@aedia Well, welcome.

It's a bit slow right now.

Want me to show you the ropes?

@Kit sure, I'd appreciate that.

Looks like you've got the @ reference figured out.

@aedia You can link to specific comments, like this...

...by rolling over the comment you want to link to and clicking the little arrow on the right.

@Kit the @ is just like Twitter so I got that right away.

@Kit oooh!

You can see what it's linked to by rolling over it, or by clicking on the little arrow on the left.

You can edit for a short period of time by rolling over your comment and clicking on the down arrow on the left.

Edited comments will have a little pencil next to them.

@Kit I like how when you click the arrow on the left it highlights in bright yellow! The little arrow on the left that lets you see what it's linked to, that is. I did an edit... ooh edit history :)

You can star or flag comments from the right side too.

@aedia Nice!

The markup is a little different, too. *word* still italicizes

You can use --- for mistakes strikethrough.

@aedia And if I use the @ note and you're not in the room, it will leave you a chat message in your StackExchange notices.

Sometimes I jokingly use it as a summoning spell, like this:

strikethrough is like this ? I did it :)

@MrHen I stand in the room of chatting and I summon you. Let's talk about irony.

@aedia Sweet, you're all caught up now. Unless @Alennano can think of something else?

@Kit Thank you for the orientation!

You're welcome.

Why did I even attempt to try to render Collins Thesaurus as a graph in Gephi? 11 thousand nodes, 130 thousand edges, it's taking it ages to compute the layout… %$^&.

Hi.

@Vitaly Hi!

@Vitaly @Vitaly Man, it's Friday! What did you go and do that for? That's a Monday project.

@Kit — For fun. I thought it would be fun.

@Vitaly Do you know about the Invisible Pink Unicorn?

@Kit You can see me if you believe! You just have to believe!

@Kit — Ramen!

@Vitaly And did you get my message about the Parthenon visual dictionary you were talking about with, um, maybe Cerberus last night?

@Kit — Yes. I don't understand why you got the impression that we weren't talking in theoreticals.

@Vitaly Not the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

@Kit — Is the Invisible Pink Unicorn as delicious as the Flying Spaghetti Monster?

@Vitaly I guess I just read part of the thread? Why theoretical? This could be done.

@aedia Are you as delicious as the FSM?

@Kit — Yeah, it could be done… And it would cost a few million bucks. OUP could afford it, though—or so I think.

@Kit bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/…

It didn't go in the pretty box :(

@Vitaly So much? I must have missed a big part of it then.

@aedia Did you post it all by itself?

I tried again just after and it still didn't.

bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/22/…

@Kit — We were talking about doing it for the whole WordNet, not just a single entry for it (like Parthenon).

@aedia Might be the frames in the page.

@Kit 'Mr. Kauffman also noted, “In fact, ThinkGeek’s canned unicorn meat is sparkly, a bit red, and not approved by any government entity.” '

They believe in me!

@Vitaly Oh, my. We have an ongoing theoretical project here to convert Wikipedia to a spatiotemporal map of the world, complete with tectonic shift and climate change.

Hahaha. (I don't mean LOL.)

@aedia I believe in you too, IPU!

@Kit Yay!

I'm getting worked up about this color concepts thing in the orange question.

Who is going to ask the 7000th question?

Not it.

Although I have been thinking about asking whether "What is your name?" is a uniquely English construction.

In the other languages I know, the phrasing is usually something like "How are you called?"

One question has been deleted in the last few seconds. 6,998 questions now.

@AlainPannetier Hi. I liked the thoroughness of your answer for the orange question.

@Kit — I have read and heard “Как твоё имя?” (“How/What is your name?”) in Russian, which sounds archaic or dialectal. I have no idea whether it's in fact a recent development. It may be an elliptical form of “Как звучит твоё имя?” (“How does your name sound?”), though.

@Vitaly I don't know Russian. Is that like "What is your name?" or like "How are you called?"

@Kit, I actually have difficulties making my answers shorter than a whole page!

Federer won 3-1

that's a great performance he's put in, but he'll lose to Nadal. super difficile he said :-)

@Kit youtube.com/watch?v=zUZnnd7x4rY

@Vitaly Ooo. Very interesting. What is the usual Russian phrase?

@Kit — “Как тебя зовут?”

@z7sg WTF?

Wie is dein Name?

@z7sg Wie is like 'How' or 'What'?

@Vitaly Is that like "What is your name?"

It's 'how'

@Kit — That is the usual form, which means literally, “How are you called?”

hmm

Sounds like it might be an interesting question to ask. I'm not sure if it would be on-topic though.

I'm not sure if that's OK, "Wie heißt du?" is usual but you can also say "What are you called?" in English.

here's yet another question I'd ask in FLU if it existed: do you say "comment appelez-vous", or "quel est votre nom?"

@RegDwight Is it on-topic to ask about English "What is your name?" construction compared to other languages, which seem mostly to ask "How are you called?"

@Jez I've never heard "Quel est votre nom?" but then I was taught standard French.

google translate as well as PROMT give me that

for "what's your name?"

I'm sure "Comment appelez-vous?" is the usual way.

@z7sg Comment vous appelez-vous?

@AlainPannetier Is that right, Alain?

But then if you are asking someone's surname it's different. I think the Russians say Фамилия?

@z7sg Yes. “Как ваша фамилия?” (literally, “How/What is your surname?”) would be the usual form, I think. I cannot think of other ways to say that, except for the elliptical “Фамилия?” which sounds rude and might be asked by a policeman who is too busy.

Je m'appelle Edward.

@Kit "tout à fait" !

@z7sg That doesn't mean anything to me. Can you translate?

@AlainPannetier Merci.

Tu es bienvenue ;-)

Votre petit est meillure aujourd'hui?

Sleeping like a log.

The full form as Vitaly said it translates very literally as "How your surname?"

in English, you very rarely say "what's your name?" generally it's assumed it will be volunteered early in polite conversation. if you forget, you might say, "sorry, i forgot your name" or "sorry, I didn't catch your name"

@AlainPannetier That's good to hear. I posted one of my oldest last night.

is it the same in russian, or do they just ask flat out? :-)

@Jez — In British English. ;))

I believe that's a local British cultural quirk.

hmm?

really? americans just say "what's your name?"

i mean most of the time isn't it assumed one's name will be volunteered?

@Jez — I recommend reading Watching the English, which is a breezy book, but written by a professional anthropologist. I have enjoyed it immensely.

@Jez Yes, we just ask.

@Jez that's a good point - I was just watching a Demetri Martin bit where he runs away from a conversation because he's panicking about not knowing either of the guys' names despite having met them before

@Kit I don't just ask, I'm too shy!

@Kit how many do you have ?

it's generally considered rude to ask for someone's name flat out, without an apology, especially if they've already told you it

it's a funny thing but there you go.

i guess if you dont care enough to remember their name, it's assumed that you don't care much at all

amazon.co.uk/Watching-English-Hidden-Rules-Behaviour/dp/…

even if you're bad with names, which would be a bit unfair

@Jez: worst still "What did you say your name was again ?"

@aedia When we met, my husband and I decided that the convention should be to announce your own name upon shaking hands, rather than the other person's. Saves a lot of embarrassment that way.

@AlainPannetier I think i'd instinctively begin any such sentence, "sorry..."

@AlainPannetier Two. One is three, the other is one (almost).

@Kit educated French people do that.

'sorry' softens the blow of most sentences enormously

@AlainPannetier Have two children? Or say their own names when they meet?

Say one's own name whilst yo shake hands for the first time with somebody ;-)

@AlainPannetier Makes a whole lot more sense, doesn't it? I can (usually) remember my own name, after all.

ah, but remembering their name is the point

if you do, you made an effort :-)

if you don't, you dont care about them so much

The golden rule of politeness being to make other people feel at ease, you are supposed to endeavour to foresee their personal questions and answer them... in the limit of your own privacy.

that's the implied assumption anyway

@aedia But you're the Invisible Pink Unicorn! How can you be shy?

If you're not use to that custom you sometime forget the name of people who have presented themselves spontaneously to you and that's considered an "impair".

@Kit The only time it doesn't work is when they don't respond with their name, but instead "That's right, IPU! We met at the party last week!" and I still don't remember meeting them...

The golden rule of English sociability is to display little to no social skills, as in socially clumsy and uncertain.

@Vitaly that's not fair.

IPU?

@aedia That drives me crazy. If I give you my name, you should always give me yours, even if we've known each other for years. It's like hugging someone and not getting hugged back!

@Jez Invisible Pink Unicorn.

@AlainPannetier — Well that's true. Watching the English explains it in more detail. ;)

@Kit What if someone sees me and tries to taste me?

@Vitaly are you sneakingly trying to push another book on top of my reading list again?

Cripes, I've got to skedaddle, my peeps. Catch you on the flipside.

@Kit Bye!

@aedia ;) You're omnipotent and omniscient, honey. Start acting like it.

You are actually considered rude slash self-opinionated in Britain if you socialise too well without any clumsiness, as Americans do. “What is your name?” is a good example. It's clumsy not to ask someone's name, actually.

Tchuss.

I got the Pascal Boyer one but didn't get around starting it for now.

CU @kit

@AlainPannetier — No! That one book is too light, as in bed-time or coastal resort reading. I am just stating a fact that it's explained there. :P

@Kit — Later.

@Vitaly, I jotted down the title anyway ;-) you teased me.

:D

@Vitaly — or better yet, that's a book to read whilst waiting in a queue.

@Vitaly As a British person, this is news to me. Previously I thought I was a bit clumsy in social situations. Now you tell me I have Advanced Social Skills?

@psmears — That's a bit interesting, innit? :P

I am sick of that Collins Thesaurus sponge.

Can't be bothered to wait more. Colour-coded for modularity class (blue-green-yellow-purple gradient), nodes sized by betweeness centrality; nodes = words, edges = synonymities; force-directed layout; 11k nodes; 130k edges.

Why are there invariably two “hemispheres”?..

Oh, those must be verbs/nouns. Makes sense.

@Vitaly, how do you search for [number] word [number] on COCA?

Is that a thesaurian nebula?

Huh? If it isn't in the help, I dunno.

I just thought your corpus-fu might be more advanced than mine.

I have no idea why everyone suddenly started asking me about corpora. I never claimed to be familiar with them, quite the opposite.

aha [mc*] does it

Well once one person starts asking...

Exactly.

That huge purple blot in the centre between the nouns and the adjectives (turns out those are not verbs) is the word “close.” It appears to have a high betweenness centrality value—and its own “community.”

Fascinating.

Honestly, I don't think I get it. Is there some kind of cosmic signficance of that?

I don't think so; just a factoid I thought interesting.

/me feels he is missing something