English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mitch

00:08

Oh the humanity!

cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/04/08/nutella-theft-germany.html

Nutella theft in German town valued at over $20K

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!

That is all.

user19161

@Mitch Hey Mitch!

WendiKidd

00:51

@Mitch Wow. That reminds me of the story I heard the other day of people in canada who stole like...2 tons or something of maple syrup. I forget how much but it was a lot

Craziness. What are you gonna do with all that?

tchrist

@Mitch “That is all”? You mean that there is no more Nutella left in the world?

WendiKidd

@tchrist No worries, I'm sure they'll make more soon enough!

But 20k worth of nutella........

Mind boggling.

tchrist

At $5/pint, that’s like 500 gallons.

The Québec heist of maple syrup was worth $18 million.

Or maybe as much as $30 million.

Lots of different numbers out there.

In a sweet-toothed sugar-crazed society, stealing maple syrup and Nutella are the sugar addict’s equivalent of people breaking into pharmacies for oxy- and hydrocodone et al.

> Thieves are getting more brazen in acting upon their sugar cravings: In the small town of Calais, Maine, sap bandits put taps into the maple trees in the town's cemetery, igniting outrage among the local citizenry.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:33

@tchrist we obviously need more natural predators to keep us busy.

WendiKidd

@tchrist Sap bandits? Seriously?? What is the world coming to?

tchrist

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 I could lend them some: I had a coyote pack and a lion with deer in his mouth terrorizing my neighborhood fauna Saturday morning, and apparently the bears have also been rousted. Too bad about our blizzard tonight.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist I think that will result in cold rain for me.

@tchrist Your poor fauna. :{

tchrist

Seasonal yoyoing.

Robusto

Gubbinal, by Wallace Stevens

That strange flower, the sun,
Is just what you say.
Have it your way.

The world is ugly,
And the people are sad.

That tuft of jungle feathers,
That animal eye,
Is just what you say.

That savage of fire,
That seed,
Have it your way.

The world is ugly,
And the people are sad.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:38

@tchrist That's insanity.

WendiKidd

@tchrist A lion???

tchrist

@WendiKidd Puma (née Felis) concolor

We call them mountain lions.

Or just lion, since everyone knows that Panthera doesn’t show up this far north.

Robusto

I'd rather hunt cougars.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

We had piles of hail last night.

tchrist

Cougar always sounds like easty-baby-talk out west.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:39

@tchrist that would be a vulgar display of power.

Robusto

@tchrist Well, John Wayne, maybe I was talking about a different animal altogether.

tchrist

@Robusto I don’t bait that easily.

Robusto

I wasn't trying to trap you. The subject was cougars.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Robusto

Vulgar Display of Powder

tchrist

01:41

No entiendo.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I'm not old enough to be a cougar.

tchrist

We have a new carnivore who’s taken up residency in town this spring, unseen for over 100 years inside the city limits.

Robusto

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Then you're no good to me in this context.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Robusto hmpf.

Robusto

Cougars, dammit! Do you have them or don't you?

tchrist

01:43

Nay, a lutrine one.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Robusto

*latrine

tchrist

Robusto

Where do you think otters shit?

tchrist

Where the fish do?

WendiKidd

01:44

@tchrist Ahh okay. Still terrifying, but makes more sense than an actual lion. I was thinking along the lines of a zoo breakout!

tchrist

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Kinda mild, eh?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Like Sandy from your video of yesterday.

@tchrist indeed.

tchrist

@WendiKidd You must live east of the Pecos.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

East of the Pecos, you're on with Art Bell.

Robusto

And his Mexican brother, Taco.

tchrist

01:46

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Good catch.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Thank you, Taco, for that loving tribute to Falco.

tchrist

yesterday, by tchrist

Robusto

Their mother is Ma, of course.

tchrist

From here.

Robusto

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 I am a deus.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

01:48

@Robusto I hate every ape I see / from chimp an a to chimpanzee

Robusto

May 2 '12 at 14:49, by Robusto

> I felt like putting a bullet between the eyes of every Panda that wouldn't screw to save its species.

I guess I just didn't drink enough tonight.

My bad.

tchrist

They just don’t like sex, eh?

WendiKidd

@tchrist I hail from Dallas. We've got bunny rabbits and squirrels in my suburb, but that's about it.

I hear stories of the occasional raccoon.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@WendiKidd does it hail in Dallas?

tchrist

Dallas has coyotes and foxes.

WendiKidd

01:55

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Ha. Occasionally! Rather spectacularly when it does.

Robusto

They have tornadoes, so it pretty much has to hail, yeah?

tchrist

Dallas has ice storms.

WendiKidd

@tchrist I've never seen one myself. Doesn't mean they don't exist! :)

Robusto

Is Denver too close to the mountains to get tornadoes?

tchrist

The Big Bend country out in west Texas has both lions and bears. I’ve even seen the bears there.

Boulder, yes; Denver, no.

WendiKidd

01:56

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 We tend to get a lot of sleet in winter.

Robusto

But it isn't exactly Tornado Alley, right?

tchrist

Boulder has had 2 in > 100 years, and no closer than 76th street. I live up round 4-5th.

WendiKidd

@tchrist Ah, see, I am not much of a wilderness person. So that would be why I haven't seen them.

Robusto

Hmm, there are 821 municipalities in the US with "Boulder" in the name. Interesting.

tchrist

@Robusto Colorado averages 24 tornadoes per year.

Because they are only east of the Front Range.

Robusto

01:58

Most of those must be in the eastern part of the state.

tchrist

About 2.32 per square 10,000 miles, the same as Texas.

Er.

The density in Kansas is twice ours.

Robusto

Yeah, but I doubt they've had a tornado in Brownsville in living memory. I could be wrong, though.

tchrist

NOAA data here.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@WendiKidd bleh!

I live in this so-called Alley and have yet to see one.

tchrist

That’s a trick number for Colorado rate compared with Kansas, because only eastern 1/3 of Colorado gets tornados.

And all of Kansas does.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:00

@tchrist they deserve to die out.

Robusto

Looks like Florida wins the tornado wars with a 9.59 score. Gotta do something with all them trailer parks, I guess.

@tchrist What I just said.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 You're pretty much in prime tornado country yourself, gal! Yow!

Alaska: 0

But they make up for it in earthquakes.

tchrist

Snow can get tough, too.

Robusto

Also bears.

tchrist

Never ever try to find out whether the panda population is stuck due to gay pandas. I just had a shock I wasn’t ready for.

Robusto

resists urge to find out

urge passes

tchrist

02:05

Asian bears.

Robusto

Chicago Bears.

And New York bears repeating, so they named it twice.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Robusto that's what I'm sayin'.

WendiKidd

@tchrist ...do I want to know? ponders

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

My theory is that they do not care to touch down where there are so many buildings over a given number of stories.

Robusto

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Hope you have a root cellar or tornado shelter or whatever.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 But how awesome would that be if they did?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:08

@Robusto you know . . . the scary-ass hail storm of last night got me wondering what we would do. We almost always sleep at his cave, which has no basement.

user19161

There are no bears here, only cockroaches.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Robusto -_-

WendiKidd

@tchrist I can't even figure out what terms you googled to get any useful result. /bored now so I give up

;)

user19161

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 So you sleep in caves, interesting...

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@WillHunting cat cave, fox cave.

WendiKidd

02:10

@WillHunting Narrator: "The local cornbread ninja population beds down for the night, gathering their young into the dark caves to rest."

user19161

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 I am about to delete my math account as well.

user19161

@WendiKidd lol

WendiKidd

@WillHunting y r u leaving??

/chatspeak rage

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@WillHunting that doesn't add up.

user19161

@WendiKidd Well, enough of SE, nothing bad happened.

user19161

02:11

It's time to do something else.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Robusto

Apr 2 at 19:59, by Robusto

Some people will undo anything for attention.

user19161

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 So when are you and T getting married? lol

WendiKidd

@WillHunting Well, you shall be missed.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@WillHunting ask him.

user19161

02:12

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 OK, I remember his beard, lol.

user19161

@Robusto lol

Robusto

Thank you. That deserved a lol first time out, but got none.

Ain't no justice.

user19161

I recently picked up this lol habit from someone. Previously it was QED.

Robusto

You're regressing.

user19161

Initially I used LOL, but now I have regressed to lol.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:14

That's less shifty.

Robusto

The names of 114 US municipalities begin with "lol" ...

Thank Keerist for free web services and Javascript.

But look, they listed LOL, NV twice! I guess they thought it was that funny.

user19161

I just realised that lolita starts with lol, lol.

Robusto

LOL

Or XML LOL if you prefer.

user19161

lol is also a palindrome.

user19161

Of course, this observation has been made 9000 times.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

02:21

@WillHunting you misspelled 'over 9000 times'.

Robusto

He's not fussy about stuff like that.

user19161

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 It's actually OVER 9000 times, lol.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

facepalm

user19161

@Robusto Yeah, I am not OCD about language, I only pretend to be.

Robusto

We're waiting ...

...

user19161

02:22

Waiting for what?

Robusto

... still waiting for the "lol" closer.

C'mon.

user19161

LOL!!!

Robusto

So it looks like I was mistaken in my use of the geonames schema. The toponymName property looks better than the name property for what I need. Why was I ever fool enough to think that name would be useful for, I don't know, providing the name of a city?

And adminCode1 means state. Geezis.

Off to bed. Pleasant dreams.

user19161

@Robusto See you in your dreams!

WendiKidd

@WillHunting ...you get that that's creepy, right?

lol

user19161

02:28

@WendiKidd Well, I say it to almost everyone here! lol

user19161

But yeah, I have done some slightly creepy things here...

user19161

Anyway, I did dream of Robusto twice.

user19161

And kitfox did dream of me once.

WendiKidd

@WillHunting haha,that's funny!

user19161

@WendiKidd I think in kitfox's dream, I was dressed as Superman, and jumping off the cliff with her two kids.

WendiKidd

02:32

@WillHunting Haha, nice! Superpowers would be so much fun....

user19161

@WendiKidd I am going to bed. I will see you in my dreams.

TemporaryNickName

Drinking energy drink gives you temporary energy boost (maybe for 10 hours) but I think it's going to make you feel less energetic for a lot longer

=( screw redbull

Mahnax

02:53

@TemporaryNickName I prefer coffee.

A nice cup of French press coffee every morning, mm.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

Mmm.

Mahnax

You like French Press as well?

Yay!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I might. Mostly coffee.

Mahnax

Haha, fair enough.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

makes note to try french press

Mahnax

02:56

Oh, it's so good. You get to keep those coffee oils that are lost when you use a paper filter, so it's a less acidic and more bodacious cup.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

gnarly!

Mahnax

Yeah!

French press, man. Good coffee.

1tbsp of coarse grounds per 4oz. of water, four minute brew time.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

I would have one, but it's time for bed.

night!

Mahnax

OK. Night!

Cerberus

05:58

Yo.

MετάEd

07:00

The screenshot on this blog post of mine really needs a good caption. Suggestions?

Cerberus

> A telling shadow is cast on Mr Schultz by the interview

@MετάEd Perhaps too contrived. But just look at the shadow.

If anything says "dick"...

MετάEd

Yes. I just need a good caption.

Something like "wearing a dick while acting like one: priceless".

I dunno. Something more clever.

Cerberus

You would be so direct?

MετάEd

Not in the article, but if I were to circulate the picture on its own.

Cerberus

Ah.

MετάEd

07:07

No, I think it's fine in the article.

Cerberus

Oh.

MετάEd

Right?

Cerberus

Uh-huh.

Matt Эллен

10:25

@MετάEd "A dick of the light"

Johan Larsson

why?

Matt Эллен

it's a pun on "a trick of the light"

because the shadow that is cast looks like a penis

"a trick of the light" is sort of like a mirage, but less substantial

Johan Larsson

ok lol

Matt Эллен

@MετάEd "A dick of of the light cast on a dick of the right"

Noah

10:53

Hello

Question

Matt Эллен

Hello
Answer

Noah

In a manual, what tense is recommended? For example: If you want to use this file on other computers, you will need to export it to another format.

Matt Эллен

hmmm

Noah

In a manual, what tense is recommended? For example: If you want to use this file on other computers, you need to export it to another format.

The first one uses will, the second one doesnt.

Matt Эллен

I don't know what is recommended. I prefer the use of will

Noah

10:56

That's what I thought. But Google Books seems to favor the other one.

Matt Эллен

ah

maybe it works better at getting people to understand. I don't know, I'm afraid.

@aedia might now, she's worked with things like this

Noah

Okay, great. I will wait for the others to arrive. @tchrist might know. He is a published author.

Noah

11:10

One more thing: To go to the registration page, in the Toolbar, click on Sign Up, and you will be presented with a new form. In this form you can type all the details related to your registration.

@MattЭллен Do you think the part in bold is necessary?

Matt Эллен

it's useful to tell the user what will happen, so I would keep it.

Noah

If I dropped it, would the last sentence still make sense?

Matt Эллен

no, because you say this form without having already referenced a form

Noah

Thanks.

Just wanted to make sure.

Matt Эллен

most people would probably be able to infer that clicking sign up produces this form but it's extra work.

no problem

Noah

11:16

And what about the comma after Sign Up?

Do you think it's required? Recommended?

Matt Эллен

seems fine to me, but is not essential

1

A: Comma confusion

I work at Google[,] the search company. You need a comma here. The comma functions like parentheses — it shows that you could delete the clause and the sentence would still make sense. Here’s an example of a sentence with a clause that needs and a clause that doesn’t need commas: Barac...

60

Q: Should I put a comma before the last item in a list?

Should I put a comma before last item in list? I would like crackers, cheese and some soda. I would like crackers, cheese, and some soda.

Noah

Thanks. The guy got -4 for this question. Funny, huh?

Matt Эллен

yeah, it's odd

I guess people were in a bad mood that day

Noah

Maybe.

Matt Эллен

anyway, the second thing I link to has a better explanation

Noah

11:22

Yeah, I am reading through it.

Speaking of mad mood.

The last part says, "Better?", And kim replies, "better".

Matt Эллен

:D

Noah

Matt Эллен

Better!

feeding Kim Jong Un a Snickers turns him into Psy!

Noah

LOL

Matt Эллен

BBL, lunch

Noah

11:27

See you.

Jez

Why do we say "insofar as" and not "insofaras"?

I mean if you're going to glue the short words together that always get used in that order, why not glue the "as" on too?

Noah

@Jez Then it would sound German not English.

:)

176

A: Do most languages need more space than English?

Speaking as a translator, I can share a few rules of thumb that are popular in our profession: Hebrew texts are usually shorter than their English equivalents by approximately 1/3. Spanish and Portuguese texts are longer than their English counterparts by about 1/5 to 1/4. Scandinavian language...

> "Kontrollflußgraphvisualisierungssoftware" is no longer than its English counterpart, "control flow graph visualization software"

Jez

@Noah except that we do glue the first 3 words together

it's like there's a 3 word limit... "notwithstanding"

Noah

@Jez Maybe. I think the same is not true in BrE.

Insofar != in so far.

Jez

erm

yes it pretty much does equal that

Noah

11:36

omm, that's funny. Becuase the OED doesnt confirm it.

Jez

does it say it doesn't mean the same?

Noah

> insofar |ɪnsə(ʊ)ˈfɑː|
adverb
variant spelling of so far as (see far).

This is what it says.

> insofar |ˌinsōˈfär|(also in so far )
adverb (insofar as)
to the extent that: he decided that philosophy spoke of personal problems only insofar as they illustrated general ones.

This is from the NOAD.

Jez

also in so far

Noah

Yep. But that's from the NOAD.

The first one is from teh OED

Jez

shrug

Noah

11:41

shrug. :)

Mitch

11:52

@tchrist ha ha. No.

any loss of Nutella is a terrible loss. Anyway, I have some saved up just in case. That stuff lasts forever!

Matt Эллен

I don't think anyone would miss Nutella if Nestle stopped making it. it's not very good

oh dear. did I kill Mitch with my joke?

Mitch

@Noah Ha ha... war mongler

@MattЭллен I don't think you should make fun of that. It's not very nice. I mean you probably won't got to hell for it, because you probably already live in a hell of your own making

Goddammit. I'm not going to fix that.

Matt Эллен

That's true. So then I can make fun of it, because I can't get any lower

Mitch

Ok yeah I did.

Matt Эллен

:D

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…