English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room - 2013-07-25 (page 2 of 2)

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3:01 PM

@Jez Wha?

@Robusto don't forget the Red Dwarf appearance

@tchrist Hertfordshire

No no no no. I know. My family is from there. I just couldn’t believe how dumb that line was.

maybe "called" should've been "in"

@Jez Given the context? No, they meant "called."

Matt Эллен

> Jane Austen also enjoys excessively writing about one subject in the story, which can be difficult to sit through to read. But it still shows that Jane is a great author, especially during her time.

3:03 PM

If you leave (non-pornographic) books in your car, no one will break in.

Matt Эллен

I have an anti-tiger book.

I've not once been attacked by a tiger while reading it

If you leave no car around your books, there will be nothing to break in into.

If you leave non-pornographic books in your car, you can use them to provide traction if you get stuck in the snow.

@MετάEd Still, sand is probably the better bet. Those pages just get slippery in the snow.

At work we have a shelf of "retired" tech books, which no one will ever read again because they're from like ten years ago. But nobody even makes an effort to recycle them into useful compounds.

And by shelf I mean shelving unit.

Probably 200 books in all.

It's amazing how quickly tech books go out of date.

user image

See if you can guess who these guys are.

Matt Эллен

bill nye and three other people

3:09 PM

I see the Eleventh Doctor.

Two right so far. Cheat sheet

Guy in black is awfully famliar.

Oh, right. That thing I never watch but the Internet likes.

There are many things in heaven and the Internet not dreamt of in your TV listing, Horatio.

> It is generally considered a pretty, romantic book - like a swan on a lake. But much like the swan, it's what happening underneath that's important.

haha. Amazon reviews of Jane Austen are funny.

@Robusto McTabby does the same thing with the blurbs authors write for their Harry Potter fanfics. She calls them Summary Executions.

@Robusto hey, I got me correctly.

And Bill Nye is clearly played by Wolfgang Joop.

3:18 PM

Haha. His name rhymes with poop.

user image

Neil DeGrass Tyson gets zombied.

FX is like FOX except without the zeroes.

> [Pride and Prejudice] is simply a 19th century British version of the Jerry Springer show.

"Growing Pains" becomes groɪŋ penz in IPA. Interesting.

> I must admit that this is a very well written book: the situations, the characters, the idea. I must also admit, though, that for that very fact, I didn't enjoy the book. The book was a comedy of manners on society and people. Most of the people were irritating, and I couldn't get into it. This is not to say that there is a flaw in Austen's writing. She is a most excellent authoress. I was so annoyed by the well-written characters that I couldn't enjoy them.

That's either a stupid comment or brilliant, understated satire. I can't make up my mind.

@Robusto Yes?

Matt Эллен

3:36 PM

why-is-word-x-word-x-and-not-word-y

@MattЭллен [sniff] It's beautiful.

Matt Эллен

if only tags could be that long

Matt Эллен

3:49 PM

chow!

ciao for nao!

Morning!

> Kort na de crash vertelde de machinist zelf al dat hij te snel reed. Hij zou 190 kilometer per uur hebben gereden waar hij maar 80 mocht.

Engine driver was driving at 190 km/h where 80 was the maximum.

80 people die.

4:04 PM

What's your point?

@Cerberus I know! right?

Oh. I thought it mean he was 80 years old.

Really, in NLand, there are no roads long enough to get up to that speed. So I think what was meant is that the driver was -revving- the engine that if it were moving (it was in meutral) it would have been going 190km/h.

And all those people were killed by the mind piercing scream of the engine metal grinding on itself. You know, a cranial explosion by matching its base frequency.

@Mitch I think he's talking about a train, not an automobile.

@Mitch Umm this is about a Spanish train accident that happened yesterday.

Spanish train accident.

I was shocked at the margin by which the driver exceeded the speed limit.

4:18 PM

You think bikes are safer? Dream on..

Speed kills.

For the crashblossom files: Arresting Portraits of Children in Water.

No prison?

And Aaron Swartz was facing 50 years or something?

Driving into pedestrians at 50 km/h is rather serious, I should think.

Well, biking.

Unless there was some reason why he couldn't brake.

He could brake. And if he couldn't, he shouldn't have been riding in San Francisco.

user image

There are plenty of these in SF.

If you don't check your brakes when you start driving or cycling, you are a dangerous idiot.

And the guy was running red lights as well. That is a prescription for disaster.

4:34 PM

Wow.

That's like a mountain!

So why was he not punished more severely?

He was punished more severely than any other cyclist in the U.S.

@Cerberus That's exactly what it is.

4:50 PM

@Robusto It's still just community service.

But he's now a convicted felon. That is a huge deal.

Still, no prison sentence?

The consequences convicted felons face in most states include:
Disenfranchisement (which is expressly permitted by the Fourteenth Amendment, as noted by the Supreme Court)
Exclusion from obtaining certain licenses, such as a visa, or professional licenses required in order to legally operate (making some vocations off-limits to felons)
Exclusion from purchase and possession of firearms, ammunition and body armor
Ineligibility for serving on a jury
Ineligibility for government assistance or welfare, including being barred from federally funded housing

In many cases, it would be preferable to serve time for a misdemeanor than to get probation as a felon.

But neither is an attractive alternative, of course.

Anyway, mahlzeit.

@Robusto Wow. That is draconic.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@tchrist that was a good read.

5:02 PM

Why are those things "automatic" punishments, rather than explicitly meted out by a judge?

Your country is so very different from mine.

Matt Эллен

user image

Heh.

Was it Mindy from Puddleton?

Matt Эллен

How did you know?

5:24 PM

Hah!

3

Cat friend v. dog friend.

@Robusto oh. Oops. Actual tragedy. My misunderstanding.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus haha

Hi @Cerberus

Good Evening.

Hi @MattЭллен

How do you do?

busy?

5:50 PM

@Cerberus fun enough for a star but not really fair to dogs imo.

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@RegDwighт instructables.com/id/LEGO-Optical-Illusion-Mosaic

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Why do you always link to such awesome things?

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@DavidWallace :D

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 oh yeah, I"ve seen another one a couple weeks back. Don't remember where. But the illusion was even stronger, actually.

My illusion's better than your illusion!

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

5:55 PM

Use Your Illusion I and II

nothin' lasts foreva / even cold november rain

Is 'You could be mine' on use you illusion? checked it, yes it is

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

:)

I must nom.

I just nam!

@RegDwighт Hi Reg! tchrist recently gave me some clues for identifying our "resident troll" norton, which raises my suspicions about this one on ELL. Can you perhaps check it out?

6:11 PM

@FumbleFingers Doesn't fit the profile.

@FumbleFingers That's not to say, of course, that NS couldn't have changed his M.O.

@FumbleFingers I'd say definitely not. The responses in comment especially don't fit the profile. They're not insane.

@FumbleFingers I'll have to bounce this right off to @wendikidd, as I do not have mod rights on ELL and cannot check certain things that give him away here on ELU in under a second.

And yeah, @tchrist has been busy.

What did the troll do and what did thcrist do?

The troll did his usual shtick.

So did tchrist, in a way.)))

@FumbleFingers I don't think he's ever been known just to be a numbered user. He always makes up a name.

That is true.

Matt Эллен

6:26 PM

Okay, well thanx to all for the feedback

6:53 PM

@RegDwighт @FumbleFingers Thanks for the tip to that user; right now they aren't doing anything out of the ordinary but I will keep an eye on it! Anything you can tell me about why you suspect the account would be helpful :)

And Reg, you can ping me in the TL if you want to compare identifying info to confirm or deny.

7:08 PM

Yeah I know. I'm just passing suspicions around, I do not have any info of my own.

7:34 PM

@RegDwighт A responsible citizen would do no less.

Limerick Machine: Although the magic roundabout is worse

posted on July 25, 2013 by sgdi

Writing a lim’rick a day Is not as quite taxing as say Wrestling a bear In your underwear Or driving through Swindon’s one way

Adrian Panasiuk

8:21 PM

Hey guys, do you happen to know an abbreviation that means "including", like in "I eat many vegetables, including tomatoes and celery" ?

incl.

Adrian Panasiuk

Didn't think of that, thanks!

8:47 PM

@Cerberus a lazy citizen would do no more.

@Cerberus An authoritarian follower would do it early and often.

@WendiKidd 1) Several questions which seem slightly "provocative" to me. 2) therefore the OP may not be exactly a "learner", but he's posted no answers. 3) no space after ">" at the start of "citation" line. 4) No other SO history, but seems to use our markup fluently.

9:05 PM

This gives me pause.

-1

Q: how to answer the sentence "how are you going?"

i found the following dialogue somewhere. The answer given is C. I am a little bit confused about it. How are you going, buddy? ________. A little busy, though. The options given for the blank were: A. Not too bad B. Can't be worse C. On my own D. By train I want to know which an...

Mr Bayes has made his vote.

@Reg go huddle with @Wend and tell her what I know you're going to tell her. Pretty please.

curious here

Secret decoder ring

A secret decoder ring (or secret decoder) is a device which allows one to decode a simple substitution cipher - or to encrypt a message by working in the opposite direction. As inexpensive toys, they have been often used as promotional items by retailers, radio and television programs from the 1930s through to the current day. Decoders, whether badges or rings, are a fun way for children to tap into a common fascination with encryption, ciphers, and secret codes, and are used to send hidden messages back and forth to one another. History Secret decoders are generally circular scales; des...

@MετάEd How can one be authoritarian and a follower?

0

A: What does "Can it!" mean, as used by Alex Chadwick?

I hate to say this, since I prefer decorous language to gutter lingo, but "Can it!" is a shortened and more decorous way to say "Shit can it!" or "Take what you're saying and throw it into the shit can!" because that's all it's worth. It has absolutely nothing to do with food preservation. You...

What do you think, is this true?

9:22 PM

@Cerberus Nope.

Okay.

@Cerberus I think it's kinda true. I think "shit can" is a vulgar variation of "can" but that the can in question was the trash can. "Shit can it" is just more crude and emphatic.

OK, so why do think it's the trash can?

And do you ever say just "can" for trash can?

I know "can" is used for the john.

9:48 PM

Right-wing authoritarianism

Right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) is a personality and ideological variable studied in political, social, and personality psychology. Right-wing authoritarians are people who have a high degree of willingness to submit to authorities they perceive as established and legitimate, who adhere to societal conventions and norms, and who are hostile and punitive in their attitudes towards people who don't adhere to them. They value uniformity and are in favour of using group authority, including coercion, to achieve it. History The concept of right-wing authoritarianism was introduced in 1981 by ...

@Cerberus Also home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

user image

ha

puppy pic for balance

huddles with @WendiKidd to please @tchrist

10:05 PM

@RegDwighт @tchrist likes to watch.

Trivia contest: what movie is that from.

the cat gif?

10:19 PM

@JohanLarsson It's not from the cat gif.

:)

10:40 PM

@MετάEd Of course I knew what you meant, but I prefer to use authoritarian to mean "dictatorial", not "authoritarianist".

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Ohhh fear mah banana!

@Cerberus Authoritarian followers is not a contradiction. Authoritarians are those who "have a high degree of willingness to submit to authorities". "Trust the police" is an authoritarian statement even when you are not the police.

I am willing to concede the noun, because it cannot be confused with the basic meaning of the adjective.

But I do not like it when people attach a new meaning to a word that is in an important way the opposite of its basic meaning.

I would call a follower of communism a communist, not a common.

Nor a Leninist a Lenin.

@Cerberus There is a personality disorder more aligned with what you are saying and called "Authoritarian Personality".

I claim that, and I hereby authorise and command you to use the word as I say.

@Cerberus I order you to command and authorize me.

10:55 PM

@MετάEd But you are an authoritarian follower according to your own definition, aren't you?

You can't be both definitions at once.

<insert middle management joke here>

inserts left head

Now what happens?

@Cerberus Eh?

Above I am impersonating not an authoritarian follower but an authoritarian personality disorder.

Well, then you can't order me. There can be only one authority, and you're not it, being a follower.

Oh.

The personality-disorder part got through.

@Cerberus That feels like a false dichotomy; isn't the world full of people in a position of authority over some, but who are themselves answerable to a different authority? Hence the "middle management" reference.

11:06 PM

@BESW Well, yes, but not within the one-dimensional relationship between the follower and the followed.

You're introducing complexities! Authoritarianists like simple world views!

What's next, nuance!?

Nah, I'm a traditionalist when it comes to ances. These nuances aren't as good as the old ones.

[ducks]

Heh.

I appreciate your reationar(ity? -ism?). It seems compatible with the preluminary* essence of authoritarianism.

*) Before the Enlightenment.

@BESW Yes, those were finance.

11:36 PM

Ursula Vernon just posted a poem: Wordcount

cornbread ninja 麵包忍者

@Cerberus we all fear your banana.

And rightly so.

@BESW Haha nice.

Ursula Vernon is pretty amazing; she's written and illustrated a Hugo-winning graphic novel that is available for free online, and is the author/illustrator of the Dragonbreath series.

She's also the woman who painted the original Lolwut pear.

I think I've heard of that.

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