English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

theUg

00:34

<shameless post-whoring plug> Seriously, people, is this really not better than that? (Misanthrope topic) </shameless post-whoring plug>

theUg

00:56

Or is it the case of TL; DR? Ah, the old comprehension threshold…

Robusto

01:46

@MετάEd No one is allowed to play him. It would be too tiresome for all involved.

TemporaryNickName

@Cerberus cheers

n back

Robusto

02:05

@Reg ^

I got your Soviet sad panda right here.

TemporaryNickName

that panda pic is like combination of all major communist countries

+ it's sad =(

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

04:06

wow, where is everyone tonight

I go to the neighbour's house and attempt to convince her that there is no god, and when I get back, everyone is sleeping.

2

aedia λ

04:19

I'm not sleeping. I'm just supposed to be sleeping.

Instead I am cleaning the kitchen. And getting into the gin. And trying to figure out why even trying to plan a vacation stresses me out.

I think my better half is right about me needing to get out of the house more and see the sunshine. And exercise. And see other human beings, like in person and stuff.

Although I probably won't be happy about it in the morning now that I've told him he ~~can~~ should wake me, not just to say goodbye, at early o'clock when he leaves for work.

Also why I should be sleeping.

poof

Mahnax

05:01

sings songs from Les Misérables

MετάEd

07:31

Good lord, how many hours does it take to deal with a new NS sock puppet?

RegDwighт

09:43

@Robusto thank you. You are a good bolshevik. Lenin will be proud.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 so I take it you couldn't convince her and are a mormon now?

MετάEd

@RegDwighт english.stackexchange.com/users/36795/reghan

RegDwighт

Yes, I am keeping tabs on him.

Several people have been having their suspicions for two days now, including myself. But I am not 100% sure just yet.

MετάEd

Beyond a reasonable doubt as far as I am concerned.

RegDwighт

That's what I would have said after the first question, yes.

But then the style changed.

And two out of three are closed anyway, so I'm not in a hurry.

And I mean, I'm not the only one seeing the flags...

MετάEd

@RegDwighт Second Q is classic NS: posted here and on two other English fora.

> Among, Between - WordReference Forums
forum.wordreference.com › English Only › English OnlyShare1 "Between work, school, and family life, he does not have time for hobbies." 2 "Among work, school, and family life, he does not have time for hobbies." Because ...

> Between and Among?
www.englishforums.com/English/.../bdjzzh/post.htmConcerning the usage of 'between' and 'usage': 1 " Between work, school, and family life, he does not have time for hobbies." 2 " Among work, school, and ...

RegDwighт

09:55

Ah.

That's a new datapoint.

MετάEd

Same with Q3:

> Between - WordReference Forums
forum.wordreference.com › English Only › English Only1 "Between work and school, he had no time to relax." 2 "Between work and school, he still found time to relax." Sentence 1 matches the suggested sentence ...

And those questions have already disappeared from those fora.

Just living ghostly lives as Google search results.

RegDwighт

Okay, that's good enough for me.

MετάEd

@RegDwighт NS seems to take "there's something wrong on the Internet" to an extreme. "There's something maybe grammatically wrong on the Internet."

RegDwighт

I think he's long past that point. It's more like "there's something clearly not wrong on the Internet for once, and that in turn makes it wrong".

MετάEd

Right. This sock puppet had me at "Could the example be bad writing?" hours ago.

yesterday, by MετάEd

Surely this is a NS sockpuppet:

RegDwighт

10:01

I mean, I struggle to remember a single sentence of his that was actually ungrammatical, and it is sort of clear he himself knows that.

MετάEd

@RegDwighт I think "clinical". Not at all clear what he knows about himself.

RegDwighт

Sure, but even crazy people can be perfectly aware they are nuts.

MετάEd

Has this one ever shown real awareness?

RegDwighт

BTW, I could swear we had a related question about troop, like two years ago, but it seems to be gone.

Cerberus

Hello.

MετάEd

10:09

@RegDwighт I looked ... but I could certainly have missed one.

Cerberus

Are you discussing Norton?

MετάEd

@Cerberus Howdy. Howdy. Howdy.

@Cerberus Yes.

Cerberus

woof woof woof

I see.

MετάEd

@RegDwighт Also, the fact that Barrie answered one despite it being a dupe was a dead giveaway. Follow the Barrie Trail.

RegDwighт

@MετάEd not really, no. There are like five Google results in total. Not much to overlook.

MετάEd

10:12

@Cerberus Apparently he got you this time.

RegDwighт

Though of course there was this. :P

Cerberus

Norton got me?

RegDwighт

Seriously, I have no idea what that question even was or where it is now, or where it was back then actually.

MετάEd

@Cerberus Yes: "Locations Worldwide Among Brands" was a NSQ.

@RegDwighт Funny!

Cerberus

Oh, I see.

That question seemed all right.

Ugh, the government has had to nationalise another bank.

Luckily, this one didn't cost 15 % of our GDP.

MετάEd

10:19

@Cerberus Finding a random text on the Internet and asking if it "could be bad writing" is an NS dead giveaway. Also totally off topic (writing/lit crit).

Cerberus

He asked about the preposition.

I explained it.

Should be moved to ELL.

MετάEd

I'd say it also is off topic because it doesn't ask a question "based on actual problems that you face" but in a sort of sad way it does. All his questions are based on an actual problem that he faces. Just not an English language problem.

Cerberus

I disagree.

But I don't think we should be discussing this topic again.

MετάEd

@Cerberus How 'bout them Hawkeyes, then.

Beat Penn State today.

Cerberus

You're trying to talk about sports with me??

My dear fellow.

We might as well discuss the weather.

By the way, why does Mexican State Oil have exploding machines in their HQ?

Sure HQ should merely be an office building?

MετάEd

10:31

@Cerberus I'm just staying away from anything important.

@Cerberus It's cold.

Cerberus

See, there the topic fails already: it's not really cold here.

MετάEd

@Cerberus So we must avoid both the significant and the banal.

Cerberus

Only certain kinds of banality.

I think bananas are on topic.

> In Hindi, "Tu" is said to friends, "Tum" to husband,wife,elder,smaller people and "Aap" to aged people to show respect. Also with respect to closeness "Tu>Tum>Aap"

Hilarious.

Aap = ape in Dutch.

RegDwighт

My inbox is very laconic these days.

Hitesh Dhamshaniya

hello, buddies

how are u doing ?

Hey @Cerberus are you from India ?

RegDwighт

10:55

He's from the East India Company, yes.

Cerberus

@HiteshDhamshaniya Nope! I wish!

@RegDwighт ...

RegDwighт

@Cerberus thank you. Next time use a single point please. I don't have time to waste.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт We only ever got a couple of specks on the coast, alas.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus but only specks on coasts make you feel at home!

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I did use one dot! I used only one dot too! I also used only one dot!

RegDwighт

10:58

You don't want mountains.

Cerberus

Mountains are bad, yes.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus now my inbox is getting polysyllabic. You are evil.

Polysentennic, even.

Cerberus

Polysyllabic, even?

How hard this must be for your poor rat brain.

RegDwighт

Yes, only is totally poly.

I am not a rat. I am a beaver.

Cerberus

Whatever.

RegDwighт

11:00

Said the minotaur.

Cerberus

shrugs

At least I don't have horns.

RegDwighт

You just don't see them. Use a mirror.

Cerberus

Now if you called me Hydra because you didn't care to count heads, that I could understand.

@RegDwighт That's Hades standing behind me.

RegDwighт

Medusa Gorgona.

Cerberus

Gorgo.

RegDwighт

11:01

Welcome to gorgo.com. This is gorgo.com. And welcome.

Cerberus

Yay!

RegDwighт

Ima make me noodles.

Cerberus

-1

A: When enumerating motivations, is it correct to write firstly, secondly, ..., or first, second, ...?

Both ways are used, although firstly, secondly is probably far more common. In an informal text, no-one will object to either. However, traditionally, it should be first, secondly, thirdly etc. Only pedants will insist on this usage, but it is something to be aware of, as there are many pedants. ...

Can someone upvote me?

Kiam is spreading the incorrect statement that "first, secondly, thirdly" would be wrong.

RegDwighт

I give that answer 0.98 Lawlers.

Cerberus

Haha how does that work?

His answer, you mean, or mine?

RegDwighт

11:09

11

Q: Measuring typographical emphasis: the “lawler” and “lawler weight”

RegDwighт said: @Robusto wow, that's formatting to the max. Bold and italics and monospaced and in quotes. John has outlawlered himself.¹ It occurs to me that this is something we can measure. I propose that a single character’s lawler weight (lw) be the standard unit of measure of the typ...

Your answer.

His is nowhere near 0.5.

Cerberus

LMAO (plus eleven more characters). — John Lawler Dec 13 '12 at 4:54

All of my lawlers are functional, nay, even required.

Cerberus

11:27

"Make sure not to mix the two groups: first, second, third; not first, secondly, thirdly." — kiamlaluno 12 mins ago

So wrong.

Apparently NOAD cannot be trusted. Not that I would use it anyway, but I am still shocked.

Johan Larsson

12:47

Hello, looking for a word again. What is the name of the route that an airplane follows when landing on an airport?

Safe route?

Hugo

It's often called the "descent", and before that comes the "approach"

Johan Larsson

would approach path make sense then?

I'm writing code for a robot and I'm thinking that obstacles and stations should be able to tell the robot a path around or to them

Kit

Yes.

Hugo

ok, so descent and approach aren't really what you want then

"safe route" would be ok

Johan Larsson

It was the closest analogy I could think of

Safe route / safe path?

Kit

12:52

I don't understand why approach is not suitable.

Johan Larsson

I use that then

Hugo

approach is ok, it suggests actually going to the thing (an airport for a plane), but it's not necessarily so

Kit

"An approach" suggests anything leading up to it though.

Hugo

approach just means coming close, and the robot can come close (but not too close)

Johan Larsson

I think most of the time the approach and exit will be the same path|route

Hugo

12:54

yep

Johan Larsson

What is the difference between a path and a route btw?

Kit

Uh...a path feels more individual to me.

It also has a sense of creating a trace.

Hugo

a path can be a small track in a road, a route can be a predetermined trip

Kit

A route feels more established.

Johan Larsson

ok I take it they are somewhat similar

Kit

12:56

A path has a sense of actuality. A route feels more theoretic.

They are quite similar in some contexts.

Johan Larsson

Thank you friends

Kit

Oh. And hej!

Cerberus

Hi!

Kit

Morning.

Cerberus

@JohanLarsson So is this route you are talking about in the air, on the ground, or both?

Morming. I actually got up at 11, but good morning to you!

Johan Larsson

13:03

In the air, it is a gantry robot. yes i googled gantry

Cerberus

OK.

Johan Larsson

Similar to that thing

Cerberus

Wtf

scared of big machines

Kit

0

Q: Make like a banana

In my area, it's not unusual to hear expressions like I'm going to make like a banana and split. ...make like a tree and leave. ...make like a baby and head out. ...make like a prom dress and take off. When they are self-referential, they are humorous partings between friends. ...

humor simile

I'm not sure I did a very good job with this question.

The tags can't possibly be right.

@JohanLarsson Cool.

We looked into a gantry for the virtual environment I used to write code for.

Johan Larsson

But a gantry does not feel very virtual?

Kit

13:12

It was for carrying the cables for the headset.

Johan Larsson

ok

I have been naming a lot of things the last couple of days, the results have been in the range pathetic to disastrously poor.

Kit

Mostly I just wanted to mention my work in virtual environments.

@JohanLarsson Better than Adam?

Johan Larsson

Who is Adam?

@Kit Tell us more about it if you have time. Sounds fun.

Kit

Biblical Adam. Wasn't he the namer of things?

@JohanLarsson You are kind. I just wanted to mention it though, and let you think about how cool and awesome I must be.

Johan Larsson

I trust you, read the bible and the Quran but long time ago.

@Kit And on top of that you know that we loved you before!

Kit

13:22

You are good at this. It's like you've done it before.

Johan Larsson

I said it before!

Kit

I haven't read all of the bible or the quran.

I've heard the claim that even for an unbeliever, the bible is a Great Work of Literature.

I feel this is bogus. I can write better things in my sleep.

Johan Larsson

Do you have anything you have written available on the web?

Kit

Oh yes. I thought I'd given you my blog link before?

foxfirekitty.wordpress.com

Not that I think I'm a great writer, but the translations I've read don't really move me.

That's probably obnoxious of me if you're among the faithful though.

Johan Larsson

"Tapping the ashes into the nearest moldy coffee cup" <- What does that mean?

Kit

13:27

Have you smoked?

Johan Larsson

yes

ok understand now, googling moldy

Kit

When you tap the cigarette...ok.

Moldy is overgrown with mold.

Fungus.

Gross.

Johan Larsson

Yeah image search was pretty gross

I'm not one of the faithful, hard to combine it with natural science.

Kit

I agree.

I could never fathom why it wasn't convincing to people when I could stand in a coffeeshop and blaspheme God and nothing happened.

I can even do it right now. Watch. Fuck you, God. Come get me.

See? Nothing.

People just aren't convinced by nothing, I guess.

Novice

KitFox...?

Kit

13:35

Still here.

Haven't been struck dead yet.

Nor for years and years.

Novice

Oh, that is KitFox.

That's a cute panda you have right there.

Kit

Thanks.

I should probably put my fox back on.

So people know it's me.

Novice

Nah, it's cool.

We're no less than spies.

Johan Larsson

@Kit I like the writing style, did not understand the end of the story. Reading the end again

Kit

Oh, it doesn't make sense. I wrote it over lunch so I'd have something done.

Johan Larsson

13:44

Is Red the priest?

Kit

Yeah.

Here. Try this one, it's more polished: Spider

Johan Larsson

This one is about @Cerberus right?

Cerberus

Huh?

Kit

gives funny look

No, not Cerb.

Cerberus

Ah, I have read that one.

Kit

13:47

It's one of my favorites.

Johan Larsson

Yeah it is really good, does not explain much, that makes it interesting. Cliffhanger in the end intentional?

I can not decide if I like the title. If there would have been a spider in the story I would not have liked it.

Whenever I see the word groceries i think @Cerberus :)

Cerberus

Um thanks?

Why me?

You only eat food from your own farm?

Johan Larsson

I only ever read the word groceries from you in this chat. Not meaning that it is all you write about but it is the only place i read it. I Sweden we just say buy food 'mat' when we buy groceries.

Kit

There wasn't a cliffhanger. And the whole thing is about a spider. Did you click the links? There are several pages.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…