world is this stuff supposed to help some one, this crap isn't answers!

tchrist

keel eet

@RegDwighт inverts you

RegDwighт

No, you're an invert.

tchrist

Or untenses, since "... if ever there was one" is more common.

@RegDwighт recluse ≠ invert

Matt Эллен

A noble pursuit, if been one there ever has

RegDwighт

I'm not taking advice on simple past vs. present perfect from an American.

Matt Эллен

15:26

lol

RegDwighт

Who are considered the lowest speakers of English anyway

tchrist

How do you feel about Hamas?

Matt Эллен

it's a statement of fact, that that's the opinion of someone

RegDwighт

@tchrist On Tuesdays? Or in general?

I take the silence as a both.

Hamas are enthusiastic acronyms. That's all I know.

tchrist

> Yo contradigo como jamás se ha contradicho, y, sin embargo, soy lo contrario de un espíritu que dice no. .. Sin embargo, jamás ha habido condena en costas y no se ha procedido a la oportuna liquidación y exacción pese a que, después de la última reforma citada, .. Jamás ha habido un niño tan adorable que su mamá no quisiera verlo dormido ... Y sin embargo, jamás ha habido un momento en el que la concentración de poder ..se haya aceptado con menos preguntas ...

It is not just English wherein ever/never likes to go first.

"If ever there was" is better than "if there ever has been", which doesn’t ring quite right to me. @MattЭллен?

RegDwighт

15:31

Yeah spear me the gawry deetiles. I've read hundreds of John Lawler's answers on the subject. I've read them all.

Man up and move on.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist I agree that was is more common than has been in that idiom.

RegDwighт

So how is that going to change if you're doing nothing?

Go use your simple past. Go vote Obama. Be like that.

Matt Эллен

remaining the same was what we were all about.

don't remind me about voting

MετάEd

Everybody untense. back rubs

Matt Эллен

there's a vote for the new police commissioner today

what a waste of time.

tchrist

15:34

Matt Эллен

what good will a police commissioner be?

same as it ever was

RegDwighт

@tchrist again, you're wasting your time. I'm running the exact same searches in COCA and BNC right now.

tchrist

RegDwighт

BNC

if there has ever been one 0
if there ever has been one 0
if there ever was one 5

COCA

if there has ever been one 0
if there ever has been one 0
if there ever was one 83

tchrist

No, the idiom is "if ever there", not "if there ever". It means something different, kinda.

Ever wants to go first.

RegDwighт

15:37

I only just started. Will you let me.

tchrist

Proceed.

RegDwighт

There are like over 9000 combinations or something.

Like 5!^6*7

My math is shaky, but that sounds about wright.

tchrist

macbook# echo if ever there has been | permute | wc -l
     120

RegDwighт

See, I told you.

6!

tchrist

I love it when you talk sixy.

RegDwighт

15:38

I don't need a macbook echo. I can echo myself.

Robusto

That doesn't factorial into the conversation at all.

RegDwighт

And who the factorial are you?

tchrist

awaits the echo

RegDwighт

Oct 17 at 21:12, by MετάEd

Echo?

Robusto

People in the workers' paradise should know all about factorials.

Or perhaps I should say "workers' parodies"?

RegDwighт

15:39

Work-ass parodies.

tchrist

Workers care more about matters sartorial than they do matters factorial.

RegDwighт

You've a certain sartorial eloquence
And a style that's almost of your own
You've got the knack of being so laid-back
It's like talking to the great Unknown

Matt Эллен

I should have run for police commissioner. I can write better than all these hacks.

RegDwighт

But can you also commission better?

Matt Эллен

probably

it can't be hard if they're letting politicians do it

> Former Chairman of Eton Wick Hellenic League Football Club.
> Member of Rotary for 22 years serving the local community.

really? That's important how?

Robusto

15:41

@MattЭллен What, so you could be Batman's stooge?

Matt Эллен

goddamn idiots

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен organize a write-in campaign

Matt Эллен

@Robusto why should Robin and Albert have all the fun?

RegDwighт

Well, 22 is more than 7, say. I would say that's a fact not to be entirely overlooked.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Because they get to go into the Bat Cave. The commish doesn't. QED.

Matt Эллен

15:43

@Robusto damnit! then I'll run for Batman's Butler.

@RegDwighт it's not over 9000.

Robusto

A much better job. We could do a Masterpiece series: Batman Abbey!

tchrist

macbook# perl -le 'print 120 ** 6*7' | commify_numbers
20,901,888,000,000

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен I'll run away from him. He was scary in Cider House rulez.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Ether he was or he wasn't.

RegDwighт

Not an unnice litotes.

Matt Эллен

15:45

Eunice Litotes. Man, what mammaries.

RegDwighт

You've got a self-sufficient swept-back hairdo
Pretty certain that you've got it made
Oh your life-style shows in the clothes you chose
Sitting pretty in the masquerade

MετάEd

"Chrism" is one of my favorite words.

Matt Эллен

grammar What is the grammar of "Sitting pretty in the masquerade"?

should it not be "A pretty seat of the masquerade"?

MετάEd

sitting pretty

RegDwighт

COCA

if there has ever been one 0
if there ever has been one 0
if there ever was one 83
if ever there was one 104
if ever there has been one 0
beer 19929

BNC

if there has ever been one 0
if there ever has been one 0
if there ever was one 5
if ever there was one 44
if ever there has been one 0
porridge 276

See, @tchrist, in the US it's actually pretty much a tie.

Robusto

15:49

At @MετάEd's famous baptism
They offered a new kind of chrism
They all went to work
Like a circular jerk
And baptized the lad with their jizm!

@MετάEd Just for you ^

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto That, uh, wasn't really necessary to post here.

Robusto

I thought you liked chrism. My bad.

tchrist

@Robusto His garments were parted, and lots cast upon his inward coat..but they pierced his side with a spear, looking upon him him whom they had pierced; according to the prophecies of him, which were so clear and descended to minutes and circumstances of his passion, that there was nothing left by which they could doubt whether this were he or no who was to come into the world.

Matt Эллен

think of the children!

Robusto

No.

RegDwighт

15:50

Here's your jizm. I mean jizz. I mean jinx. I mean coke. I mean Fanta.

3

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@MattЭллен If he's writing poems like that I hope he's not thinking of children.

MετάEd

@Robusto I love it.

Robusto

Don't ever say I never gave ya nothin'.

tchrist

@RegDwighт You outing me as an English mole just outs yourself as a Canadian one.

Matt Эллен

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 And Kit think I'm the sick one! ;)

RegDwighт

15:52

@tchrist I thought that was clear the moment I mentioned ELM.

tchrist

@Robusto At least that one gets the act right, which the ELU question about it does not.

MετάEd

@tchrist “The Epistle of Thomas”

tchrist

@RegDwighт Why does he have tits?

RegDwighт

Which, obviously, was to distract from the fact that I use MAPLE.

@tchrist oh yeah like you're telling me you wouldn't have tits if you could.

tchrist

@MετάEd What more would you have of me than that?

MετάEd

15:54

@tchrist Non sequitur?

tchrist

@RegDwighт Any man can have tits, provided he can pay for them.

@MετάEd Thomas sum.

RegDwighт

@tchrist so you answered your own question.

QED or whatevah.

tchrist

@RegDwighт Normally they are simply rented for the eve.

MετάEd

@tchrist You can't have read that already.

Matt Эллен

QEDOW could almost be a batman sound effect

tchrist

15:56

@MετάEd Huh? Surely you jest! I don’t need to move my lips, you know.

RegDwighт

Why is it that every time I want to type an apostrophe I end up hitting Enter and posting my line instead?

tchrist

Jewish fanfic. There is nothing new under the sun.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт your wrist spiders are turning against you

RegDwighт

In case you didn't notice, the "oh yeah like you're telling me" line got cut off at "oh yeah like you" at first. For a second I wanted to leave it like that.

tchrist

@RegDwighт Must be nice. Mine»re all turned into chevra.

RegDwighт

15:58

►

Un oiseau, un enfant, une chèvre.

tchrist

@RegDwighт No Like buttons in this chat.

MετάEd

@tchrist OMG you're right! Well in that light I see I should get started on Jesus/Judas.

Not that it hasn't already been done.

tchrist

Capering antilocaprids.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…