English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Link

00:02

Hey

what is the proper way of having the following words capitalized:

Ancient Norse

ancient Norse

Ancient norse

or ancient norse?

Mechanical snail

00:18

@Link Weren't the Norse medieval rather than ancient?

@Link That said, the first 2 are valid and the latter 2 are wrong.

Cerberus

@Link Probably two capitals, but don't you mean Old Norse?

@JosephWeissman unsees you

Mechanical snail

@Cerberus Good example. "Old Norse" is a language, whereas "old Norse" might refer to an aged Norseman.

Cerberus

00:33

nods

It took me a while before I understand what the OED meant by their abbreviation.

Link

00:45

hmm

thanks

So

in my intro paragpah

has to be somewhat in style like this:

eng12.sipley.org/readings/…

Link

00:58

ignore that

chatkillah

02:18

@Cerb @Matt @Mitch this is what I was making.

@aediaλ the one in the back is particularly disturbing. ಠ_ಠ

Cerberus

Aww.

For your luvah?

chatkillah

Yes sir! :D

Should have put 'you' further down.

Cerberus

What material is that?

Plastic?

Marzipan?

Love?

chatkillah

Foam! For . . . Foamy Guy.

But also I just happened to have a stack of rainbow foam lying about.

Get your copy of Hearts, the new release from Plastic Marzipan Love at these fine retailers:

simchona

04:42

@MετάEd Don't worry about flagging NS saying he's deleting his own profile. It's a new thing TPTB told us to do

MετάEd

@simchona Instead of merging profiles? Interesting

simchona

@MετάEd Yup. Don't know how much I'm supposed to say, but wanted to let you know since I saw it come up in queue

MετάEd

@simchona Anything that will discourage NS. NS wastes a lot of peoples' time

simchona

@MετάEd Click-wise, much easier to delete than merge

MετάEd

@simchona then that's a good call.

simchona

04:52

meta.english.stackexchange.com/questions/3747/…

His evidence is questions that are at least 2 years old

MετάEd

@simchona He's deleted his meta question.

Epitorial

05:45

Pope Benedict to seek immunity and protection from Italian President Giorgio Napolitano on February 23

International Tribunal calls on Napolitano to "not collude in criminality", and announces global campaign to occupy Vatican property and launch human rights inquiry in Italy
Rome (9 am local time):

Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, has scheduled a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano for Saturday, February 23 to discuss securing protection and immunity from prosecution from the Italian government, according to Italian media sources.

Mechanical snail

@Epitorial Why did you post it here?

Mechanical snail

06:13

O, I am fortune-mod's fool! Several Shakespeare mis-attributions

Binary package hint: fortune-mod Ubuntu Lucid. fortune-mod version 9708. Pacakge fortune-mod 1:1.99.1-3.1ubuntu4 Example of the bug: $ fortune A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! -- Wm. Shakespeare, "Henry VI" Expected output: $ fortune A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! -- Wm. Shakespeare, "Richard III" The above quotation is found in this file: /usr/share/games/fortunes/literature.u8 Obviously the line is from Shakespeare's play Richard III *NOT* Henry VI. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)#Cultural_references for more information.

fortune-mod (Ubuntu)

Low / Triaged

Cerberus

12:47

@Epitorial This "tribunal" appears to be just a website...

I'm not sure I trust their information.

KittenCanoodle

13:38

@Cerberus Yeah. No.

Robusto

Another name change, Kit?

KittenCanoodle

Yeah.

I'm trying to soften my image.

Robusto

KitFox was too hard?

どうして？

tchrist

People sure ask the weirdest things.

0

Q: Is there an English equivalent of the French word "Bifle"

In French schools, as a freshman initiation, a new practice has become popular, and consists in slapping someone in the face with one's penis. We call this practice a bifle, which is a mot-valise of bite (dick) and gifle (to slap). Is there a common translation of this word in English?

Sudhir

Hi

tchrist

13:45

I wonder whether those are 14yo freshmen or 18yo freshmen who can’t get dick off their brains. Or faces. Very tacky.

Robusto

Sure glad that didn't wind up here.

Sudhir

Hi @tchrist

tchrist

The "bite (dick)" seems like a prank. Is that for real?

I know no French teen slang. I don’t even know English-language teen slang.

Sudhir

@tchrist: Please explain

Cerberus

@KittenCanoodle ?

KittenCanoodle

13:49

We can talk privately if you like.

Robusto

なんって？

Cerberus

Never mind.

Sudhir

@tchrist: Please tell. I'm waiting

tchrist

@KittenCanoodle Said the spider to the fly. :)

Sudhir

@tchrist:You there?

If subject was plural then also we use the same

?

Cerberus

13:55

Photoshop 1.

rumtscho

14:18

Hello dear Incomprehensibles

Somebody left us a funny message on Cooking, and my curiosity bug won't leave me in peace until I know what they meant.

KittenCanoodle

Can you paste the Arabic text here?

rumtscho

I thought that this place has the highest chance of anybody being able to make sense of the language.

@KittenCanoodle شكرا للفائدو وطهروا فمكم بالصلاة على النبي وقولو كلمتان خفيفتان على اللسان ثقيلتان في الميزان وحبيبتان للرحمن سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم

KittenCanoodle

Thanks.

Jez

> Thanks for, Vaúdo and purify your mouth Darkness Falls and Golo two words light on the tongue, heavy in the balance and Habibtan Rehman Hallelujah and praise the great Hallelujah

doesn't sound too cooking-related

rumtscho

@Jez yes, I did the Google translate thing too. And I deleted it anyway (that's why I am posting a screenshot and not a link). But I am still curious.

KittenCanoodle

14:26

thesoundjournal.org/archives-2/july-aug-2010/…

user19161

Haha nice new name @kitten

KittenCanoodle

Two phrases are light on the tongue, weigh heavily in the balance, and are loved by the Most Merciful: “Glory to God by His Praises, Glory to God the Great"

That's the last part of it. Word of the Prophet.

I thought I recognized it.

@JacobBlack Thanks.

user19161

In other news, I did some rep whoring today for this post.

user19161

39

A: Formal proof for $(-1) \times (-1) = 1$

We use only the usual field axioms for the real numbers. First we prove an intermediate result. $0\times 0$ $=0(0+0)$ $=0\times 0+0\times 0$ Subtract $0\times 0$ from each side to get $0=0\times 0$. Now we are ready for the final kill. $0$ $=0\times 0$ $=(1-1)(1-1)$ $=1\times 1+1\times (-...

rumtscho

@JacobBlack good work, I gave you another +1 :)

user19161

14:31

@rumtscho I capped already! But never mind!

rumtscho

@JacobBlack But it still goes towards badges.

MετάEd

@Cerberus Ouch. Moiré patterns.

rumtscho

I don't know how common these are on Maths, on Cooking it has been years since somebody has knacked the 25 upvotes. Has happened practically only when the site was really new and there were basic questions like "how to sharpen a knife"

user19161

@rumtscho By using a sharpener, QED.

Mitch

@JacobBlack beat me to it!

Cerberus

14:33

@MετάEd Somehow I don't think it is disintegration.

Mitch

How do you beat an egg?

user19161

@Mitch Using a beater, QED.

MετάEd

@Cerberus Disintegration?

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Until it listens.

Mitch

@JacobBlack Thanks! Now I know!

rumtscho

14:34

@JacobBlack actually, this answer is wrong for purists. About as wrong as me answering the question you linked above with "When I open my TI calculator and put in -1x-1, it gives me 1".

Mitch

Wait, can't you just like use a fork or even a spoon just really fast?

user19161

@Mitch Actually, I do this sometimes. I crack two eggs into a mug, beat it with a spoon and drink it raw.

Mitch

TMI!! stop!

rumtscho

@Mitch depends on what you want your egg for

Mitch

delete the part '...and...'!

unless it's a cooked raw egg. Then that's OK.

user19161

14:35

It's also cold, so it's like delicious eggshake.

Mitch

complaint for the day coming up...

Cerberus

@MετάEd Oh, hmm. I was confused. I thought that was a pattern caused by disintegration of the material or something. Which it isn't.

user19161

You should try it, really. Raw eggs are pretty nice, as long as they are not rotten.

Cerberus

Thanks @rumtscho!

rumtscho

@Cerberus thanks for what?

Mitch

14:37

@rumtscho explain yourself! you are besmirching the fine reputation of ... oh forget it. really...what's the problem with his answer?

ok now the random complaint..

3

Q: What's with the fugly red?

Maybe I'm simply not used to it, but a recent design update appears to have changed the background colour of popups such as the one below to a rather jarring, unwholesome red. Do you find this choice of colour comfortable? Can something be done to tone it down a little?

discussion design

rumtscho

@Mitch With which answer, with the sharpener?

Mitch

I mean really...aren't people dying in the world somewhere...and this is the result of effort? 'Tone it down'?

tchrist

I assume that that is part of our style sheet for the site.

Mitch

OK that's not much of a complaint... here's another one...

tchrist

But I do not know whether our blue dup banners are part of our style sheet.

Mitch

14:40

@rumtscho !! ha ha, no.

the one about -1*-1 = 1

Cerberus

@rumtscho For handling my flag, I think?

Mitch

OK here's another 'identical' complaint...

-1

Q: Does "very much the same" have the same meaning as "identical"?

Do the words "very much the same" have the same meaning as "identical" or do these words imply that it's almost identical, but not totally?

meaning differences

rumtscho

@Cerberus I don't even pay attention to who filled the flag.

Cerberus

Ah OK.

Mitch

2 mins ago, by Mitch

I mean really...aren't people dying in the world somewhere...and this is the result of effort? 'Tone it down'?

Cerberus

14:41

In that case, you may disregard the author of the "thanks" line above.

Pretend it was anonymous.

Mitch

I could go on...you joined SE just to pose this question?

I'm starting to suspect that SnowFlake's suspicions are not so suspicious.

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Actually no. That's an unregistered user.

tchrist

@Mitch How can you know where they come from?

Mitch

@KittenCanoodle Shirley Dianna?

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Which suspicions?

@Mitch Yeah. Look at the user account. Says "Unregistered" right there.

Mitch

14:43

@KittenCanoodle oooh...you're trying to drag it out of me, arent't you?

tchrist

@Mitch Is this private-room material?

Mitch

@KittenCanoodle Oh. OK. But it doesn't matter, they took the trouble to come to ELU and ask the questino.

@tchrist ha ha, no, I'm just messing with SF's paranoia.

SF thinks his country's government is out to get him by pestering him here at ELU.

tchrist

Oh wait. That SF. I thought you meant the real one.

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Her.

Mitch

There's a real one? of anything?

@KittenCanoodle OK. (how am I supposed to know?)

KittenCanoodle

14:47

She spouted off about us being sexist. Men don't do that.

Mitch

Men aren't sexist? I had my suspicions.

She spouted off about a lot of things.

tchrist

I’ve an acquaintance who is a manager for a thrift shop who’s had to endure three afternoons running of this loony woman with a cart full of Things in his shop. Turns out she is schizophrenic. It is not possible for the sane to foresee all the nutty things that a nutjob will say or do or think or believe: their delusions are infinite.

But I agree with Kit.

Mitch

@KittenCanoodle among other things, just figured out who you are... I am so slow.

... D'Artagnan !

tchrist

umm, ok: try searching 4chan.org/hc This comment will self-destruct in 60 seconds — mcalex 27 secs ago

Mitch

@tchrist it's annoying because if you don't think they're have a mental illness, it's like they're crazy with all the baggage of responsibility and judgement and such.

but then giving it a label...

tchrist

14:53

He didn’t at first cotton to the fact that she was whacked.

Mitch

and you're like...fine I -know- you're not going to make sense, so it is easier to deal with.

tchrist

And couldn’t figure out what to do with her.

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Blue name and transparent image didn't give it away?

Mitch

except that it's a continuum...70% of people walking down the street have some mental illness...

...and the other half can't count!

tchrist

She has some sort of note that says to call her sister, and a number. It reaches a recording saying that the person in question is schizo, and to politely ask her to leave your premises.

Mitch

14:55

@KittenCanoodle exactly. meaning, no, it didn't give it away, to me. that's why I'm slow.

@tchrist right... it's like epilepsy. when someone is having a fit and you've never experienced it before, you yourself are transformed/shocked/ don't know what the hell is going on/ thinking something magical is going on.

but once you know...well, it's a thing to deal with but not magic.

and of course, no, I've never actually experienced that, I just read about it in a book.

tchrist

@Mitch Grand mal, sure. The other kind is likely to make people think you’re a nutjob.

Mitch

@tchrist right..or rather, I guess, having read about it. petit mal?

tchrist

Yes, petit mal. The same manager has an employee who has it.

It is a crazy place, I tell ya.

Mitch

I just read wikipedia. Two things I learned: 'jamais vu' - it's a thing. (It's not the same as not having seen something before, but the feeling of not having seen it before when you know you have.

and 'unprovoked seizure' is the epileptic kind...which gives the intimation (not the best word; what is a better word) that 'provoked seizure' is like when your littel sister keeps poking you in the ribs in the back seat of the car and you say 'Mom! Jeannie is bugging me!' and you go into a seizure. That is a provoked seizure.

Robusto

15:12

@Mitch Those are the seizures I get in boring meetings.

Nov 17 '12 at 15:04, by Robusto

@Cerberus Sorry, the topic was so boring I had a petit-mal seizure. What were you saying?

Mitch

The wiki article refers to that as a 'slumping' seizure or 'abscence seizure'.

...or napping.

KittenCanoodle

My mom claims to have those. I told her she's just stupid and vacant.

She replied "Huh?"

Robusto

15:28

rimshot

Speaking of petit-mal seizures, it's Friday go-to-meetin' time.

Mitch

use the petit mal excuse.

Also, explain that yawning is sometimes caused by excessive interest in the speaker's topic and that such effort in thought reduces respiration rate which leads t involuntary yawning.

something something excess blood C)2 something something medical something...I'm yawning because you're so fascinating.

KittenCanoodle

Nah, that's too...nice.

Mitch

I'm working on an explanation for heavy lidded eyes. Also if someone nudges you and says, 'Well, what do -you think?' answer 'Whatever', people will think you're a snarky jerk, but you'll sound smarter.

rumtscho

@Mitch Heavy-lidded eyes? Say that you are concentrating on thinking about what they are just telling you. You are so concentrated that it helps to blend out the surrounding environment.

chatkillah

15:55

hi @Novice

Novice

@chatkillah Hi

@KittenCanoodle Have you completed your month?

KittenCanoodle

@Novice I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are asking.

Novice

@KittenCanoodle You need to keep your name for a month right?

KittenCanoodle

OH. Mods don't.

Novice

Lucky...

chatkillah

16:03

I'm changing mine to ಠ_ಠ next

Robusto

0

Q: Short answer vs complete answer

When should I answer in short and when should I answer in long? In real life which of following answer is used? Did you read that book? Yes. Yes, I did. Yes, I read it. Yes, I did. I read the book. No. No, I did not. No, I did not read it. No, I din not. I did not read i...

question

Where's my WTF closer?

Mitch

I'm changing mine to 'your name'.

Robusto

16:27

►

Music to listen to meteor strikes by.

tchrist

@Robusto Bis.

Robusto

Ah, here it is:

May 14 '12 at 14:36, by Robusto

KittenCanoodle

17:23

stretches, yawns, decides work can wait another couple of hours

Matt Эллен

You have a new name!

KittenCanoodle

Where? Oh. Yes.

4 hours ago, by KittenCanoodle

I'm trying to soften my image.

Matt Эллен

I see. Kittens are softer than foxes

KittenCanoodle

People keep bringing that up.

Matt Эллен

about kittens and foxes?

KittenCanoodle

17:31

Yeah. More like "Fox fur is soft and cuddly" and I say "You just think that because they don't make coats out of kitten fur."

Then I get weird looks.

Matt Эллен

lol

KittenCanoodle

Mostly I was feeling derby.

My gf sent me a V-Day box.

Suddenly, I'm not angry with her anymore.

Matt Эллен

:O

:D

KittenCanoodle

Amazing how petty I am.

Matt Эллен

feeling derby? I think you've explained derby before, but I don't remember

Derby: a city, a race, cheese, a bowler hat, a shoe.

@KittenCanoodle amazing because you'd forgotten?

oh! derby as in "Whip It"

KittenCanoodle

17:37

Roller derby.

Roller derby

Roller derby is a contact sport played by two teams of five members roller skating in the same direction around a track. Game play consists of a series of short matchups ("jams") in which both teams designate a scoring player (the "jammer") who scores points by lapping members of the opposing team. The teams attempt to assist their own jammer whilst hindering the opposing jammer—in effect, playing both offense and defense simultaneously. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, nearly half of them outside the U.S. While the sport has its origins in the ba...

Matt Эллен

Whip It (film)

Whip It is a 2009 comedy-drama film written by Shauna Cross, based on Cross's novel Derby Girl. The film is directed and co-produced by Drew Barrymore in her directorial debut. It stars Ellen Page as a teenager from a small town who joins a roller derby team. The film received generally positive reviews from critics but was a disappointment commercially. Plot Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) is a misfit in the small town of Bodeen, Texas, with no sense of direction in her life. Her mother, Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden), a former beauty queen, pushes her to enter beauty pageants despite her lack ...

KittenCanoodle

I thought you meant

►

Matt Эллен

lol

whip it good!

I thought you meant

►

KittenCanoodle

My gf is a derby girl. She probably watched that movie. This is the first time I heard of it.

Matt Эллен

I enjoyed it

KittenCanoodle

17:46

It's not as um, cool as that. From what I've seen.

Matt Эллен

it spurred a short burst of roller derby activity in the UK, although it seems to have died down a bit now.

@KittenCanoodle like Indiana Jones vs Archaeology

KittenCanoodle

We got a local team which promptly split into two teams in different leagues.

@MattЭллен Yeah. They do a lot of service work though. That's cool.

Matt Эллен

service work?

Epitorial

A WOMAN HIRED BY THE UN TO CRACKDOWN ON FORCED PROSTITUTION WAS FIRED FOR FINDING THAT UN POLICE WERE THE MAIN CULPRITS!!!

Kathryn Bolkovac is an American police officer who was hired out by DynCorp, a British security firm, and posted in the Balkans to crack down on women being trafficked for sex. Her investigation revealed that the very United Nations peacekeepers and Nato officers that had been sent to the area to restore peace and order after the war were the very ones fueling the sex trafficking.

KittenCanoodle

@MattЭллен Volunteering.

Matt Эллен

17:49

@KittenCanoodle oh! cool

KittenCanoodle

It's really just that I'm envious of her chutzpah.

I don't have the time or the cajones to play.

I also just discovered that I am apparently a third-wave feminist.

Matt Эллен

you're coming in waves?

What makes you third wave?

KittenCanoodle

Well, I don't know what "first wave" is, but I'd guess suffragettes?

Then my mom's era, the bra-burners, they were second-wave.

Matt Эллен

I see

Epitorial

Whereas first-wave feminism focused mainly on suffrage and overturning legal obstacles to gender equality (i.e. voting rights, property rights), second-wave feminism broadened the debate to a wide range of issues: sexuality, family, the workplace, reproductive rights, de facto inequalities, and official legal inequalities.

(Wikipedia)

MετάEd

18:06

Third-wave feminism is where y'all wave goodbye as you climb aboard the secret rocket ships and leave us to our fates, right?

KittenCanoodle

Nah, it's where we stop worrying about what people think of us as label.

Mitch

@MετάEd "Stop! Don't get on the aliens ship! Their plan to 'serve women'? We decoded the rest. It's a COOKBOOK!"

@KittenCanoodle I'm impressed. How did you recognize that through the meatgrinder translation from google?

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch Do you really want me to describe my thought process?

Mitch

When asked like that, I'm not sure.

But yeah, go ahead.

KittenCanoodle

Thanks for, Vaúdo and purify your mouth Darkness Falls and Golo two words light on the tongue, heavy in the balance and Habibtan Rehman Hallelujah and praise the great Hallelujah

Mitch

18:21

yeah I got that too from google/tr

KittenCanoodle

I know "habib" is "beloved" approximately in Arabic. I guessed 'rehman' to be a translation of al-rahman which was probably misspelled by the user. That triggered "bismallah al-rahman al-rahim"

Mitch

Rahman?

KittenCanoodle

Praise be to God the beneficent the merciful

Then I recognized the "light on the tongue, heavy in the balance" as something I'd heard before.

Mitch

ok but then how did you find the rest? the Vaudo and Golo and such?

KittenCanoodle

So I googled it and found the expression.

The "Vaudo" was caused by a typo.

Golo is also some bad translation, but I don't know enough Arabic to know what it ought to be.

Mitch

18:24

Oh. a typo in the Arabic?

KittenCanoodle

Habib just stuck out to me.

@Mitch Yeah.

Mitch

googling for all that, I still don't see who exactly said "light on the tongue, heavy in the balance".

KittenCanoodle

I recognized it as words of the Prophet.

thesoundjournal.org/archives-2/july-aug-2010/…

And then found it here.

Mitch

OK fine. I am now partially convinced that you didn't just make up all that stuff.

KittenCanoodle

I take it you don't know many Muslims?

Or any Arabic?

Mitch

18:31

So now we're on the subject, so, do you think the hijab should be banned completely in American public schools, or that girls can wear whatever their fathers beat them into wearing?

@KittenCanoodle salaam, baba ghanouj, ... shawerma...

KittenCanoodle

@Mitch The latter.

Mitch

...ضوء على اللسان، ثقيلتان في الميزان

KittenCanoodle

I don't know why folks make a huge deal out of the hijab. What about the magic Mormon underpants? Are we going to start banning those?

Or long dresses that hide girls' legs? Or shirts that cover up their cleavage? Are we going to ban those too?

Matt Эллен

nudity for all!

or at least backless chaps

KittenCanoodle

All girls will be required to wear low-cut tank tops and hot pants with "Daddy's Princess" across the ass.

And then we'll make them feel like crap for being sexy and getting ogled.

We can call them names like "jailbait" which shifts the shame and guilt to them from the pervs.

Maybe I should change my name to @chatkillah.

Matt Эллен

18:50

look, I didn't design my brain to give out happy chemicals whenever I check out hot people, ok. I blame evolution.

4

Robusto

@MattЭллен amazon.com/Prisoner-Sex-Norman-Mailer/dp/0917657594/…

KittenCanoodle

I do feel bad for men because of that. It must be terribly distracting.

Still, I wish I could trade once in a while.

Matt Эллен

@Robusto and I have Stockholm Syndrome

Robusto

The problem is, all of women's so-called "lusts" are validated by society. A woman gets off by seeing a cute baby and going all nutso. Guys see a hot female and go nutso and suddenly they're pervs.

Both behaviors are genetic mandates.

KittenCanoodle

It's the idea that Miley Cyrus could be publicly criticized for posing topless at 15 without anyone so much as suggesting that the photographer and the rest were at fault.

A fifteen-year-old does not make herself a sex object.

Matt Эллен

18:56

absolutely

Robusto

@KittenCanoodle Whoa, jump back. That is not true at all.

Anyway, got another meeting.

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