English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Cerberus

00:01

Or do you mean to count short and long a as two vowels?

tchrist

@Cerberus Yes, because they are ten different phonemes.

There are minimal pairs that differ only in vowel length. In Latin. Not in English or Spanish.

Also in Finnish.

Dutch?

Here, maybe the COLORS will finally get their attention:

0

A: Fix badge overview page to use proper grammar

Ironinically enough, despite @David’s comment that there allegedly exists a StackExchange site for users who talk English good, the bug still exists there: To be clear, it should not read: 1 Users earned this badge. It should instead read: 1 user earned this badge. On a site where...

Cerberus

@tchrist I don't know, I wouldn't call those separate vowels.

tchrist

There are separate phonemes, aren’t they?

Cerberus

@tchrist I don't think so, probably very few, and those would be exceptions.

@tchrist Yes.

tchrist

Then that is all that matters.

Cerberus

00:12

But we don't normally call them separate vowels, I believe.

tchrist

A long a and short a are different phonemes.

They are phonemically distinct.

I don’t know what else you would like them called.

Cerberus

Phonemes.

tchrist

But long and short e are no longer distinct phonemes in Modern English as they were in Old English.

Cerberus

I can see how you might call them separate "vowels" in certain situations, but normally, it just isn't done, I would say.

tchrist

Do you consider the vowel in Matt to be the same or different from the one in mate?

Cerberus

00:14

If you asked me how many vowels Latin had, I would say five.

In English, it is more complicated. In general, I would say a is a, so the same vowel.

tchrist

Nuts to that.

You are tied to graphemes.

Cerberus

Vocalic phonemes might be more accurate?

tchrist

Vowels are sounds, not letters.

Cerberus

A vowel is not exclusively about sound...

tchrist

It is when you are talking about phonemic shifts.

Cerberus

00:16

"Can I buy a vowel?"

tchrist

Which I am.

Cerberus

I suppose.

tchrist

You have less air in your head than that.

Vanna.

Cerberus

Excuse me?

tchrist

Vanna White the airhead.

Buy a vowel.

Pretty head, nothing in it.

Cerberus

00:17

I'm just saying seeing it written like that looks a little bit odd, that's all. Do with it what you will.

I have no idea who this person is.

tchrist

You said buy a vowel.

Cerberus

You should know better than to refer to films etc.!

tchrist

You are making a cultural reference.

Cerberus

Has Reg taught you nothing? Wait, he still tries it with me all the time...

tchrist

It’s like ordering food in a language you cannot speak.

It will just get you in trouble.

Cerberus

00:17

I don't know what you're talking about.

tchrist

If you make a cultural reference, expect this to be taken up.

You’re the one who made a crass-culture reference.

Cerberus

Let's clear this up for in the future: I know no television series except possibly Star Trek. Okay, a couple more. But not many! And I never remember names. I only know that Picard is ehh I can't think of his name. I wouldn't know the names of any of the other actors.

tchrist

3 mins ago, by Cerberus

"Can I buy a vowel?"

Cerberus

I happen to know that this is a universal phenomenon in game shows.

tchrist

Then next time try Babylon 5, not Wheel of Fortune. Sheesh!

Cerberus

00:20

And I might know one or two Dutch presenters of such shows, that's all.

tchrist

Are they good for a joke, or a light up your smoke?

Cerberus

I have never seen Wheel of Fortune, though I sort of know what it must be about.

tchrist

I bet they’ll bend your ear to tell you so.

Cerberus

Who?

Presenters?

tchrist

Thems.

Cerberus

00:21

I care little for thems.

tchrist

I’m singing. You just can’t hear me.

Cerberus

What a pity!

Then I shall have to content myself with errr Beethoven's so-manieth cello sonata.

Which happens to be the best one ever.

tchrist

ponders

I’m awfully partial to the Bach.

Cerberus

I don't know, I'm not in a Bach phase.

Haven't been since I don't know.

tchrist

Go for it: mania is a terrible thing to waste.

I never play Beethoven when driving.

It is far too dangerous.

Cerberus

00:24

I do love Ich wünsche mir den Tod.

tchrist

I don’t have enough memorized, so I have to read the music. Bad when driving.

Cerberus

Or is it wünschte?

Why do you need to memorize it?

tchrist

To play it without looking.

Cerberus

Or do you mean play Beethoven on the keyboard while driving?

tchrist

Heh.

Cerberus

00:26

That is dangerous indeed.

tchrist

We overload play too much.

Cerberus

Dutch uses spelen v. afspelen.

tchrist

Would spelen be what little children do?

And does it specifically mean play games?

Actually, I avoid Beethoven on the highway, because it gives me a manic lead-foot.

Cerberus

Kinderen spelen.

As in, with marbles.

tchrist

Right.

Cerberus

00:30

Kinderen spelen muziek = normally use an instrument.

Kinderen bespelen een piano.

tchrist

Ahah.

Cerberus

Kinderen spelen [muziek] op een piano.

tchrist

Well, tell them to get off.

Cerberus

Heh.

It could mean that too, in theory.

tchrist

I no longer recall the nuances of the equivalent in German, but it all sounds familiar.

Cerberus

00:32

Kinderen spelen muziek = rarely kinderen spelen muziek af = kinderen draaien muziek = children turn music = children play music on an electronic device, or, originally, no doubt, a grammophone.

Muziek afspelen = to play music from a device. But actually we would usually say muziek draaien or muziek hebben opstaan/aanstaan.

MετάEd

This is translated in English, of course, as "children spoil music".

tchrist

French uses jouer à for a game vs jouer de for an instrument. Spanish uses the cognate jugar for the former, but the completely different tocar (from to touch) for the latter.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Heh, yes, only the vowel...

MετάEd

Professionals do not play music. They work it.

Cerberus

@tchrist Yeah, but I think French is not entirely consistent.

tchrist

00:35

@Cerberus Well, there is also avec and sur.

Cerberus

Ugh.

MετάEd

There's also "swef" and "avaunt".

tchrist

Of course. It’s French.

Cerberus

I don't think they would use avec with instruments.

Or games.

tchrist

They do not.

MετάEd

00:36

@Cerberus Redundant.

tchrist

Well, with toys, yes.

Or with sensibilities.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Who? You?

MετάEd

Or with one's self.

tchrist

Er, I mean sensitivities. Emotions.

MετάEd

@Cerberus "use avec with instruments"

tchrist

00:36

Or little toy soldiers.

MετάEd

One does not play one's self.

Cerberus

@MετάEd Ohhh haha.

MετάEd

Except I suppose when making that farting sound in your armpit.

Cerberus

Wait, what?

MετάEd

Or whistling.

Cerberus

00:37

I thought you meant avec + with.

tchrist

On joue du piano, de la flûte, &c.

MετάEd

@Cerberus There are two threads here. You have to keep up.

@Cerberus Yes.

Cerberus

tired and drunk

tchrist

On joue avec le feu.

MετάEd

@Cerberus Ha! We'll play with avec your head.

Cerberus

00:38

@tchrist Probably...

tchrist

Mais on joue sur les mots.

Cerberus

@MετάEd I'll avec you if you don't quitter!

tchrist

Sais pas pourquoi.

MετάEd

Your tete / your tot.

Your deadhead.

tchrist

Tots.

MετάEd

00:38

Your cap. Your cap a pied.

Cerberus

Sur le pont d'Avignon, l'on y danse, l'on y danse...

MετάEd

Avec sur pie.

Avec sur pie bald.

Your bald head.

Cerberus

Et l'on y joue bien aussi.

MετάEd

I figured you for Dutch. Were you born Aussi?

Or do you just play one?

I must say you play Aussi very well.

tchrist

Laissez les Pies-bavardes voler.

MετάEd

00:42

Au joly jeu du pousse avant, il fait bon jouer.

tchrist

I’m gonna wash your mouth out.

Cerberus

@MετάEd I am an anti-Aussi.

tchrist

Pus.

Antipus.

Cerberus

No, that's what they are.

tchrist

Auntie Puss.

Cerberus

00:44

> I switched to Google Voice years ago and my friends don't even know my real phone number.

I don't understand this. How can your mobile internet connection be stable enough for voice calls everywhere? Voice coverage is way better than 3G coverage.

MετάEd

@tchrist Whose? No backlink in evidence.

tchrist

Whoever is playing the jolly pussy game, that’s whose.

MετάEd

Elle riotte, dance sans notte.

tchrist

data.stackexchange.com/english/query/90849/top-close-voters

data.stackexchange.com/english/query/90803/…

Very negative people. Hm.

Mahnax

sighs

There is syrup in my hair again.

tchrist

00:58

data.stackexchange.com/english/query/91018/…

Even fewer with 10k on both:

That is all there is of those. Plus only two of us with 20k in both.

Find posts ripe for Revival and Necromancer badges.

Mahnax

@tchrist If I wanted to do that with MSO and ELU, what would I replace [StackOverflow]..[Users] with?

I tried [MetaStackOverflow]..[Users] but it didn't work.

Oh, it's [StackOverflow.Meta]..[Users].

tchrist

Right.

It looks like you can actually pull out your secret Meta rep this way.

Mahnax

Really? Neat.

tchrist

For example.

Mahnax

Mine is 704.

tchrist

01:13

Mine is ~3300.

Mahnax

Nice.

Oh, I've got to go. See you!

tchrist

Bye!

@MετάEd You were right.

cornbread ninja

01:40

Evening.

cornbread ninja

01:52

Hello @Robusto

Robusto

Hey.

@tchrist What nonsense is this?

cornbread ninja

I like Lindenhurst. We went to Bob Chinn's for dinner.

Or perhaps Bob Chinns.

Robusto

Cool. Never heard of the place, but that's not surprising. I haven't been back that way in a long while.

cornbread ninja

It's in nearby Wheeling.

Robusto

I know Wheeling.

cornbread ninja

01:58

Ah, it opened in 1982.

tchrist

@Robusto Checking for folks with 10k on both ELU and SO, sorting by ELU.

@Robusto Ok, Billy Joel.

cornbread ninja

There was a stack of free magazines.

Got me a New Yorker.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja Save the Diaereses!™

cornbread ninja

donates

diaereses of the mouth

MετάEd

02:17

That's right up there with the Save The Skeet Foundation.

tchrist

See also the Apostrophic Jihad.

MετάEd

02:31

I suppose we can't use this in answers.

cornbread ninja

@MετάEd Jon Skeet?

@MετάEd comments are fair game.

MετάEd

@cornbreadninja Much as I'd like to ... I think it's probably going to be considered as rude as LMGTFY.

I think the admonition to politeness is important and useful. I just have those moments when I wish I could snark.

cornbread ninja

@MετάEd bleh.

tchrist

03:02

@Alenanno There you go: your meta post is up now. I also gave you a posting in your main, because people were wandering around not quite hitting the target. I fully expect to be shot for distinguishing between inflectional and analytic(al) tenses, but so be it.

0

A: Is redundancy in language really impossible? (Case of the Spanish imperfect subjunctive)

These two forms are not equivalent. It is true that anywhere the -se forms are used in Spanish, the -ra forms can be used, but the opposite is not true. So while both these pairs are fully equivalent: No estaba seguro de que viniera/viniese. [both imperfect subjunctive forms freely interchan...

0

Q: List of most useful NLP resources and tools

The following is an intentional and invited duplicate of a posting on English.Meta. Alenanno nicely asked that I please post it here, too, so here ya go. Three things that probably need fixing: Feel free to edit this main posting to adjust for non-English-specific tools. Please make this com...

discussion

tchrist

05:41

OE length-based minimal pairs:

> on bær lic (on the bare body)

> sie seo bǣr gearo (let the bier be ready)

> creow se coc (the cock crew)

> spræc se cōc (the cook spake)

> Nys nan man gōd, buton god ana (No one is good but God alone)

> þa bead he ful gyld to his here (The he commanded full tribute for his army)

> byrgen utan fæger, and innan fūl (a sepulchre fair outside, and foul within)

> In MnE, the vowels in the pairs of words bare/bier, cock/cook, good/God, full/foul are clearly different in quality. In OE they were probably only different in quantity. The sounds must have been similar enough to justify the same spelling. They were written with the same letter, but one vowel is short, the other long.

> Sometimes the written long vowels were marked with an accent - <cóc>, or a vowel-letter would be doubled to mark a long vowel - <goos>, <tiid>, which became common in the following Middle English period. But there was no general need to mark vowel length, because the context of the word would prevent any ambiguity of meaning.

> So, pairs of OE words with vowels which were spelt with the same letter have reflexes in MnE with vowels different in quality of sound as well as quantity (either short or long) as a result of later sound changes. The OE vowels differed in length only, and this was sufficient to mark differences of meaning.

Another minimal pair was hwæt what and hwæte wheat.

> The evidence, then, that long and short vowels with the same quality were different in OE, and affected the meaning of words, comes partly from the big differences to be seen in words which have come down into MnE with vowels of different quality. These shifts of quality in long vowels began to happen at the end of the ME period, between the 14th and 16th centuries, and are described as the Great Vowel Shift.

> So the number of pure or single vowels in OE is fourteen, twice the number of vowel-letters used in the OE alphabet, for each letter is used to represent a short and a long vowel.

@Cerb See the preceding quote for the idea that there were 14 vowels, each using one of seven letters in a short vs long form. This is how they talk about these things, which is why I said I did regarding Latin: it had 10 pure or single vowels, using 5 letters to denote these.

7 letters but 14 vowels.

Oh my. OE also had phonemic length is its consonants, with minimal pairs there too!

hopian [hopiən] to hope
hoppian [hopːiən] to dance, hop
cwelan [kwelən] to die
cwellan [kwelːən] to kill

> In OE, double consonant-letters represented consonant sounds which were pronounced long, differently from single short consonants. They became simplified in time to short consonants, but the double letter spelling was often retained, especially if the consonant was at the end of a word, as in eg, bucc (buck), eall (all), hyll (hill).

tchrist

07:03

coleopterist

07:47

What's with this MW3UDE business in each and every one of @BillFranke's comments?

tchrist

Which is that now?

@coleopterist Perhaps some reference book that he figures we are expected to know his initialism of?

coleopterist

Comment: "Main Entry:life assurance Function:noun chiefly Britain : LIFE INSURANCE" (MW3UDE)

tchrist

Yes, but I do not know what that means.

He didn’t condescend to provide a link, if it is an online resource. It may not be.

coleopterist

@tchrist Possibly a HAM call-sign according to GOOG. But it also happens to point to Wales rather than Taiwan. shrug

Matt Эллен

08:46

Merriam Webster 3rd US Digital Edition?

I made that up, I have no idea what edition the digital form of MW is

Matt Эллен

09:16

Or maybe the U means Unabridged

RegDwighт

10:04

@MετάEd depends on how you pitch it. I have personally linked to it on at least one occasion.

Let me introduce you to Bob the Angry Flower: one, two. However, I am not posting this as an answer because I'm not sure if the question is actually on-topic for this site. — RegDwighт Feb 23 '11 at 18:34

Since nobody has linked to Bob the Angry Flower just yet, I might as well do it myself. — RegDwighт Jan 13 '11 at 17:46

And look at the reception. Several upticks on each, and even this from the dog himself:

@Reg: He has stolen my heart already. Reminds me of Donnie from You Suck at Photoshop, really the best way to learn Photoshop and be entertained at the same time. — Cerberus Jan 13 '11 at 17:57

Robusto

11:09

@MattЭллен: You don't slip when you stand on a banana peel. Only when you step on it. FTFY.

@RegDwighт I' tend' to a'dd apostrophe's w'he're'er 'I w'a'n't. I's th'is wr'ng?

RegDwighт

Your a focksickle.

Matt Эллен

11:35

@Robusto thanks!

lol @slomojo

RegDwighт

11:47

0

A: How to write numbers in words

How to write US Dollar 305000.00 in wards

I think he meant warts.

Matt Эллен

I think he meant inwards

pourjour

hi people

I have a question

do we conjugate verbs after prepositions?

Matt Эллен

if you like. Is there a particular example you have in mind?

I have a positive example: "Well, then in runs the chief, all out of breath"

pourjour

not at this moment

@MattЭллен out of is the verb?

Matt Эллен

@pourjour run is the verb, in is the preposition

pourjour

12:00

@MattЭллен so you can either conjugate the verb or let it as it is?

Matt Эллен

by conjugate, do you mean "use in a finite form"?

there are times when the infinitive form is appropriate and times when it's not

e.g. "he can't out catch me"

where out means "do better than"

hmm, but that's not a preposition

I suppose my first example is actually an adverb

tchrist

It is not a separate word. Outcatch, outclass, outfight, outfox, out-gun, outnumber, outlive, output, outrun, etc.

Matt Эллен

@pourjour I'm not sure I can think of a sentence where the word before the verb is a preposition and not an adverb.

tchrist

It comes from thinking too hard. It makes for eating messily.

Matt Эллен

ah, well, there you go!

tchrist

12:12

Gerunds.

Forgive and forget, forsake and forswear.

overwhelm and overstate.

But not attune or attaint.

Bypass.

withdraw, withstand, withhold.

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен just cut to the chase.

@pourjour no.

Matt Эллен

you don't want to withdraw too hard

pourjour

@RegDwighт any proofs?

tchrist

To is not a preposition.

RegDwighт

@pourjour proofs of what?

You can't prove a negative proposition.

The ball is in your court now.

pourjour

12:17

@RegDwighт that we don't conjugate verbs after preposition

RegDwighт

You prove that we do "conjugate verbs after prepositions".

Whatever that even means.

tchrist

An existence proof would suffice. Good luck with that.

pourjour

@RegDwighт put the verb in tenses or just like adding s for (he/she/it)

tchrist

This one may need more than luck.

RegDwighт

I know what "conjugate" means.

But I have no idea what "conjugate verbs after prepositions" means.

In any language, mind you. Not just English.

pourjour

12:20

@RegDwighт I'm comparing english with french because in french we don't conjugate verb after preposition we put them in infinitif

Matt Эллен

I wonder what triggered that!

RegDwighт

Since you can't name a single example, you are not really comparing.

tchrist

Well, you can inflect an infinitive in Portuguese for person and number, but it still not a finite form. É importante estudarmos a gramática. It’s important for us to study grammar.

RegDwighт

If you did compare, you'll probably immediately find out that French (and Italian and other Romance languages) work completely differently anyway.

tchrist

But Portuguese is weird.

RegDwighт

12:23

They use infinitive where in English it simply isn't possible.

Which is how we can easily tell Carlo or Kiamlaluno from other users.

tchrist

A fim de eu terminar o livro, escrevi toda a noite. In order for me to finish the book, I wrote all night long.

pourjour

@RegDwighт for example in french ("je vais à l'école pour s'instruire")

RegDwighт

Yes, that is French.

tchrist

It’s also a pure infinitive.

RegDwighт

Yeah.

pourjour

12:26

the verb here is "s'instruire" it's infinitive

because it's after a preposition

pour

tchrist

Antes de eu jogar o papel fora, copiei a informação. Before my throwing away the paper, I copied the info.

pourjour

how about in english is there such rules

tchrist

Para ela terminar o trabalho, lhe deram mais tempo. For her to finish the book, they gave her more time.

Matt Эллен

13

Q: 'The X-ing of Y' vs just 'X-ing Y' : why are both 'the' and 'of' necessary together?

Take the example of There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by catching, ignoring or masking SIGSYS (From the SIGSYS article) This can be rewritten as There is very little that a conforming POSIX.1 application can do by the catching, ignoring or masking of SI...

gerund grammatical-structure

RegDwighт

@pourjour Would you please construct the same sentence in English?

That's all we've been asking for for like half an hour now.

We know how French works; but your question is about English.

0

A: Was "book" to "beek" as "foot" is to "feet"?

I've always assumed a partial explanation was that the fact that saying 'foots' in polite German society would be unwise as it's too close to a very rude word for another part of the (female) body. Or is that just coincidence?

Oh come on.

Matt Эллен

12:28

lunches

RegDwighт

Poor Jez.

tchrist

Strength.

I even gave him i-mutation, because umlaut was taken.

Most unfortunately.

Até eles compreenderem a lição, eles estudam. Till their understanding the lesson, they study.

RegDwighт

That's not that far from what's possible in English. Unlike in "para ela terminar".

tchrist

Those are all weirdo infinitives with personal inflections. With French or Spanish, you need to use a subordinate clause, usually in the subjunctive. Portuguese is just weird. But they do that a lot, like for us to know in lieu of Spanish para que sepamos, which is finite.

For her to finish. Yes, you can do it in English.

RegDwighт

Yeah.

As long as the pronoun is in there, it's safe.

Oh, I forgot to delete "ela" from my pasta.

tchrist

12:34

A distinctive trait of Portuguese grammar (shared with Galician and Sardinian) is the existence of infinitive verb forms inflected according to the person and number of the subject:
É melhor voltar, "It is better to go back" (impersonal)
É melhor voltares, "It is better that you go back"
É melhor voltarmos, "It is better that we go back"

Depending on the context and intended sense, the personal infinitive may be forbidden, required, or optional.
Personal infinitive sentences may often be used interchangeably with finite subordinate clauses. In these cases, finite clauses are usually associ…

pourjour

@RegDwighт I'm going to school to study

tchrist

Portuguese grammar

Portuguese grammar, the morphology and syntax of the Portuguese language, is similar to the grammar of most other Romance languages—especially that of Spanish, and even more so to that of Galician. It is a relatively synthetic, fusional language. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and articles are moderately inflected: there are two genders (masculine and feminine) and two numbers (singular and plural). The case system of the ancestor language, Latin, has been lost, but personal pronouns are still declined with three main types of forms: subject, object of verb, and object of preposition. Most...

pourjour

to study I see here that's in infinitive

tchrist

So?

You haven’t shown anything but infinitives. For conjugation, it takes finite forms. Or some sort of inflection at the very least.

You don’t hope to am something. You hope to be it.

RegDwighт

The "to" is funny. It's overloaded.

tchrist

12:37

Yeah.

RegDwighт

As can be easily shown by replacing it with "in order to".

tchrist

Try in order to, for to, other things people hate.

RegDwighт

One of your favorites, IIRC.

tchrist

jinx

RegDwighт

But as soon as you replace it with the other equivalent of "pour", for, it's business as usual.

tchrist

12:41

I want to sleep ≠ I went to sleep.

RegDwighт

Clearly the only way to get rid of this mess is by using 2 instead.

tchrist

> Catholic priests practiced a strict obstructionism against mutos, a form of improvised sung poetry where two or more poets are assigned a surprise theme and have to develop it on the spur of the moment in rhymed quatrains.

Thou shalt not rhyme.

RegDwighт

I want 2 sleep = I want 2 slip = I 2 want slip = LOL

tchrist

> A mutu is a type of improvised sung poetry found in Sardinia. These are traditionally sung mostly by women in response to the male for of this type of improvisation called Battorinas. Mutos consist of paired verses, usually one slightly longer than the other (for example 3 + 4 lines). The first is known as the isterrina and the second as the torrada, with the torrada repeating part of the isterrina.

I think they a word out.

> response to the male for of this type of

> The plural of mutu in Sardinian is mutos. However, they are variously also known as muttu, mutettu, repentina or ottada.

Mutos I don’t get. Repentina makes more sense.

Mutettu

Su mutettu è una forma di improvvisazione poetica tipica della Sardegna meridionale, in dialetto campidanese (mentre al nord si hanno mutu e battorina, in logudorese). Vi sono due tipi di mutettus: brevi (o mutetus a dus peis) e lunghi (muttettu longu o a otu peis). Il mutettu lungo si basa su una metrica alquanto complessa, e solo pochi cantadoris in grado di improvvisare il mutettu breve sono in grado di comporre correttamente su mutetu longu. All'interno di questa composizione, sia lunga che breve, si differenziano due parti: una sterrina, di otto versi (a volte anche 9 o 10) nel caso ...

What was that costume-flick about the courtesan from Venice?

Cerberus

@pourjour After a preposition, we use a gerund in English, a form on -ing. However, to is the exception: it occasionally takes a gerund, but usually an infinitive. Never any finite forms.

tchrist

12:50

I object to singing in the morning.

Cerberus

So pour s'instruire would be in order to instruct oneself or such.

Where instruct is the infinitive.

tchrist

Dangerous Beauty

Dangerous Beauty (1998) is a biographical drama film directed by Marshall Herskovitz. It is adapted from the non-fiction book The Honest Courtesan, by Margaret Rosenthal, (also the title of the UK video release), about the life of Veronica Franco (played by Catherine McCormack), a courtesan in 16th century Venice. A stage musical version of the film premiered on July 25, 2008 at Northwestern University's Ethel M. Barber Theatre. The musical features book and verse by Jeannine Dominy (the screenwriter of the film), lyrics by Amanda McBroom, and music by Michele Brourman under the directi...

She was doing that naughty rhymed couplet improv. No wonder the priests hated her. Thou shalt not rhyme.

Did you strand a preposition? No, but I want to.

RegDwighт

Hah.

That's like a stranded preposition and a split infinitive in one!

tchrist

It took me a while.

To isn’t particularly tractable.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…