English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

JSBձոգչ

14:23

@Cerberus is that from your game? which dragon is that?

ColorfulTrauma

14:35

Hi.

Oh, and...

0

Q: “Somebody” or ”Anybody”?

I was working out with this sentence and I came up with another question: Which of these is the correct / most appropriate sentence? Can somebody help me? Can anybody help me?

word-choice

FumbleFingers

@RegDwighт Hey Reg! Just wondering if/whether you'd reconsider this closure?

RegDwighт

It doesn't ask about if vs. whether. And if it did, it would be a dupe.

The question in its current form is a non-starter. I closed it as a dupe as a huge courtesy to the OP.

@ColorfulTrauma that's dupish as well.

some-any

ColorfulTrauma

Yes, I needed to know if there does exist a question like that. Thanks!

And can the question be closed, and possibly deleted?

RegDwighт

@ColorfulTrauma You can delete it yourself as long as it doesn't have answers.

Hello Nastya.

ColorfulTrauma

Oh, done. Thanks again!

Robusto

14:45

@tchrist What is an "antilope"? A device that prevents loping?

@RegDwighт Nastier than what, a Kiselyova?

RegDwighт

Certainly not robuster than Robusto.

Matt Эллен

Robustier — for robots with boobs.

Robusto

@RegDwighт No one could be robuster than that.

@MattЭллен No robot boobs in ELU chat.

BTW, @Matt, I still can't log in to that site. SO's auth mechanism is a boatload of fail.

Matt Эллен

15:02

that sucks. I guess @waiwai will have to contact the devs

Robusto

It's not the first time it's happened. When I try to log in to chat from other devices it will put me through that runaround. I have to go to the main chat login link, which Jasper referred me to, in order to get around the obstacle.

But this ain't that.

MετάEd

15:35

AÍ! A BALROG HAS COME! And quite a few Nortonn S questions lack just one deletevote. For The Shire!

Matt Эллен

@MετάEd my votes are cast

KitFox

@MattЭллен giggles like Candace on the verge of busting her brothers

Matt Эллен

16:12

@KitFox wished he knew who Candace was

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I googled "candace brothers" and found this

And I'm pretty sure that's who @kit meant

and now Google is creeping me out

Matt Эллен

lol

I see, from fineas and furb

or however that's spelt

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

16:27

yeah.

KitFox

►

Phineas and Ferb.

I made the mistake of showering before writing.

Now I'm thinking of all the other things I could do, like get fast food for lunch.

Oh well. I guess I will do that. It will be fun and fattening and then Matt is sure to get ahead.

I'm also making cake today.

Later!

Mitch

@MattЭллен Really, why are people so interested in complicated semantic derivatives of Schadenfreude, when Schadenfreude is pretty complicated enough. LIke Munchhausen's syndrome by proxy, too many levels of emotional references.

"I get sick everytime I think of 'Munchhauusen's syndrome by proxy'"

Matt Эллен

@KitFox my plan is working!

Mitch

What's the name of -that- disease?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch That's hypchondria

Mitch

16:40

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 no it's for the particular sickness when thinking of that other particular sickness.

OK, it also includes the sickness of leaving out vowels of Greek derived psychiatric terms.

argh.. beat me to it. argh. no you didn't.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Mitch There is a word for people who get sick whenever they think of another disease. That's "hypochondria".

Apparently it's common in med school.

Every time you learn about a new disease, you start thinking you have it.

Matt Эллен

and psychology students

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

pharmacy students too

Mitch

17:09

for psychiatry students, they're right.

I'm ranting because all these people are asking for a term for ' a feeling you get when thinking of other people having a feeling about you'. That's crazy.

@cornbreadninja A situation? and people talking about it? OK, name the context, and then label the roles of two people speaking. We'll generate dialog for you.

For example: Situation - Plane about to go crash in flames; characters - mom-divorced, teen age daughter, strained relationship, visiting in-laws (but not husband, who is in an army hospital in Iraq) Thanksgiving. scene start - one engine just exploded and the plane is starting to plummet.

- on your mark...go!

Oh. Everyone is over at the writing room.

cornbread ninja

17:26

@Mitch no no, I want to write the dialogue and need a topic.

@Mitch oh crap!

Hugo

18:27

Do we also want hats?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

hats?

I see no reason why not

Matt Эллен

19:42

@KitFox that's a weird little laugh

Mitch

20:01

@cornbreadninja asked and answered. get crackin'. that plane is about to...um..land.

@Mitch: The point is, literary references aren't like pop-culture references. They're fair game among the literati, and probably we should include readers of the Times in that category. I'm just advising the OP that he shouldn't necessarily expect the average person to understand. I personally wouldn't reference Count Vronsky, or Daisy Buchanan, or Morris Townsend unless I was sure I was addressing someone who was likely to have read widely. — Robusto 2 hours ago

Mitch

20:17

@Robusto: I see what you mean. It's just that Ayn Rand isn't considered literature of the same caliber as Tolstoy, or...those others. It's pot-boiler romance with a lot of sophomoric philosophical rants.

Wait...no...tell me Tolstoy isn't like that.

George Edison

If someone hired me as a contractor, what would their relationship be to me?

Matt Эллен

ohhhh. I know this.... client!

if you are a contractor, you have clients

George Edison

20:41

Thanks.

Robusto

20:57

@Mitch That don't mean nothin'. If someone was widely read, they'd have read it. Hell, I read Bright Lights, Big City just to see why everyone was reading it. Same with George R. R. Martin's stuff. Ya gotta read somethin', and Tolstoy ain't writin' no more.

Robusto

21:11

0

Q: Believable (but easy) Old English

Do you know any "shortcuts" to translating passages of my story into believably sounding Old English? I mean, without taking a full school course? A crash course? An automatic service? A phrase book? A group of enthusiasts who will do it for free? I don't insist on a zero-effort solution, but le...

resources language

Olde English for Dummyes

Matt Эллен

in a few hundred year, they'll have to name their language Future English

Robusto

@MattЭллен U speak that on teh Internetz.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto With jet packs.

and dressed in silver spandex

Robusto

@MattЭллен You wish. No flying cars, neither.

Matt Эллен

:(

but at least we have portable communications devices

Robusto

21:26

Yeah, we asked for flying cars and jet packs and they gave us Facebook and Twitter.

Matt Эллен

aye

Robusto

I would trade them both for just a jet pack. Hell, I'd trade them both for a hamburger.

Matt Эллен

Quite. Food is more important than all the tweets in Christendom.

JSBձոգչ

there is no more christendom. they shut it down and opened a wal-mart in the old building.

Robusto

Yay!

JSBձոգչ

21:29

it has prettier windows than the average walmart

Robusto

People go to Wal-Mart to worship money.

Matt Эллен

Idolaters!

Robusto

Idollarters!

cornbread ninja

21:46

Always idollaters. Always.

hey @MattЭллен

Can you tell me if my dialogue is formatted correctly?

It's on mah tumblr.

Matt Эллен

weal doe

cornbread ninja

splendid!

it's quite rough.

Matt Эллен

Looks fine. good indenting!

cornbread ninja

@MattЭллен thank you, sire

Matt Эллен

you're welcome m'lady

cornbread ninja

21:55

0

A: How offensive is to call a girl "Barbie doll"? Why?

I'm The definition of barbie bitches

Matt Эллен

barbie bitches? Is this a new range?

cornbread ninja

just a missing comma

commutes

Matt Эллен

but then fun's in the pun!

time for bed. toodle pip

cornbread ninja

ta!

Cerberus

22:23

@JSBձոգչ It's not from my game, but it looks exactly like Flemeth, whom I tried to defeat earlier (but I failed).

It must be Flemeth.

I didn't like that plot twist, by the way, if you remember.

Robusto

23:08

2

A: What would you (negatively) call a person who insists on repaying even a small amount of money?

I would call such a person overly or obsessively proud, or possibly haughty. But it would depend on the culture. Such a practice is considered normal in Japan, for example, where the concept of on (face) requires it.

I'm puzzled. Why would this get a down vote after two years?

tchrist

Perhaps we have a serial downvoter who applies a ⬇ to anything that has the word negatively in its title?

It cancels that other guy who always gives anything with positively his ⬆.

Robusto

I dunno. I think someone is trying to make a statement, choosing the least objectionable questions to do it.

tchrist

Uh, what statement?

Robusto

That it's personal.

tchrist

Has this been happening a lot?

Wait, let me look at your answer.

Robusto

23:13

It's better than the accepted answer, which is crap.

tchrist

Really? Fastidious seems more in the right direction than haughty to me.

Although that isn’t quite my favorite choice either.

Conscientious? Honorable? Meticulous?

I am not sure there is enough context in the OP.

Someone who does this and makes a show out of it has a different problem, and agenda.

Robusto

It's about the principle, not the amount. That makes it a matter of pride.

MετάEd

@Robusto Maybe for no research citations :-) Not my downvote though.

Robusto

What, all your answers have research citations? Let me look ...

tchrist

But someone who quietly pays you back for something you paid for for him when he was unexpectedly short on cash is simply doing the honorable and respectable thing, albeit not necessarily the expected one.

It shows that he remember small favors, and does not presume upon your friendship.

That is not a freeloader.

Robusto

23:17

7

A: What is a "crypto-portrait"?

Crypto-portrait is an art history term for a portrait of a person which is not identified as such. For example, the painting below is Dance of Salome, 1452–1457, by Fra Filippo Lippi. Some art historians suspect this “Salome” is a crypto-portrait: a likeness of Lippi’s mother.

Pictures ain't citations. Busted!

2

A: The usage of slander, defame, vilify, and calumniate

In some contexts, these words are interchangeable, but each has a different shade of meaning. Calumniate means to falsely or maliciously accuse, especially of a crime. Defame and slander mean to spread tales about a person so as to damage their reputation, but defame refers more to the intended ...

No citation. Denied!

tchrist

@Robusto Sorry, I’m afraid I cannot bring myself to downvote that one.

Robusto

@tchrist I didn't ask anyone to downvote it. I'm just countering @MετάEd's silliness.

Meanwhile, wife home, dinnertime. Later.

tchrist

Chow down. Or up.

MετάEd

I am more than willing to cop to being as lazy as Robusto.

tchrist

I don’t understand why he thinks there’s some personal vendetta against him going on. Those things always get caught.

It must be happening to him a lot for him to think it is personal, in which case it will be apprehended and reversed.

Well, unless. . . .

►

tchrist

23:37

@KitFox Your blog posting has your apostrophes going the wrong way. You somehow seem to have used U+2018 LEFT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK instead of U+2019 RIGHT SINGLE QUOTATION MARK. Compare: Sarah’s vs Sarah‘s.

I’m also quite disappointed that you’re trying to propagate the silly notion that one pronounces an apostrophe. More children have had their English forever ruined by that nonsense than by being taught that shit is now a strong verb. Pronunciation is key. You should lead by example. I know I do.

@MετάEd Are you using my unifrac program to generate those? :)

MετάEd

@tchrist To generate Ûnıcöde in posts you mean?

tchrist

Well, yes, but not that way. It’s for setting fractions.

macbook# unifrac 7/16
⁷⁄₁₆
macbook# unifrac 7/16 | uniquote -v
\N{SUPERSCRIPT SEVEN}\N{FRACTION SLASH}\N{SUBSCRIPT ONE}\N{SUBSCRIPT SIX}
macbook#

MετάEd

Ah. I do it by hand.

tchrist

And how’s that icy hill on the way to school? :)

MετάEd

I have a keyboard with 16 keys and I simply chord the bits.

I guess I need another 8 eventually.

tchrist

23:50

I have a keyboard with 88 keys, but it doesn’t do Unicode.

MετάEd

Sometimes I cheat and use Morse codes.

Also I count in binary on my fingers.

tchrist

What happened to your dip switches?

MετάEd

I've considered going to ternary but that gets complicated.

tchrist

Some things are trans-tedious to key in a mano.

MετάEd

@tchrist I have these:

tchrist

23:52

macbook# echo and now we are in little letrae | unicaps
ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴡ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ɪɴ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʟᴇᴛʀᴀᴇ

macbook# echo and now we are in little letrae | leo
əɐɹʇəן əןʇʇᴉן uᴉ əɹɐ əʍ ʍou puɐ

A ten? You have a ten? Gosh. Besides the LSI-11s, I only went back to the 45s.

MετάEd

Your ʇs have descenders.

tchrist

On fait ce qu’on puisse.

MετάEd

I do, and it runs LUNAR.BIN loaded from paper tape using the teletype reader.

tchrist

If you’ve a better inversion for t, lemme know.

MετάEd

I think inverting letters is not the job of Unicode.

tchrist

23:55

Well duh. This is for fun, not for codez.

        tr [abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzɐqɔpəɟ⅁ɥᴉ□ʞlɯuodbɹƨʇnʌʍxʎ□]
           [ɐqɔpəɟ⅁ɥᴉ□ʞlɯuodbɹsʇnʌʍxʎ□abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz];

        tr [ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZɐqƆpƎℲ⅁ɥI□ʞ⅂ƜИOdbᴚƨʇnɅMX⅄□]
           [ɐqƆpƎℲ⅁ɥI□ʞ⅂ƜИOdbᴚsʇnɅMX⅄□ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ];

Leonardo is so clever he even properly handles diacritics:

macbook# echo Ûnıcöde  | leo
əpo̤ɔıu∩̬

This font does something wicked with my intersexion!

MετάEd

As long as I am bragging, I bought gasoline today for $ 2.99/gallon.

tchrist

Mine was $3.45/gallon.

Which I thought temporally low.

I assume you’re having the same weather I am? It doesn’t “feel” like Thanksgiving when it’s so hot that workers and runners go around descamisados. Mid-70s here.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…