English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Vitaly

02:23

english.stackexchange.com/q/23152/3286 is a dupe of english.stackexchange.com/q/2117/3286

F'x

09:01

@RegDwight: I wonder why you're not answer question on EL&U in this fashion:

15

A: Was the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star really a design flaw?

There are several theories. David Morgan-Mar of Irregular Webcomic! has two. One of them puts the blame on a social issue. It says that the Death Star was probably built to impress chicks, and withstanding a space battle was a secondary concern: Another one blames physics. It says that it was...

Kosmonaut

11:40

Surely this is NARQ, right?

1

Q: Kidnappers wanted to determine the victim's ... what?

Below is an excerpt from an article about the recent kidnapping of Kaspersky's son. Please guess two words that you think would fit in well in the blanks. (Of course, you can search and find that article on the internet and, thus, find out those two words, but I would beg you not to do so - I wa...

word-choice

They got rid of the quote symbol? Surely the answer was to have a different type of display for examples...

It is useful to distinguish quoted stuff from examples and there is no way to do that.

Stackoverflow has the distinction with code; they needed to make one that works for a site like us.

Nyuszika7H

oy

Mr. Disappointment

Hi, guys

Nyuszika7H

Hi @MrDisappointment

Vitaly

Hi @MrDisappointment

Also, I am tempted to change my name to Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells

Mr. Disappointment

Afternoon all - from my time zone, at least

Nyuszika7H

11:55

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells, Hungary

124 6

grammar sentence parentheses

/ctcp MrDisappointment time

Vitaly

What? Oh no. You beat me to it.

Mr. Disappointment

Oh? Why? Am I missing something?

Nyuszika7H

Oh right, this isn't IRC

Mr. Disappointment

Right

Vitaly

Now you will have to wait 30 days. ;)

Nyuszika7H

11:56

@MrDisappointment What IRC client are you using?

@Vitaly Nope, there's a 15-minute grace period.

Mr. Disappointment

I'm just in Chrome ATM, mIRC usually though

Nyuszika7H

irssi ftw

Mr. Disappointment

Link?

0

Q: New Design: Can we increase the contrast between certain items?

I've noticed that some of the elements in the new design don't contrast enough from their surroundings. Example: - Hyperlinks are dark red, so dark that I have difficulty distinguishing them from black, especially on an LCD screen which isn't at the perfect precise viewing angle (from an angle ...

bug status-completed design

Nyuszika7H

irssi.org

It's a console IRC client.

Mr. Disappointment

Maybe this should be discussed in meta-chat, but while I'm here, what do you guys think of the visibility of linked text in questions on the main site?

The question above has been marked status-complete, but find it difficult to even notice links :/

Nyuszika7H

11:59

You mean, status-complete?

Mr. Disappointment

Um, if the pretty tag box makes a difference, ya

There's four links in the text of that image, in case you couldn't notice.

Argh, now the server/s seem to be choking

Other than SO, obviously, that's fine

RegDwight

12:46

@Kosmonaut I was wondering that, too. It's a riddle, not a question.

RegDwight

13:02

This question got migrated to ELU:

21

Q: Login or Log in?

Is there accepted terminology for the process of logging in? As a verb, would you say "Go to the website and log in", or "Go to the website and login"? As an adjective, would you say "Click on the Log in form", or "Click on the Login form"? Does the same apply to logging out? eg: logout?

terminology grammar

We have a very similar one already:

9

Q: "log in to" or "log into" or "login to"

When writing an instruction about connecting to a computer using ssh, telnet, etc., I'm not sure what spacing to use in this familiar spoken phrase: "Log in to host.com" "Log into host.com" "Login to host.com" Maybe this is entirely subjective or the realm of industry jargon, but I couldn't t...

programming jargon

The answers to the latter answer the former as well.

In fact, I am considering a merge. But I gotta go now. Comments/close-votes/objections appreciated.

I'm out.

Robusto

@Kosmonaut: Yeah, I kinda liked the quote symbol.

The world is a bleak and barren place without it.

z7sg

@Robusto word

So why are these old questions migrating over here from SO? It's a affront!

Robusto

So the quote mark was a frill? Reminds of of an old cartoon in The New Yorker. A businessman is seated in first class and is asking the flight attendant. He says, "And can you tell me exactly who determined that a dry martini is a frill?"

Kosmonaut

13:54

@Robusto I can completely understand those who say there has been confusion between quotes and examples. I just don't understand how getting rid of the quote symbol helps at all.

And so if the ambiguity is going to remain, then I'd prefer to just have the quote symbol there.

F'x

@RegDwight merging seems the right thing to do

brilliant

14:08

So, if I ask you how would you continue this phrase "It was a usual day: birds were flying, men were walking, snakes were creeping and the fish were ***", you would also accuse me of giving you a riddle instead of a question?

@Kosmonaut - You were the only one to whom "it was not clear" what was being asked in my question. Those others who answered didn't seem to have that problem.

In fact they answered and I was quite satisfied with their answers.

F'x

14:50

@brilliant if you know the answer but are teading others, it's a riddle

Kosmonaut

@brilliant english.stackexchange.com/faq

F'x

my main objection to this sort of "question" is clarity: if you read the question and answers now, it does not follow the "question – answer(s) + comments" paradigm of the site

Kosmonaut

What kind of questions should I not ask here?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page. To prevent your question from being flagged and possibly removed, avoid asking subjective questions where …

every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”
your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers: “I use ______ for ______, what do you use?”

F'x

@brilliant you're free to disagree, but those are the terms under which the site operates

brilliant

What is an open -ended question?

@Kosmonaut What is an open-ended question?

Kosmonaut

14:53

I just pasted the relevant explanation right above.

brilliant

@F'x "it does not follow the "question – answer(s) + comments" paradigm of the site" - Why does it not follow that paradigm?

Kosmonaut

It's a discussion, not a problem->solution.

Every answer is equally valid, and opinion based as well.

brilliant

@Kosmonaut "I just pasted the relevant explanation right above." - And I've just read it. Why was my question was an open-ended. Perhaps, I don't understand the meaning of the word "open-ended". Is this question also open-ended: "How would you continue this phrase? "It was a usual day: birds were flying, men were walking, snakes were creeping and the fish were ***"

F'x

open-ended • (of a question or set of questions) allowing the formulation of any answer, rather than a selection from a set of possible answers

brilliant

@Kosmonaut - "It's a discussion, not a problem->solution" - Ironically, my problem - which was not knowing what a native speaker's expectation would be in that situation" - was solved thanks to those answers that I received there.

Kosmonaut

14:58

That's not ironic. You could post a question about someone's thoughts on politics and if it weren't closed, you might be very satisfied with the answers.

Just because someone enjoyed it doesn't mean it should remain open.

4

The value of this site is its narrow focus, and strict paradigm.

brilliant

@F'x "open-ended • (of a question or set of questions) allowing the formulation of any answer, rather than a selection from a set of possible answers" - I am sorry, but this definition is also quite "open-ended". Plus, it seems to me that there was indeed a a set of possible answers pre-set in my question, which is actually proved by how similar all the answers that I received there were.

@Kosmonaut "You could post a question about someone's thoughts on politics and if it weren't closed, you might be very satisfied with the answers" - What would've been a problem to be solved in that case?

Kosmonaut

What was the problem to be solved in your case?

You had the answer.

You took the words out yourself.

The intention of the word "open-ended" is explained in the FOLLOWING lines. Don't get hung up on that one word while ignoring the clarification of that word which follows.

F'x

@brilliant you do not seem to present any openness in this discussion, I will not contribute to this any further; please register your complaints about dictionary definitions to their authors (in this case, the New Oxford American English team)

see you all

Kosmonaut

see you

brilliant

see you (I am not about not presenting openness, I just try to understand)

@Kosmonaut "*You had the answer.

You took the words out yourself.*'

I think you misunderstood me. My question is what would be

the problem to be solved in that example of yours (about a politician's thoughts)

Kosmonaut

15:08

Are you intentionally ignoring the point of what I was saying?

Just because you got answers you liked does not mean the question belongs on EL&U.

I gave you the relevant FAQ links. If you think there is a valid question in there, you can try to revise your question in order to make it fit into the guidelines of the FAQ. If you are successful, it will receive votes to reopen.

I agree with F'x; there is nothing more being gained from this discussion.

take care

brilliant

@Kosmonaut "Are you intentionally ignoring the point of what I was saying?" - Not at all!!!! Please, answer my question: in that example of yours about a user who posted a question about someone's thoughts on politics

what problem exactly that user was trying to solve?

it seems to me that in that example he wasn't solving any problem.

Another thing: please answer this question of mine that you still haven't answered: Is the following question also "bad"? : "how would you continue this phrase "It was a usual day: birds were flying, men were walking, snakes were creeping and the fish were ***?"

@Kosmonaut "I agree with F'x; there is nothing more being gained from this discussion. take care"

hey guys, you are not being nice. I am honestly not understanding some points here and am trying to understand. You have stated that I was wrong. But as soon as I tried to clarify where exactly I was wrong you all just "sneaked out" accusing me of not providing any openness while I am simply trying to understand

none of you have answered my first question here. I am sorry, but I have to re-state it here again. Here I go:

"Is the following question also "bad"? : "how would you continue this phrase "It was a usual day: birds were flying, men were walking, snakes were creeping and the fish were ***?"

Is this open-ended, too?

RegDwight

15:24

Sorry to interrupt, but

0

Q: What's a good title to a presentations' table of contents?

This is a professional presentation, I'm looking for a good title for the ToC page (some humor allowed). What I have so far is "What am I going to talk about", which frankly kind of sucks. Your suggestions?

title

Not sure if this is on-topic for Writers...

But it doesn't look like on-topic for ELU.

Will catch up later. Gotta run.

brilliant

16:06

@F'x "if you know the answer but are teading others, it's a riddle" - Somehow I missed this post of yours. What do you mean by "teading" here? I've looked up in my dictionary and didn't find this word. I assume you meant "teasing". Well, please re-read my question then and you will see I was not at all teasing others - I didn't even have that intention.

Robusto

Sorry, I just had to share this.

psmears

@Robusto How much coverage are you getting in the US?

Here in Egypt they're not going mad over it, especially as there are far more interesting things going on in the Middle East at the moment...

but judging from what I can see of the British media online, I'm glad to be away from it :)

brilliant

16:21

@F'x "*if you know the answer but are teading others, it's a riddle*" - Somehow I missed this post of yours. What do you mean by "teading" here? I've looked up in my dictionary and didn't find this word. I assume you meant "teasing". Well, please re-read my question then and you will see I was not at all teasing others - I didn't even have that intention.

Not only so, I didn't know the answer either! Yes, I knew those two words that I deliberately left off from the article, but my question was not "see how close you will be to those two words", but rather "which words would this context no…

F'x

17:05

@brilliant I meant "teasing", it's a typo

@brilliant this is open ended. I could say "fish were flying" (some fish do), "… trapped in the nets", "… hunting other fishes", and so on

"what's the verb describing how a fish moves in the water", that sounds like a much more valid question already

I would not care particularly about your question if it were:

"This is what I read, and I find this use of technical jargon weird in this writing. Is "bevahioral pattern" common in such non-expert use?"

this would be of much higher quality, and probably on-topic on this site

MrHen

Ooh... shucks, I missed the argument.

brilliant

18:00

@F'x (1) "*what's the verb describing how a fish moves in the water", that sounds like a much more valid question already*" - Okay, what if I didn't drop "in the water" in the end of that question and, thus, phrase it like this:

"What words would you insert here to complete this phrase "It was a usual day: birds were flying, men were walking, snakes were creeping and the fish were *** *in the water*?"

Would it still be open-ended? Note, it's exactly how I phrased my original question - the context was provided on both sides of the blank.

@F'x (2)"I would not care particularly about your question if it were: "This is what I read, and I find this use of technical jargon weird in this writing. Is "behavioral pattern" common in such non-expert use?" - this would be of much higher quality, and probably on-topic on this site"

- But in this case it would not be what I wanted to ask about! Please, understand my point here: I DID NOT really care about whether or not "behavioral pattern" was common or not in that context. In fact, I didn't care about "behavioral pattern" at all!!! What I really cared about was WHAT WAS COMMON in tha…

@F'x (3) Situation really looks funny to me here because I feel as if I were forced to ask people a question that I have never actually intended to ask. It's like if I wanted to ask you "What thing can usually be found on your bathroom sink?", but you say "No! You should ask: "Can a soap be usually found on your bathroom sink?"

If we expand this example, then one could say I would be better off asking the question in this way: "What thing can usually be found on your bathroom sink: a soap or something else?", but here is the whole trick - I deliberately don't want to use the word "soap" in…

@F'x (4) Now back to my original question. Here is how I described that effect/phenomenon to some other user here:

"I noticed this long time ago that if you tell native speakers from the outset what the purpose of the question is, then the very precious element of spontaneity will be lost; native speakers, if they have been made aware of what area I am "probing" or, what's worse, were given a sample answer, would always try to be more "academic" so as to "fit the bill". I don't know how to explain this properly. It happened many times to me, too, when foreigners who studied Russian asked…

F'x

also, while we're here: the usage on chat is not to quote the text you reply to

the "reply to" links at the bottom right of each chat message allow to keep proper threads, while not having to quote

brilliant

@Fx I see. Thanks.

F'x

@brilliant that's it!

and if you hover the mouse cursor over one of these messages, the parent and children messages get highlighted

@brilliant I do understand, I just think it's much too subjective to "fit in" here; it's probably a fine question, but it's not part of the questions that this site was designed to answer

RegDwight

I could offer my two cents, in case anybody cares.

brilliant

@RegDwight Do, please.

RegDwight

18:11

@brilliant I totally see your point there. In fact, that's what we have single-word-request/phrase-request in addition to word-choice. In the latter, you say, "I have these words to choose from, what would you pick and why?" In the former, you can say, "I don't have any words to choose from, but this is what I want to express, what do you have on offer?"

Your question could be a single-word request / phrase request at heart.

The thing is, the way it's worded it isn't.

The most telling part is this, and I quote you: "I don't know whose answer I should accept as there can't be right or wrong answers to this kind of question."

MrHen

@RegDwight Agreed. That really is a bad state for a Q/A.

RegDwight

But you kind of have the right answer already.

MrHen

@RegDwight The point here is not to crack down on a valid question; the point is to figure out how to avoid that state.

RegDwight

This is where your other argument comes in.

@brilliant "what is common in this context".

The thing is, this is a very specific context.

It's an article someone has written.

It has those words already.

It has been worded the way it is.

So in a way, this question is simply too localized.

Because a) this context exists exactly once, and b) the question is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the Internet.

It's different from asking, say, "what are possible responses to 'thank you'".

Because that context comes up all the time and is of interest pretty much to everyone.

But in this case we have a very specific sentence that has been published exactly once, and probably never will be published with the exact same wording, and we have exactly one person who happened to omit exactly these words from it.

You catch my drift?

Add into the equation that, as you say yourself, you've got what you wanted.

I could understand your frustration had the question been nuked from orbit in the very first second.

But it's a) merely been closed, and b) after you've got a bunch of answers.

So it's not like nobody's cutting you any slack at all.

These are my two cents. Thanks for bearing with me.

brilliant

@RegDwight Well, RegDwight, I think you've nailed it. You are right - my edit section was really what "killed" my question. And i think the key words here are "too localized" - that's something I didn't think of.

Thank you for all these explanations.

RegDwight

18:23

Not at all.

brilliant

Okay, I think I need to col of a bit after a "long battle". Please tell Kosmonaut that I didn't want to offend him.

*cool off

RegDwight

I will. But I think he's pretty cool anyhow.

brilliant

I see. See you all!

RegDwight

Have fun cooling off!)))

So, everyone else, should we discuss kittehz or something? I could also do some LEGO-diving.

Apr 1 at 12:27, by RegDwight

MrHen

@RegDwight Needs more unicorn.

RegDwight

18:28

Apr 1 at 12:25, by RegDwight

Feb 17 at 21:22, by RegDwight

"The unicorn is a mythical beast," she said, and turned her back on him. The man walked slowly downstairs and out into the garden. The unicorn was still there; now he was browsing among the tulips. "Here, unicorn," said the man, and he pulled up a lily and gave it to him. The unicorn ate it gravely. With a high heart, because there was a unicorn in his garden, the man went upstairs and roused his wife again. "The unicorn," he said,"ate a lily."

MrHen

@RegDwight Hmm... source?

RegDwight

english.glendale.cc.ca.us/unicorn1.html

MrHen

Only when I know the author can I judge a piece of writing.

RegDwight

It's a very short story. You can read it in like 3 minutes.

And I think it's worth it.

Apr 20 at 17:50, by RegDwight

A beautiful story. It works for adults and children alike.

MrHen

@RegDwight Agreed. It was pretty fantastic.

> The psychiatrist looked at the police and the police looked at the psychiatrist.

RegDwight

18:32

Also, for additional unicornness, just search the chat for "unicorn" or "jpg"

F'x

18:49

@RegDwight I still don't see why you can't answer EL&U questions with legos

RegDwight

Who said I can't?

F'x

you don't, so you probably can't

9 hours ago, by F'x

15

A: Was the thermal exhaust port on the Death Star really a design flaw?

There are several theories. David Morgan-Mar of Irregular Webcomic! has two. One of them puts the blame on a social issue. It says that the Death Star was probably built to impress chicks, and withstanding a space battle was a secondary concern: Another one blames physics. It says that it was...

RegDwight

Well, I have an idea...

Next time I quote something from the Bible in one of my answers, I will also include the corresponding panel from The Brick Testament.

Hi @Brant.

Brant

Howdy.

RegDwight

I recognize that hill, but not the dino.

Robusto

18:58

@RegDwight — Where did you get two cents?

RegDwight

I stole them.

Robusto

Figures.

RegDwight

19:45

All three answers here seem to be missing the point:

0

Q: Need help with adjective derived from "read"

If I understand correctly, some adjectives could be derived from verbs. For example: interested person - someone who is interested in me interesting person - someone who is interesting to me How about with irregular verbs? In phrase "do something with data which was read" could the part "data ...

grammar adjectives irregular

"Data was read" can only be parsed in exactly one way. There is no ambiguity whether it's a "red" or a "reed".

Vitaly

so, is there any way to indent quotes within quotes using neither the non-breaking space nor >>?

RegDwight

You mean in answers?

Vitaly

yeah, as in here, I had to use >>

RegDwight

Not sure. Why do you need some other way?

Ah.

Thanks for the link.

Vitaly

just in case it gets reverted to the giant quotation mark, someday

RegDwight

19:50

Yeah well, that's what you get with the new design...

Robusto

@RegDwight — Well, "Data was readed" would be the correct way to say that.

No strong verbs allowed.

RegDwight

I know, could you finally post that as an authoritative answer?

Robusto

I coulded haved but I haved more time then.

RegDwight

D'oh. Coulded is so wrong. It should be canneded.

Robusto

I only used canneded in formal situations.

RegDwight

20:00

s/should/shalled/

And s/is/bes/

But I'm an NNS.

Robusto

I knowed that.

RegDwight

You, on the other hand, shalled be just ashamed.

Robusto

I knowed you willed say that.

Vitaly

can one rollback an answer?

RegDwight

Huh?

Whaddaya mean, rollback?

Robusto

20:02

No. You can't stop progress.

RegDwight

Edits can be always rolled back, whether on Qs or on As.

Robusto

@RegDwight — How about the rest of the alphabet?

Vitaly

ah I see it now, thanks, it's somewhat counterintuitive to me that the rollback feature is not linked to in the last edit

Robusto

I don't often get my Qs and As wrong ...

RegDwight

@Robusto The rest of the alphabet can be only deleted.

With exdtreme prejudice.

Robusto

20:03

I guess it's only fair.

RegDwight

Yes, with a d.

Nuked from orbit.

Pulverized from another galaxy.

Robusto

The only way to be sure.

RegDwight

Hey, @Kosmonaut, I was told to tell you something.

Lemme see if I still remember.

1 hour ago, by brilliant

Okay, I think I need to col of a bit after a "long battle". Please tell Kosmonaut that I didn't want to offend him.

Kosmonaut

I wasn't offended.

RegDwight

1 hour ago, by RegDwight

I will. But I think he's pretty cool anyhow.

Kosmonaut

20:06

I just thought it started going in circles, that's all.

RegDwight

Well hopefully I broke the circle.

I mean, breaked.

Kosmonaut

It's all about you isn't it!

RegDwight

Yes, lemme just greet @rafael, then we can get back to talking about me, myself, and I.

Robusto

Prepositional case, please: "... talking about me, myself, and me."

Kosmonaut

Haha

Robusto

20:09

Rookie NNS move.

RegDwight

Sorry. Talking about me, meself, and me.

Also, meme.

Yes, I'm an ananas, you have a problem with that?

Kosmonaut

I call them English n00bs

MrHen

New problem:

0

Q: What's the 'alternative forms of sexuality'?

The Beat Generation is a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of "Beat" culture included experimentation with drugs and alternative forms of sexuality. BTW, does the...

meaning-in-context

RegDwight

@Kosmonaut You're a n00b.

MrHen

-1

Q: Meaning of 'Even still the Generation is in motion'

The Beat Generation is a group of American post-WWII writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, as well as the cultural phenomena that they both documented and inspired. Central elements of "Beat" culture included experimentation with drugs and alternative forms of sexuality, an interest in ...

meaning

Notice anything?

RegDwight

20:11

Yes, I was going to retag both, but forgot the second.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Pineabble or cabana?

MrHen

I don't like the copy/paste ask a question format.

RegDwight

Seriously though, I didn't realize that it was from Wikipedia.

Robusto

The "alternative of sexuality"? I don't think I want to live in that world.

RegDwight

You already do.

Robusto

20:13

Oh, right. Because you're in it.

Glad we sorted that out.

RegDwight

That's why we go over these things.

MrHen

@RegDwight I found it when quickly looking up the Beat Generation

RegDwight

Nice catch.

Robusto

And now I am out. CYAZLATAHZMEKITTEHZ.

RegDwight

CU.

MrHen

20:13

This sort of thing has come up before with the other guy who was posting quotes and paragraphs from NYT and such.

RegDwight

Yoichi-san.

MrHen

But those seemed more interesting and the phrases were less obvious than "X is in motion."

@RegDwight Yes.

RegDwight

I was just going to say that.

MrHen

The sex question seemed fine; but the motion question seems a little too close to the edge for me.

And since they both involve the exact same paragraph...

At least the questions were split up. I do give credit for that.

I am pretty sure I explicitly asked lovespring to do that, too...

RegDwight

Well, on the other hand, that's still better than posting two questions as one.

Jinx.

MrHen

20:16

@RegDwight :P

Yes, I did:

1

Q: Some actor's lines from film 'Insomnia'

You do everything around here? Yes. I'm going to cut the deal. Why isn't the phrase just "you do everything here"? I know cut and deal, but it doesn't seem not mean "cut the deal" or "cancel the deal;" it means "make the deal." For many times, I know each word of a sentence, but I s...

meaning phrases meaning-in-context

RegDwight

See it this way: if they are from the same paragraph, it probably won't be an endless stream.

If someone started posting questions about every single random paragraph from Wikipedia, that would be a different thing entirely.

MrHen

@RegDwight Yeah, the next two will come from the following paragraph.

RegDwight

Haha.

I'll put my "let's wait and see" hat on.

MrHen

@RegDwight Fair enough.

I don't like it when (a) a question is literally just a blockquote (b) two questions like this are back-to-back

Billare

What is the plural of precis?

Precises?

MrHen

20:19

So... not a big deal

But I noticed it and felt like talking about it :)

RegDwight

@Billare We still haven't figured out what the plural of document is.

MrHen

@Billare My dictionary says "noun ( pl. same )"

Billare

wikitionary gives precises

Doesn't sound horrible?

MrHen

"verb ( précises |prāˈsēz; ˈprāsēz|, précised , précising ) [ trans. ]
make a précis of (a text or speech)."

So... odd

Billare

virtuallinguist.typepad.com/the_virtual_linguist/2009/10/…

interesting

probably should have been a question

oh well

Vitaly

20:22

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/precis#English

does it?

MrHen

@Billare Agreed. Type it up.

Vitaly

en.wiktionary.org/wiki/précis#English

it gives précises for the verb, not the noun

RegDwight

Right.

Vitaly

a more interesting question is what causes the distribution in class [ii]

RegDwight

Hm. I'd have to check out that Virtual Linguist blog some time. Doesn't sound too horrible.

Billare

20:27

Never mind, it was a mistake on my part.

I look at the adjective form in Wikipedia.

It correctly gives the plural noun, no controversy.

@RegDwight 'tisn't.

@RegDwigt Is that a valid contraction, by the way?

RegDwight

@Billare But that pronunciation thing is still quite interesting.

MrHen

@Billare Damn.

RegDwight

@Billare Here in chat? Sure.

MrHen

I like controversy.

RegDwight

13

Q: I'ven't a clue if this is possible. Can a word be contracted twice?

I've seen a contraction of two words. I can't see why it wouldn't be possible to contract twice. Is it possible and how should it be punctuated? Update: Ok, to sum up the answers so far This appears in spoken British and American English It is from one of the lower registers of English Even...

punctuation contractions

Billare

20:29

Right, I read that question.

Anyway, gtg...

TTYL.

Vitaly

the OED isn't helpful for class [ii] os/oes plurals: in citations, it lists both forms for class [ii] nouns as early as the 17th century

Later @Billare

RegDwight

CU.

2

Q: What is the largest multiple contraction possible?

Related to this post... I've'n't a clue what the largest word with multiple contractions is, but I'd've thought I'd've seen it here by now. I won't know until you've'd a chance to answer! My initial gambit: The fish'n'chips'll've been all gone by the time we get to the restaurant!

contractions

MrHen

@Vitaly I suspected something like that would happen.

But your answer to the os/oes question beat all of the references I had found by quickly searching, so props

Vitaly

yeah well, I am not satisfied with my own answer

MrHen

I've also noticed slipping from class [i] into class [ii]

most notably "hero"

Vitaly

20:35

it may list the what's, but it doesn't quite cover all the why's

RegDwight

@Vitaly This is often the case with language.

MrHen

Also, I almost never see "halo" as "haloes"

RegDwight

Me either.

MrHen

My hunch is that "oes" is disappearing

Why some words are getting hit sooner than others is curious

RegDwight

Not with zeroes. The last holdout.

MrHen

20:38

@RegDwight I more often see zeros than zeroes

RegDwight

Yes, but my point is that that's a word where some people are just militant fanatics about spelling it their way.

MrHen

ngrams.googlelabs.com/…

Ah, I see

RegDwight

Unlike with other words, where everybody's just meh.

MrHen

@RegDwight Hey! Another word like no or yes!

His answer was meh.

RegDwight

Hm. I thought it got mentioned in that question?

MrHen

20:39

@RegDwight It's possible. My memory isn't very sticky.

RegDwight

Actually, no. But the question was more specific than I remembered.

4

Q: Is ‘Yes-ish’ a perfect alternative to Yes, or is it 'Yes ‘on condition’? Is it received English?

I found a word ‘Yes-ish’ in the answer (from PLL) to my question about the meaning of ‘Stuck to the script’ I posted today. As it is quite new to my ear, I consulted with Wikipedia before logging out the forum, which says: (Yesih) is yes with a condition or limitation, and similarly Noish (but ...

meaning formality suffix

MrHen

I was referring to:

9

Q: How are "yes" and "no" formatted in sentences?

If I am expecting an answer from a question and wish to state my prediction, do I need to use quotes around a simple "yes" or "no"? I think the answer is no. / I think the answer is "no." That would be a yes. / That would be a "yes." Potential end cases: Why would he say, "No"? ...

grammar punctuation quotes

RegDwight

3

A: Favourite untranslatables

Going out on a limb here, because I don't really speak German, but there's one "word" I do quite like, which is Jein, a mix of Ja and Nein, which kind of means "Yes and No, neither, I can't answer that".

@MrHen Ah, hehe, I totally misunderstood you.

MrHen

@RegDwight How is that not the definition of off-topic?

"Give me words in other languages!"

RegDwight

Good question.

Look at the date, though.

August 6th.

MrHen

20:42

@RegDwight Ah

RegDwight

205th post ever (and that's including answers).

Another case of "these were the times where it was a free-for-all"

MrHen

@RegDwight Can we get one of those fancy "Don't ask questions like this please." messages?

A la

591

Q: What are some funny loading statements to keep users amused?

This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions here. More info: http://stackoverflow.com/faq Nobody likes waiting but unfort...

ajax loading fun

RegDwight

Yes, it's called "Closed by A, B, C X minutes ago."

Aha!

Cool idea.

Hey @Kosmonaut, how is you liking it?

Kosmonaut

Interesting.

Yes, I like it.

RegDwight

There. I just stole @MichaelMyers' wording verbatim.

F'x

20:52

@RegDwight me do like too

MrHen

@RegDwight Revisions say it was Robert Harvey♦?

RegDwight

Yeah, I don't care whose stuff I steal.

But Michael was the one to lock.

F'x

@RegDwight if you copied verbatim, then it's missing a giant red quote, isn't it?

MrHen

@RegDwight Excellent. The person who locked really does deserve all credit.

RegDwight

@Fx Haha

MrHen

20:54

@Fx -.-

RegDwight

I could actually add that image to that message.

Next time, perhaps.

Just to confuse new users completely.

F'x

@RegDwight I have upload it to a safe place

see english.stackexchange.com/questions/23014/…

you can directly use it from this URL: quatramaran.ens.fr/~coudert/quote.png

RegDwight

Haha, yes, I have never seen rot a URL with a tilde in it. Never.

Kosmonaut

Haha

I am on the mobile site. Or I would star that

4

RegDwight

I am starring you so you remember!

Quid pro quo, honey, quid pro quo.

MrHen

20:59

@RegDwight Ah hell, why not?

Kosmonaut

Oh great, EL&U taught you to use "honey" inappropriately

RegDwight

As long as you're not IMing us about your ducklings, honey...

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…