English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwight

21:00

But no longer do.

Okay then, let's move on.

19

A: "Best Before" says "11 MA 23"; is it May or March?

Looks like the store staff was right, MA=May. This is from an answer to a similar question on a Canadian website: Ah, I love this time of year. I get asked this question twice a day at work (grocery store). It Goes: JA FE MR AP MA JN JL AU SE OC NO DE One more year, and I'...

Robusto

You can also think of it as uhnen uhness

Two iambs.

RegDwight

Plz send me teh xplanacionz of the top coment on thet answa.

I think I know what he means, but I wanted to check.

Winter winter winter road repair winter?

Robusto

If you should like to say uhnen uhness
Imagine sonnet meter, more or less

RegDwight

That actually helps.

Robusto

Winter Winter Winter Winter Winter Road Repair Road Repair ... etc.

It's a joke. There are two seasons in Canada: winter and road construction.

RegDwight

21:02

Okay. Go me.

Robusto

Go thou.

RegDwight

Goest?

Robusto

Imperative.

RegDwight

I have no idea what the imperative is.

Robusto

Indicative is "thou goest"

Imperative is "Go thou"

As in "Go thou and do likewise."

RegDwight

21:04

Right.

Robusto

newfoundationspubl.org/gothou.htm

Warning, it's for immature audiences ...

RegDwight

0

Q: "I'm not understand" — help regarding sentence structure

I am trying to learn/improve my English by remembering grammar rules. Everyday, I read a lot of technical documentation and have many conversations with my colleagues from US. I already have many phrase templates, but sometimes I urge myself to stop using this and try to figure out rules by whic...

0

Q: door pronunciation ?

why 'door' pronunciation is as in 'o' not as in 'u' ?

pronunciation irregular

Robusto

"Teach me English in one easy answer." Sure! No problema, amigo!

Five will get you three the "I'm not understand" guy is Russian.

kiamlaluno

Isn't "no problemo, amigo"?

RegDwight

@Robusto Could be Ukrainian.

Robusto

21:14

Same difference.

kiamlaluno

Or he could be Moldovan.

RegDwight

No.

kiamlaluno

In Moldavia, they speak Russian too.

RegDwight

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky

Dmytro Ivanovych Vyshnevetsky (; ) was a Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. He was also known as Baida in the Ukrainian folk songs. Biography Dmytro Vyshnevetsky was born into the powerful family of Ruthenian magnate Ivan Wiśniowiecki (?-1542) (part of Gediminids bloodline and the youngest son of Michal Zbaraski) and Anastasia Semenivna Olizarovychevna (?-1536). The Wiśniowiecki family takes its roots from the princely family of Novhorod-Siverskyi, through Dmitriy Korybut (see Kaributas) and Anastasia of Ryazan. At first Dmytro Vyshnevetsky lived in the town of Vyshnivets of the Kremenet...

kiamlaluno

Moldova, or Moldavia?

Robusto

21:17

@kiamlaluno — The only Moldavian I am familiar with is Smetana. Who wrote The Moldau. And that's that.

RegDwight

Wikipedia has four people and an island by that name. All from/in Ukraine.

kiamlaluno

Moldavia

Moldavia (), is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, the state included the regions of Bessarabia (with the Budjak), all of Bukovina and (under Stephen the Great) Pokuttya. The western part of Moldavia is now part of Romania and the eastern part belongs to the Republic of Mol...

RegDwight

As a courtesy ro future readers, that was a joke, Smetana was Czech.

Robusto

@RegDwight — OK, then I know zero Moldavians. Thanks. I was clinging to that bit of disinformation like a drowning man to driftwood.

RegDwight

Oh.

I did think that was a joke.

Hey @Vitaly, what's your take on the name Байда? I submit it's Ukrainian.

Robusto

21:21

The only thing I know about Moldavia is The Moldau. Period.

Vitaly

I second to that.

RegDwight

Grazie.

Robusto

My Eastern European history and geography are somewhat sketchy.

RegDwight

Vltava

The Vltava (; ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running north from its source in Šumava through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice, and Prague (Praha), merging with the Elbe (Labe) at Mělník. It is 430 km long and drains about 28,090 km2; at their confluence the Vltava actually has more water than the Elbe, but joins the Elbe at a right angle to its flow so that it appears a mere tributary. The river is crossed by 18 bridges and runs through Prague over 31 km. Several dams were built on it in the 1950s, the biggest being Lipno Dam in Šumava. In August 2002 a floo...

Vitaly

Do you ever get the feeling that an information embargo is placed on your country? I get that in Russia every once in a while: pretty much no one speaks English, books from Amazon cost me twice as much as they would cost any American or European, universities don't subscribe to major scientific periodicals, I could go on and on.

I. Am. Sick. Of. That.

RegDwight

21:24

They have Amazon in Russia?

Vitaly

They haven't, that's the point.

They still ship to Russia, and that's what contributes to the price being twice as much. Shipping costs. And the customs.

Robusto

@Vitaly — I thought Russia was @RegDwight's country. Now I'm confused.

RegDwight

I thought they had a FedEx office right in the middle of the Red Square?

Tom Hanks almost convinced me they did.

Robusto

So let me get this straight ... Russia is not worker's paradise?

Vitaly

Hah.

RegDwight

21:26

Worker yes. Online shopper, no.

Robusto

Online UMG viewer?

RegDwight

Eben nicht.

That would be you.

Vitaly

Half the subjects at school should be taught in English, IMO.

RegDwight

Meh.

That's like saying that half the subjects in American schools should be taught in Mongolian.

Robusto

@Vitaly — I thought there were no subjects in Russia once they got rid of the monarchy. Everyone was a comrade.

kiamlaluno

21:29

0

Q: Prepositional phrases on the internet

Is there any online dictionary or database of "verb + preposition" phrases? What I would like is to enter e. g. "justification" and it would give me: "justification to somebody", "justification of something", and other possibilities (optionally with description of the meaning of each phrase).

prepositions dictionaries prepositional-phrase

Robusto

Sorry, bad joke.

I sympathize. The trouble is, when Russians come to America they become Republicans because they fear the Democrats will bring socialism.

RegDwight

First and foremost, they should teach Russian in Russian schools. Seriously. Russian kids these days can't write a single sentence in their mother tongue.

Vitaly

They are not very bright in the first place. That's why I suggest teaching English.

RegDwight

How would that help them, or the English language?

Vitaly

English is easier.

Robusto

21:32

@kiamlaluno — Nope. I've been corrected by Spanish-speaking people before. It's No problema. Problems are female — of course.

Vitaly

XP

RegDwight

4

Q: Should I translate my own writings on language I also know greatly?

Nabokov was very discouraged when he translated his Lolita into Russian. And he spended half of the year on it. So should I be busy with the translation myself?

language translation

Vitaly

Just kidding of course.

kiamlaluno

@Robusto It seems I don't remember well; I thought they said problemo in Spanish, differently from Italian that says problema.

RegDwight

Tengo un problema.

kiamlaluno

21:34

Anyway, problema's grammar gender in Italian is masculine: il problema, un problema.

Robusto

John McWhorter: "English really is easy(-ish) at first and hard later, while other languages like Russian are hard at first and then just as hard later! Show me one person who has said that learning Russian was no problem after they mastered the basics—after the basics you just keep wondering how anybody could speak the language without blacking out."

RegDwight

I am tempted to star that.

Robusto

@kiamlaluno — As I say, I used to say "problemo" until someone threatened me with a gun.

kiamlaluno

Viceversa, eco is feminine: la eco.

@Robusto I understood; still, it's masculine, even in Spanish.

Robusto

@RegDwight — I see you can resist everything but temptation.

RegDwight

21:37

You can't tell it was me.

Robusto

It's a red star. That's how I knew. Do we have to go over this again?

yesterday, by Robusto

Anyway, that's my parting shot. Gotta run. TTYL.

RegDwight

That's the plane Gagarin died in.

CU.

Vitaly

Later.

RegDwight

I will probably leave in a few minutes, too.

Terrible headache.

For hours.

Just checking other sites...

@kiamlaluno I figure "Drupal" isn't enough, you also have "Drush".

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight How do you know I installed Drush on my computer?

RegDwight

21:44

DA told me.

kiamlaluno

Actually, "Drush" is a short for "Drupal Bash." It's a CLI command to change something in a Drupal installation.

DA spies its own moderators!

RegDwight

Do you also say "Drut" when you mean "Drum kit"?)))

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight If it is not a Drupal drum kit, no. :-)

RegDwight

I take that to mean that for a "Drupal drum kit" you would say "Drut".

kiamlaluno

If it would be, then I would say "drumkit."

RegDwight

21:50

Okay people, I think I'll be off then.

Night all.

kiamlaluno

@RegDwight No; it is superfluous to say "Drupal". ("Drumkit" could be "Dru(pal dru)m( )kit".)

Vitaly

Night.

RegDwight

@kiamlaluno Hahaha. That will take you another hour to edit into shape.

I'm out!

kiamlaluno

I hate when it doesn't work.

@RegDwight Goog night.

Robusto

23:52

@RegDwight — Why was Gagarin flying a MiG-15 in 1968? Surely that model was out of service by then.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…