English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

16:00

@tchrist Oh..I see your opinion now.

Robusto

Something like "10.5 Lw" but with a ligature or something.

And maybe it should be the Lawler Index?

Mitch

Do you really think that that particular phrasing is productive in the way that the OP is asking about? "The cheese is eating well"?

tchrist

@Mitch Stop pushing your damned fifth-grade-Engrish-is-good-enough-for-everybody agenda.

Read a little. Get out of the house a bit.

RegDwighт

Ohhh! Drama!

Cat fight! Cat fight!

Mitch

Meow.

tchrist

16:02

leaves

RegDwighт

That was an ultra brutal move.

Mitch

what about shoots and eats?

Robusto

What about "Eats, shits, and leaves"?

Mitch

"The leaves are shooting eats" sounds grammatical to me.

RegDwighт

@Robusto Pick two.

Robusto

16:03

There is a pandamic of this going around.

A sad pandamic.

RegDwighт

It knows kung-fu, though.

Mitch

@tchrist I am insulted by your making fun of my inability to distinguish l's and r's. thought police knocking at your door in 3...no 2 minutes

RegDwighт

@Cerberus yeah I find that totally ofensive.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I don't know whether to add or subtract points for that.

RegDwighт

No changing rules. You will give me exactly +10 points in five days.

Cerberus

16:06

@tchrist Be nice. You have to agree it sounds odd.

@RegDwighт That depends.

RegDwighт

No that not depends. You said.

Robusto

I will say one thing: @tchrist doesn't let a little thing like a fever keep him from his assault on hats.

Cerberus

You'd better prune the transcript before accounting day.

If I encounter so much as a single offence...

RegDwighт

Glove, glove, is a verb, glove is a doing word. Feather's on my breath.

Johan Larsson

Are we fighting again? My fault?

RegDwighт

16:08

No, but it can be.

Johan Larsson

Make it then?

RegDwighт

Give me $1000.

Johan Larsson

I don't do $

RegDwighт

@JohanLarsson I'll take 1000 Euro, too.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Someone needs to publish my blog article soon. It is apropos of this whole thing.

Peepul, puhleeze!

RegDwighт

16:09

@Robusto ping someone with powers. Like waiwai or Matt.

Where the heck is Matt anyway?

Or Kit, for that matter.

Robusto

Matt is the one. He's slacking over the holidays. Probably drunk in a ditch in Oxford, if they have ditches there.

Kit only shows up when not having luck with SQL.

RegDwighт

@Robusto They have at least one Ox. In a Ford.

Cerberus

Perhaps he dug a ditch first?

Robusto

@RegDwighт Which is why they joined Oxford and Cambridge into Oxbridge, which is certainly a step up from an ox ford.

RegDwighт

Like a fridge over tonic water...

Robusto

16:12

That is a term of Art.

RegDwighт

Trolling is a Art.

Turing was not a Art.

Though close.

That's why you have to pass the Turing test.

The test is here, BTW: koalastothemax.com

Manishearth

0

Q: The proper use of articles (a/the) with physical concepts

I'm not a native speaker and I have this question for some time now. What articles and when should be placed with physical and mathematical concepts? General Rules? a/the force a/the manifold a/the flux of a/the/() field ... I think it would be better to ask here rahther than on english.stack...

Would you guys like this post?

RegDwighт

Ooooh, nice rant.

So that's where @Cerberus got his idea from, that people hate us.

It's pure nonsense, of course.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт One of many examples.

RegDwighт

I don't want that question myself, but I'm so tempted to take it just for the irony of Barry's saying that ending up on ELU.

@Cerberus pure nonsense, of course.

Robusto

16:20

@Manishearth What, you think we are your dumping ground for nonsense? Harrumph, sir!

RegDwighт

It's like saying that the big users on Physics really hate plumbers.

Manishearth

@Robusto YEP!

:P

Cerberus

@Manishearth I'm afraid the question is a bit hard to answer. Rules for articles depend on context to a large degree, wouldn't you say? So the OP would have to provide a couple of example sentences I think?

Manishearth

@Cerberus yeah

Cerberus

@RegDwighт On that I will not comment. Just the reputation.

Manishearth

16:21

The current answer says just that

Cerberus

Right.

Robusto

@Manishearth Just wait till we get an idiot question vaguely related to physics. We'll violate your 2nd Law of Thermodynamics so hard it'll make your eardrums pop.

And in case you were wondering, I'm using violate in the sexual sense.

Manishearth

@Robusto Bring it

:P

@Robusto wait...wha..?

Oh

Robusto

Too late.

Manishearth

Noooo!

Robusto

16:24

It's past time that law got a good ass-raping, IMO.

RegDwighт

@Manishearth actually I have answered that question on ELU already.

Manishearth

@RegDwighт ah

RegDwighт

I'm a big user, too. And a non-native speaker.

So really, I find his rant ofenssive.

Robusto

@Manishearth: When @RegDwighт says big he means that term figuratively. He's not really big in the other sense.

RegDwighт

I also mean "non-native speaker" figuratively. And "answered".

But other than that.

Manishearth

16:27

@Robusto you seem to like emphasizing innuendo ;-)

Robusto

What else is there?

My mutant super-hero name is Nuance.

Aug 9 at 23:58, by Robusto

OK, in our Mutant Army (EL&U.X-Men), we have four official mutants with super powers: @Reg, aka Twister, who twists your words until you die; @tchrist, aka The Character, who can kill you with codepoints; @Cerberus, aka Hellhound (we haven't figured out if misspellings and syntactical omissions are a super power yet, but we're working on it); and Robusto, aka Nuance, who draws finer and finer distinctions until you're just sick to death of it.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Aaaand you've lost any chance you ever had.

Robusto

@Cerberus He can still find redemption. It's in the dictionary.

Cerberus

Good luck.

One need to be redeemed from above.

And he isn't getting any from me.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus not sure what you mean.

What chance?

Cerberus

16:37

@RegDwighт Of getting 10 points.

RegDwighт

No I haven't.

Cerberus

And, no, simply deleting lines isn't going to work.

RegDwighт

Deleting? Who's deleting lines?

Cerberus

Noöne is yet...

But you might be tempted.

RegDwighт

Why would I?

Cerberus

16:38

To erase evidence of your crimes.

Robusto

@bharal: Surely you must mean it is a wrong, smarmy, condescending, horrible, no-good, inadequate, spurious answer. — Robusto 8 secs ago

RegDwighт

Funny bharal would show no humor after the OP himself was the first one to show humor.

Robusto

You never can tell about pineapples.

RegDwighт

Okay now you made him laugh.

It just took a little longer.

Robusto

yeah, but I'm attracting down-votes rapidly now. Did the question hit the MC?

RegDwighт

16:43

@Cerberus you know you're the only one who's been polluting the chat with these words, for days on end?

Cerberus

Have I?

RegDwighт

@Robusto if it did, your collecting downvotes helps with getting us off of it in no time.

Cerberus

Then bye-bye, dix points for Cerberus.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus your message has been hanging all this time on the right-hand side.

It just won't go away.

Cerberus

Blame the wall.

It ain't getting no dix points either.

RegDwighт

16:44

It's not signed "The wall". It's signed with your name.

Cerberus

Does a falling tree make a sound if there's noöne there to hear it? Does the tree make a sound every time a recording is played?

RegDwighт

Don't try to distract, you polluter.

We're not done blaming you yet.

Cerberus

I'm a tree, not a polluter.

RegDwighт

Don't try to distract.

We have to discuss your offense.

Cerberus

holds up paws like branches, moves gently in the wind

Ah, you're trying convergent argumentation to reach the verdict that you shall not receive your 10 points?

RegDwighт

16:47

I can't even parse that.

You will be held to your promise.

Robusto

Worse yet, parse is an anagram of rapes.

Also pears, spear, spare, pares, and apers.

A versatile word.

RegDwighт

What kind of reptile?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт By what means?

RegDwighт

By not believing any of your future promises, constantly reminding you of breaking your promise, pinging you twenty times a day, flooding your entire country, stuff like that.

Why and who advertises such constructions on ELU?

Robusto

I don't know the why or the who, but the what is zeugma.

RegDwighт

16:55

I went with syllepsis.

In my suggested edit description, that is.

And I gotta run now.

CU.

Cerberus

Windows Vista was running on 2.2 % of computers after two months; Windows 8 is running on 1.8 % of computers after two months.

Bai.

Johan Larsson

where do you find etymology? I was looking for definition and history of robot but did not like the matches Google gave me.

Cerberus

Etymonline.com

Johan Larsson

ty

It looks like I'm almost the only one starring things, that gives me more power than I should have

Cerberus

No, no, you deserve it.

Johan Larsson

17:04

I will obviously abuse my power

@Cerberus but why?

Cerberus

Because you're worth it.

Think l'Oréal.

Johan Larsson

I'm not a user :)

But the line is quite clever considering the product and the target crowd <- not sure about the end

Cerberus

►

It's totally ridiculous.

That's marketing for you!

Now I have to go.

Later!

Johan Larsson

I wouldn't mind backing over Mila with a tank (likely poorly translated)

Robusto

18:51

> One has to marvel at the might—or hubris—of a military force that invades a sand- and rock-strewn country but brings its own gravel. —Evan Wright, "Generation Kill"

Johan Larsson

True story? Or does gravel mean more than just gravel?

Robusto

19:35

@JohanLarsson It is gravel used as a foundation for temporary bridging, etc.

RegDwighт

2

Q: Is every sentence in a tense?

I know that "tense" indicates time. If that is true, then not every sentence can be indicated of its tense. Please review these sentences: "If I could go to the market , I must have taken breakfast (by now)." "If this great mountain was given my secret, it would have broken." "If she were tall ...

sentence past-tense future-tense present-tense tenses

Is every question of Aleena's more identical than the next?

Johan Larsson

@RegDwighт so we are blue now?

RegDwighт

You're blue. Dabadee dabadeye.

David Wallace

@RegDwighт I see only two, and none of them is identical.

No, my mistake, the first one is.

RegDwighт

I did say "than the next". :P

That is, you have to look at it a certain way.

If you look at it any other way, you'll see Goldie Hawn. Or Bill Gates.

David Wallace

19:41

tries to look at Aleena's questions in any other way

RegDwighт

Why is my MC broken?

I see a red "1" but if I click it nothing happens.

Robusto

@RegDwighт You are Russian. You see a red one everywhere you look.

RegDwighт

Looks at Robusto. Robusto immediately hears Homeland Security knocking on his door.

Mission accomplished.

Robusto

Uh, the thing about Homeland Security? They don't knock.

RegDwighт

They do knock on your front door to distract from the fact that they are going in from the behind.

Well damn, I can't handle flags, either. Someone's messing with the Javascript again.

Restarted browser, still no cigar.

user19161

20:47

So many zombies in this chat!

user19161

@matt Boo!

Matt Эллен

hello @JasperLoy

Have you been up to much this week?

user19161

@MattЭллен Nothing special to say. What naughty things have you been doing?

MετάEd

@RegDwighт We don't need no steenkin' cigar.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy I've done no naughty things :D I've been spending time with my family

user19161

20:51

@MattЭллен New family, I see! That's naughty!

Matt Эллен

but I couldn't get a net connection (stupid old laptop) so I didn't visit EL&U

@JasperLoy New family? no no! Same family as for the last 31 n some years

user19161

@MattЭллен Whoosh!

user19161

Ah, never mind, my jokes are too deep to understand...

Matt Эллен

apparently ... :Þ

MετάEd

@JasperLoy (DELETE) (DELETE) (DELETE)

tchrist

20:56

@Robusto Untrue. I’ve done no hat-gathering today. Fever now 102.6; heading for doctor appointment in a short bit.

I am sure it is strep. It feels like it, and I have had it enough to know.

simchona

@tchrist Maybe it's mono

tchrist

That would be unswell.

Matt Эллен

I hope you're feeling better soon @tchrist

tchrist

The thing is, I never quite recovered from my stomach bug (viral gastroenteritis) of exactly two weeks ago. I really must stop associating with human beings. It is the root of all plague transmission.

@MattЭллен Thanks.

We should find this week’s Science Friday segment on cooking for @Cerb.

It was reasonably engaging.

MετάEd

@tchrist You might also stop associating with pets and farm animals. Many of the really annoying human diseases crossed over from domestic animals when we became an agricultural species.

Don't you hate it when you read what you've written and your jaw drops.

tchrist

21:02

You really shouldn’t be able to get your kitty’s bugs, nor vice versa.

They’re too species specific.

user19161

@tchrist Except for lice.

tchrist

@Cerberus This one, if you can listed to the audio.

MετάEd

Cat scratch fever. Rabies. Toxoplasmosis.

tchrist

Every notice that the checkout clerk thinks you’re sick if you buy ginger ale?

MετάEd

Influenza. Smallpox. (moving on from cats to domestic animals in general)

tchrist

21:05

Look up “Can I catch a cold from my dog/cat?” and observe the answers.

Yes, I know about swine flu and such.

Or kitties bringing home plague or hantavirus.

MετάEd

Plague.

tchrist

Dogs can, too.

MετάEd

jinx

tchrist

But you do not get it from the cat.

MετάEd

It's no use telling me things you can't get from this or that animal. That doesn't go to my point.

tchrist

21:06

I have plague-ridden prairie dogs out my backside. They’re an awful peste.

MετάEd

When we domesticated animals, our life expectancy went way down. It nearly killed off the species. Now we've gotten used to a lot of the diseases that jumped to us from our animals.

It's still clear, though, that many of those pestilences are our fault.

tchrist

BSE

MετάEd

Yes, and very likely HIV if I remember right.

tchrist

Stoney got Moshi Moshi, putting him in third place on ELU. Not bad for four months.

Present company excepted, the only other person with that hat is Barrie, who disdains wearing them.

user19161

I turned off hats even after getting the Mariah hat.

Matt Эллен

21:19

what's the Mariah hat?

user19161

@MattЭллен The one you get for voting on Christmas, the Santa hat that Reg called the Mariah hat.

Matt Эллен

I see!

user19161

Because Mariah wears it in one of her pics.

user19161

And Reg knows I am Mariah's fan.

Matt Эллен

saucey!

user19161

21:20

In fact Mariah is right inside my profile now!

user19161

There can be miracles when you believe --- Mariah Carey & Whitney Houston

user19161

There there...

user19161

Ouvert et haut !

Matt Эллен

Drew Carey and Huston, Texas?

Robusto

21:40

Jim Carey and Sam Houston.

David Wallace

Somebody needs to tell my upstairs neighbour that when a baby is crying uncontrollably, yelling "shut up" at him/her is unlikely to yield the desired result.

RegDwighт

22:09

Nohat is in ur ELU posting answer's lol.....

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

what? noway

Johan Larsson

22:44

@DavidWallace That somebody can be you imo, we have to help you figure out a way to say it that has a reasonable expectancy of success though

Johan Larsson

22:55

Claim: The word deadline comes from a line they would draw around prisons, and if you crossed it, they shot you? True/False?

MετάEd

@JohanLarsson Maybe.

@JohanLarsson But also see: en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deadline#Etymology

Johan Larsson

ok, ty sir. I like the idea of that being the origin so it will be my pick I guess

MετάEd

@JohanLarsson Just remember that reality is that which, when you stop believing it, doesn't go away.

Johan Larsson

@MετάEd I don't understand, read it a couple of times^

MετάEd

Reality does not change when you stop believing it.

Johan Larsson

23:10

ok

MετάEd

@JohanLarsson I'm suggesting that you can pick the origin you like best, but that doesn't make it right.

Johan Larsson

@MετάEd Yes, that makes sense, just that it is not plain wrong is enough for me. Just gonna use it as trivia.

KitFox

23:59

Bummer, no LEGO people here when I am having a LEGO crisis.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…