English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

user19161

1:00 PM

Sure he edited the question but it is still unclear.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт And I don't feel that is counter to sportsmanship. It is contingent.

tchrist

@Cerberus We call being below the ground in Holland being all wet.

Cerberus

Ah, but we have these artifices called dykes.

KitFox

Which badge?

Cerberus

Noöne gets wet.

KitFox

1:00 PM

Sportsmanship?

Cerberus

Yes.

tchrist

@Cerberus No, you don’t. You have huts on chicken legs.

KitFox

I thought everyone had that.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus but we were discussing the Sportsmanship badge at that time. So I took your post to mean you'll only upvote competing answers if you have a comfortable lead.

Cerberus

@tchrist We do have terps, but they are Frisian, not Hollandish.

user19161

1:01 PM

@kitfox Did you ask about CentOS long ago? Are you using it now?

KitFox

@JasonBourne No and no.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox everyone thinks they deserve it but none are willing to give it out

KitFox

I've given it out plenty in my day.

user19161

They suggested giving a backstabber badge for downvoting 100 competing answers in the math room.

tchrist

@Cerberus If you say so, Baba.

KitFox

1:02 PM

I can think of one user who would get that badge on this site.

user19161

@KitFox Let me guess...

Cerberus

tchrist

user19161

Erm it must be Kris?

Cerberus

Houses and other buildings built on mounds.

Quite cool.

No wet feet, as you can see in the picture.

user19161

1:04 PM

Kris has 973 up and 614 down.

tchrist

Cerberus

OMG huge pictures.

My Nokia 3310 can't handle it.

tchrist

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен has 78 competing answers on 65 questions.

user19161

I have 7727 up and 1284 down. I need to up more and down less.

Cerberus

1:06 PM

Building a house on stilts is in no way effective or economical.

RegDwighт

Избушка на курьих ножках

Избу́шка на ку́рьих но́жках — жилище персонажа русских сказок, Бабы-Яги, «Избушка, избушка! Стань к лесу задом, ко мне передом», «Повернись туды дворцом, сюды крыльцом», «Воротись, избушка, к лесу глазами, ко мне, молодцу, воротами»). История образа Возникновение образа Избушки на курьих ножках исторически связывается с деревянными срубами, которые в древности на Руси ставились на пеньки с обрубленными корнями, чтоб предохранить дерево от гниения. По смыслу сказочного повествования Избушка на курьих ножках преграждает герою путь к его волшебной цели и в то же время является единстве...

Robusto

I think answers should have tags the same way questions do. I propose nonsense as the first of many useful tags.

Cerberus

That's what earth is for.

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт so I can't even get the badge yet. dang nab it

KitFox

0

Q: "et al" usage question migration

Someone recently asked a question on Academia related to the usage of "et al" in a sentence. We closed it as off-topic, and we want to know whether it's fit for a migration to your site.

Cerberus

1:07 PM

Really great picture of a terp.

RegDwighт

Hah. That image actually only reminded me of that cabin the Wikipedia article is about. I only noticed the article uses the exact same image after it got inlined here.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт You're crazy.

tchrist

Matt Эллен

huge image hosted not at imgur. omg. how could you. now you have stolen my identity

user19161

@KitFox I think this is a good question.

Cerberus

1:09 PM

tchrist

@MattЭллен How ’bout dem tailless kitties?

user19161

@tchrist Reminds me of Sai Baba, the cheat in India.

Robusto

@tchrist Very Modest of you.

tchrist

I’m left handed.

Cerberus

user19161

1:10 PM

@tchrist Same here. Fools seldom differ.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist they terrorise the tourists and get right in the way during the motorbike racing season.

Cerberus

Umm you dropped something. Can you come pick these up please?

user19161

@Cerberus Is that Kit in the pic?

Cerberus

Who knows?

Matt Эллен

wait, I mean... I live in Oxford and have never heard of a manx cat

Cerberus

1:11 PM

Oh I have to go.

Later!

user19161

@Cerberus Poof!

Matt Эллен

CU @Cerberus

tchrist

@JasonBourne She is resting under the troll’s chin. Best be gone by nightfall.

Cerberus

poof

Robusto

@MattЭллен Hey, Matt, John Lawler says he can't access the blog. Is there a problem? I noticed the other day it seemed to be down.

Matt Эллен

1:11 PM

let me check...

user19161

Is Matt in charge of the blog? Should he be given a ruby instead of a diamond?

Matt Эллен

@Robusto I can get to the public side and the admin side, so it seems fine at the moment.

Robusto

Alas I can't log in to the blog, for some technical reason. — John Lawler 8 hours ago

user19161

@Robusto I found out who Hugh Jass is, you mentioned him that day.

KitFox

So the Sportsmanship badge...@Reg are you figuring out who could get it? I feel like i must be eligible, but I don't really want to go count.

@Robusto Does he have permissions?

Have I been missing the Lawler at the blog meetings?

user19161

1:15 PM

@kit Your new fox is very pretty.

KitFox

Not that I go to those.

@JasonBourne Thanks. A friend gave it to me.

Matt Эллен

Barrie England has access. I don't think Lawler has asked to post

Robusto

@KitFox I dunno. He would no doubt be a valuable contributor, so he ought to get them.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox I have changed the time to be 3pm GMT, so that only I can attend.

KitFox

@Robusto I agree.

@MattЭллен It's on my consulting day, so I can't goof off.

user19161

1:17 PM

Is Kristina Lopez related to Jennifer Lopez?

Matt Эллен

define related

user19161

Fumble Fingers seems to have fallen in love with her.

Matt Эллен

15 hours ago, by Shog9

I'm not convinced you can blame that on the Israelis

user19161

@MattЭллен I don't get it, but never mind.

Matt Эллен

@JasonBourne it's a non-sequitr, I thought you'd like it

user19161

1:19 PM

@MattЭллен Ah!

RegDwighт

@KitFox yeah I'm tallying stuff.

user19161

4 more committers to private beta for ELL!

user19161

I am so excited even though I am not joining!

Robusto

Hmm, I perceive that someone is going for the Sportsmanship badge. Naming no names.

KitFox

@RegDwighт Do multiple votes count, or only one per question?

@Robusto Hmm, I thought I was being transparent. But I'm concerned that I will trigger a script.

user19161

1:21 PM

@Robusto Ah, you don't have it!

RegDwighт

I think only one per question. Otherwise you could get Sportsmanship for one question alone.

8360 KitFox 217 122 91

KitFox

Since apparently someone is often posting competing answers.

Robusto

@KitFox You very well may.

RegDwighт

217 answers, 122 competing on 91 questions.

tchrist

Funniest thing I have read all morning:

@StoneyB - before we click on the link can you clarify which of tchrist's definitions you are explaining how to make ;-) — mgb 9 hours ago

user19161

1:22 PM

Ah! It seems most people in this room don't have Sportsmanship Badge!

RegDwighт

Déjà vu.

KitFox

So I would need to upvote an answer on every question where I have +1 answer, and then do nine more.

tchrist

*lu

KitFox

Is that right?

user19161

I am so proud of myself for being a Sportsman.

RegDwighт

1:23 PM

Well, depends on your definition of "right".

Some might say it's not right to upvote crap.

KitFox

Assuming that there are answers worthy of upvoting.

tchrist

@KitFox Worthiness does not factor into the metric.

KitFox

@tchrist I wasn't talking about the metric.

I wonder how close I am. A lot of the ones I have looked at, I've already upvoted a competing answer.

tchrist

This needs help:

0

Q: When would I use "transience" vs "impermanence"?

I was looking for the translation of the German word "Vergänglichkeit", and the most suitable candidates from the contexts I looked at seemed to be impermanence and transience. I found the following text samples via linguee.com where the two words are used in contexts comparable to mine. From th...

word-choice

Matt Эллен

The batsman was stood on his crease
Wanting the bowling cease
he was getting quite hot
in a match fixing plot
hoping not to be caught by police

user19161

1:25 PM

@tchrist What sort of help?

tchrist

How are ELUers supposed to know the best translation for Vergänglichkeit, something he never defines?

RegDwighт

So I have narrowed it down to 50 people now. At least one of them banned, at least one other one inactive.

user19161

@tchrist Well, depends on how you want to interpret his question. Rather than see it as translation, one can just elaborate on the difference between the two English words.

user19161

Technically, he didn't ask for a translation, but used the translation as context for his question on word choice.

tchrist

@JasonBourne Not Constructive.

user19161

1:28 PM

@tchrist It could be a great question on subtle differences rather than that.

tchrist

@JasonBourne Guessing what the poster wants is hardly constructive.

KitFox

Ugh. I'm tired of this already.

tchrist

Bye!

user19161

@KitFox It's OK, you can get the badge another day, no hurry.

RegDwighт

@JasonBourne the problem is that the choice is all about translation. We can tell him how to choose between the two words in situation X, but not in his situation.

His situation is undefined.

KitFox

1:30 PM

!Div0

user19161

@RegDwighт Dear R has provided an answer.

RegDwighт

Though of course the question is more fleshed out than most questions we get.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Which is why I answered generally. They are synonyms. End of story.

Matt Эллен

ah! so: "How do I choose between transience and impermanence when dividing by zero?"

RegDwighт

@Robusto Yeah.

You forgot to say they are perfect synonyms, though.

You should have added "technically,", too.

Technically, they are perfect synonyms.

Yeah.

KitFox

1:31 PM

Now I need to answer to I can have a competing... sigh. I'm going to go get coffee.

RegDwighт

@KitFox why do you care about a stupid badge all of a sudden? Just because Jasper mentioned it? Come on, he mentions fifty stupid stuffs a day.

2

Robusto

@RegDwighт You're being kind. Surely the number is not that low.

KitFox

@RegDwighт No, because you were doing stats.

RegDwighт

@Robusto That's the highest number I know, though.

Robusto

@RegDwighт Lies.

Nov 22 '12 at 15:45, by RegDwighт

Russia: OVER 9000, China: OVER 9000 times OVER 9000.

user19161

1:33 PM

@RegDwighт Tru dat.

KitFox

►

RegDwighт

@Robusto how is that higher than 50?

Matt Эллен

it's over 9000

Robusto

Do you mean high in the drug sense?

RegDwighт

I mean high as in hello.

tchrist

1:34 PM

@Robusto I almost like “fugitive ephemerae” (not ephemerides), but that’s musty mumblespeak.

Robusto

That's spelled OHAI.

Do you mean fugacious?

tchrist

That, too.

You can use fugitive to mean fugacious, although I agree it is not the primary sense that springs to mind in today’s writers.

RegDwighт

I can use fugitive to mean "orange elephant".

tchrist

fugitive (adj): fleeing, esp from arrest or pursuit — not permanent; fleeting; transient — moving or roving about

RegDwighт

> The fugitive visited a supermarket yesterday.

See?

user19161

1:37 PM

A fugitive is a fungal incentive.

tchrist

That was no fugitive, it was merely a transient.

RegDwighт

It was an orange elephant.

I saw it with my own eyes.

tchrist

Daltonism.

user19161

@dumb Why purple? Because it stimulates creativity?

Matt Эллен

that's not news. seeing it with someone else's eyes, that's news.

RegDwighт

1:38 PM

Daltonism International Speedway.

Dumb Cow

@JasonBourne I am not so cool at cognitive stuff. But I like purple.

user19161

@DumbCow I think purple is the ugliest colour.

Matt Эллен

that's just because it has a higher frequency than blue and you're jealous.

tchrist

@JasonBourne Try spectral colors. They are better.

@MattЭллен That is just so wrong.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist oh you and your science.

you can prove anything even remotely true with facts

tchrist

1:40 PM

Violet has a higher frequency than blue. Purple is not spectral.

Robusto

Red is lower in frequency.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist purple is violet

Robusto

Purple is violent. Just look at a bruise.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Reading Pravda again, eh?

Robusto

Wah, I don't want to go to work today.

tchrist

1:41 PM

Purple is no more violet than pink is red. Everyone knows that pink is purple.

But pink is not violet. QED.

Matt Эллен

pink is red+white. everyone knows that

tchrist

No, it is not.

It is red and blue, with a little green.

Matt Эллен

clearly you're not up on things

if I mix red and white, I get pink

Robusto

Feathers may be down on things.

tchrist

You do not “mix white”.

Pink is a desaturated purple.

Matt Эллен

1:43 PM

don't let your son... etc

user19161

Depends on whether it is light or paint.

tchrist

You desaturated by adding in the missing color.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist I mix white with red when necessary

Robusto

0

Q: How to use the word "wagered"

In a game of slot machines, can you call a payline you bet on "a wagered payline"?

vocabulary

Whoa. This may be the most important question ever asked.

tchrist

Since purple is red and blue, adding green whitens it.

user19161

1:43 PM

The word mwahahaha appears in ODO.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto the dog waggered its tail when it was happy

user19161

oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/mwahahaha

tchrist

@JasonBourne I’m a light-writer, not a mud-dauber.

Robusto

@MattЭллен Except @Cerberus wags his heads, not his tails. He is a poor substitution for the randomness of a coin toss.

tchrist

@MattЭллен White is not a spectral color. Speak in spectral colors only, please. Otherwise I’m just going to paint the ceiling beige and think of England.

user19161

1:46 PM

I have 2 stars on the wall, amazing.

Dumb Cow

@JasonBourne The word troll was also added to ODO last year.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist you should speak in paint colours only, then at least you'd be able to make pink.

user19161

@DumbCow I am a troll.

tchrist

@JasonBourne Mirabile visu, not.

Dumb Cow