English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

MετάEd

02:17

@Mitch The answer is this is not an English question.

tchrist

03:08

1

Q: Using plural last name as a company name?

So let's assume my last name is Norton and I'm starting a publishing company. I want it to be "Nortons, Limited". It is quite common to use plurals in company names (e.g. Waterstones, Halfords), but I did a small research and haven't found any single media/publishing company that uses plural last...

grammatical-number

“So let’s assume my last name is NORTON. . .” Hah!

Limited Nortons.

I think we have unlimited Nortons, but not all the world is so blessed.

MετάEd

05:06

Invasion of the Nortonns

@Epitorial There is a reverse dictionary option at onelook.com

TemporaryNickName

05:59

omg I've realized something really funny

when I was in highschool, dudes used to tell me a word "wagging" (skipping school)

I have not heard of it before so I thought they were saying wanking !!

Epitorial

Thanks, @MετάEd & @MattЭллен.

@tchrist, I'm glad that I don't have Norton as my antivirus.

MετάEd

@Epitorial So is your PC.

TemporaryNickName

06:38

guys why do you have to give tip when u go to restaurant in America?

MετάEd

@TemporaryNickName In the US, the waitstaff are paid partly by hourly wage, partly by commission on sale. The commission on sale is paid directly by the patron in the form of a "tip", which is a commission of usually 15--20%.

@TemporaryNickName As for why that is, it's simply the system that evolved over time. I suppose there are some economists who have studied and formed opinions about how that happened.

TemporaryNickName

I think it's pretty cool culture because in Australia if someone gives me tip (rarely happens) and boss sees it and take it away from me

he said it's part of restaurant money

MετάEd

@TemporaryNickName It seems cool until you realize that the hourly wage is correspondingly less.

It's also conceivable that a system could arise in which the waitstaff are paid pure commission with no hourly wage at all. In that case, of course the commission would be more than 15--20%.

In your case, in Australia, the commission is 0 and the hourly wage is correspondingly more.

TemporaryNickName

ok

now that sounds pretty suck

what is reaction when u don't give tip to the waitstaff in america?

do they suddenly go grumpy?

or punch u?

MετάEd

@TemporaryNickName They remember you.

TemporaryNickName

06:48

so what do they do when you go back to the restaurant again?

MετάEd

What would you do?

TemporaryNickName

I really don't know

I just don't understand why do you have to give tip

MετάEd

The "tip" is a commission on sale. It is tied to service by making it customary instead of required. If a customer fails to pay, though, then they cannot expect any good service the next time they come into the restaurant. They might as well never go to that restaurant again, it won't be worth the visit.

Except, of course, in the very rare situation where the tip is withheld because there was, in fact, very bad service. In that situation, too, you probably just would not bother going back though.

TemporaryNickName

alright, but do u give tip to waitstaff at Mcdonald?

or KFC?

what happens when you are ordering at drivethru?

TemporaryNickName

07:09

People don’t say ‘You’re Welcome’. They are more likely to go ‘Uh-huh’ after you thank them for something. Like ‘Uh-huh’ is somehow a word??

that's so weird as hell!

Epitorial

07:28

They don't have enough confidence, I guess, or not used to saying the phrase.

Noah

@MετάEd The tip is something you give to the pizza guy. Specially when he is from Domino. Pizza Hut and the others suck.

Robusto

11:31

Is ELU down?

Guess so.

Matt Эллен

11:48

SE is down

apart from chat...

I guess the NYC data centre is having problems

> We have lost all connectivity with our New York data center, hang on while we try and get things back online..

chat is hosted in Oregon

I think

not NY, anyway

I had just spend a good few minutes writing an answer on ELL, too :(

Cerberus

Aww.

It is time they buried their power and data lines underground like a real country.

ducks

Matt Эллен

ducks don't use power lines

unless they're migratory

Cerberus

But...they are so nice to sit on!

Matt Эллен

not for ducks, they have webbed feet

Cerberus

Besides, I don't mean the long-distance power lines should be underground: those you just have to make really robust.

They can't sit on power lines?

Matt Эллен

11:57

I don't know. They can't grip them, so... I've not seen any sit on power lines.

but I don't spend a lot of time looking at power lines

Cerberus

Your life must be exciting, then!

If you're too good for watching power lines.

Matt Эллен

oh yeah. unbelievably so. I'd tell you about it, but it might give you aheart attack

Cerberus

Yes. Please don't.

Hehe.

Hah! The Pope is abdicating. Great.

Matt Эллен

already! what for?

also, SE is back up

0

A: "the wife" instead of "my wife", are there any other contexts where a possessive pronoun gets replaced by a definite article?

Using the instead of my in "the wife" does change the meaning of a sentence its used in, subtly. Assuming the woman in question is the wife of the speaker, compare It's my wife on the phone. to It's the wife on the phone. Using the instead of my puts a bit of social distance between...

Cerberus

@MattЭллен His health.

@MattЭллен Yay!

Matt Эллен

12:12

@Cerberus oh. no political scandal then. oh well.

Cerberus

+1

Alas, no. Unless the real reason is leaked later this week...

Ugh, how do you spell "more critical" in Dutch?

Critischer?

Kritischer?

Critiser?

Y NO1 SPEAK DUTCH

tchrist

Because you never founded Brazil.

Robusto

There's nothing random here. 17 or 67 stands nowhere against millions of instances of usage, including in literature. Going into denial helps only so far and no more. :) — Kris 6 hours ago

Kris is doubling down on his obstreperousness.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus thanks :D

Robusto

I will say that's a nice answer for me to go out on, though. End on a high note and all.

tchrist

12:23

@Robusto Notice my bet was deleted for being not nicey-nice enough.

Robusto

I saw that. Wondered where it went.

I thought it was nice enough. Certainly less confrontational than a lot of comments.

Cerberus

@tchrist Excuse me?

Robusto

@tchrist More of a dare than a bet, I think. But I saw no reason for its deletion.

Cerberus

We did Brazil.

Robusto

And I note, with some satisfaction, that the score against him is 81-1 and counting.

@Cerberus That doesn't make you Carioca.

tchrist

12:28

The males in my life named Kris have been few and far between, at least in comparison with females by that name. With Chris, it’s the other way.

Cerberus

@Robusto Jo?

By the way, you should say indefinite article, not article.

Because you can use the.

Matt Эллен

predefinite particle

this is the advice

Robusto

@Cerberus True. But I was eliding the adjective.

Matt Эллен

lol

lunches

Robusto

munches

bunches

hunches

punches

@Cerberus In any case, however, the example was an indefinite article and no definite article was mentioned, so the context was clear.

tchrist

12:31

You missed a few.

Robusto

crunches

Cerberus

@Robusto I don't think you should the.

@Robusto Yeah OK.

In any case, it appears "an advice" was used in earlier times.

But it sounds off in modern English.

tchrist

scrunches

Robusto

brunches

I'm sore from shoveling and I accidentally slopped some boiling water onto my bare foot last night. I'm a mess.

Cerberus

Okay, we have been provided an interesting opportunity.

We may be able to find out Kris's country of residence.

tchrist

12:36

The three missing “*unch” verbs are dunch, glunch, and grunch, not one of which do I recall ever having previously regarded.

@Cerberus Howso??

Cerberus

By finding the Google site that gives 1.070 million results for "a friendly advice".

Indonesian Google gives 2 million.

Perhaps it also depends on other things, like cookies and IP. In that case, we shall fail.

tchrist

There are per-country Google general search sites?

Cerberus

google.co.in/…

Indonesian Google.

What number do you see?

I see 2.140 million.

tchrist

1.960 million.

Cerberus

Ah.

Then it is harder than I hoped.

Does the number change when you go to the 10th page of results?

tchrist

12:39

At page 9, it is now 1.970 million.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

They have improved their estimates.

Perhaps it also depends on what target languages you set your Google to.

tchrist

And does not change through through page 27.

Cerberus

Right.

Robusto

@tchrist I was going to say dunch because I think I've heard it once or twice, but I have no idea what it means.

tchrist

@Cerberus Does another site have a different number?

Robusto

12:42

Maybe it's a formation like brunch, only combining dinner and lunch.

tchrist

> To strike or push with a short rapid blow, now esp. to jog with the elbow.

Cerberus

I used to go to page 10 immediately if I wanted to count results. It would often jump from 1,000,000 to 85 or so. Or the converse. Now the numbers are much less jumpy, though still somewhat.

@tchrist Many European sites appear to have numbers in the 950Ks.

Robusto

@tchrist I've lived my whole life without knowing that. Thanks for fucking things up for me.

tchrist

> chiefly dial. Also dunsh. Derivation unknown. Mätzner suggests connexion with Icel. dunka to resound, give a hollow sound, Sw. dunka Da. dunke to beat, knock, thump, throb; but these are modern forms, having no historical connexion with English.

Robusto

> Do you dream of an opportunity to work on a massive travel distribution platform that connects to multiple global partners and an e-Commerce web platform for over 50 popular travel websites? Do you have extensive experience with HTML, Javascript and JQuery and are seeking your next challenge?

tchrist

12:45

No.

Robusto

Me either. My dreams are much better than that.

tchrist

Last weak I got an urgent plea from friends at *(job-1) asking for help unravelling a bit of my old code.

Since it mysteriously stopped working. Lots of icky screen scraping.

I hate the web.

Maybe that should be ${job - 1}, but you can’t do pointer arithmetic is language that grok that sort of syntax. Thank goodness.

Or maybe Elsevier has renamed themselves to Elseverest. Who knows?

Robusto

I got a call from ${job - 2} about a year after they outsourced engineering to India, asking me to explain how something worked. I reminded them that I didn't work there anymore, and that the answer was well documented in English in the code I wrote.

But it made my day.

tchrist

“India, thy name is. . . .”

Robusto

India means never having to save your sari.

Cerberus

12:54

@Robusto Yes! Yes! Those are my dreams to the letter!

Robusto

You should aim higher.

Cerberus

Is there anything higher?

Robusto

Mar 12 '11 at 17:12, by Robusto

Actually, the job I really want is Sultan of Brunei. $50 billion and a harem. Don't even bother telling me about the dental plan.

But recruiters are silent on that issue, sadly.

Cerberus

Brunei is terribly stupid.

You would be unhappy.

No civilised people, nothing to do.

Robusto

Did you read the part about the harem? There would be something to do.

Cerberus

13:01

You could buy hookers here too if you wanted.

> Are you ironic? Do you have a beard? You may be suffering from HIPSTER. Luckily, theres a cure.

►

A bit American, but many symptoms occur all over the Western world, especially in Scandinavia.

tchrist

1

Q: phrase for someone taking over business when you skip for humanity

Is there a witty or general saying of indicating the act of taking over a business when a person, business or country skips an opportunity for general benevolence? Examples: If I don't sell weapons to country X someone else will. If the Dutch give up the international taxation benefit regulati...

analogy saying metaphors

Skip for humanity?

Wish it had been taking over world not taking over business. Wonder if determiner would help. Never seem use right.

Perhaps skip for humanity is like clap for credit.

Robusto

13:20

@tchrist You get credit for getting the clap?

tchrist

@Robusto Bits for Twits. Rocks for Jocks.

Robusto

@Cerberus Didn't the Dutch used to colonize Brunei? It would be just like them. Nutmeg junkies, whaddya gonna do?

Kit

There is a countable advice. I'm surprised no one mentioned it.

TRiG

@Kit ?

I can't think of one.

Kit

Advice, sense three.

You either never worked in accounting or never gotten one.

TRiG

13:27

@Kit Or both, in my case.

Kit

I didn't say xor, now did I?

Robusto

►

Kit

My husband is down your way today, @Rob. I hope the roads are passable?

Well, as passable as they ever are.

Robusto

We'll see.

I'm going to hazard the commute in about 15 minutes.

Kit

If you see him, say hi for me, eh?

He left about 3am.

Robusto

13:32

Yeah, right.

Kit

thx

Darn, missed it. Anybody see the flag?

Robusto

13:54

Later.

Jez

Hmm, I need a word like "role", which is used in basically the same way as "role" is used in for computer permissions

ie. a group of permissions describing the way someone may (and is probably intended to) interact with the system

best I can think of is "permission group"

Robusto