English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

I agree.

In particular, I find ," " confusing and jarring.

,” “ seems like a mistake. I just don't like using a single space to separate two quoted things, even when the close quote and open quote are distinct (as opposed to the indistinct " ones)

I agree.

This can't be good.

The apocalypse must be near. Can you come up with some weird reasoning that I can disagree with?

@Cerberus you're welcome!

4:30 PM

Gotcha, log-readeress!

@Cerberus No. And furthermore, I'm unhappy with the automatically-updated Google Keyboard on my phone, which got rid of some of the punctuation marks from the long-press-. key

I disagree.

You disagree that I'm unhappy?

So when you long-press the dot, you get fewer punctuation marks?

yes

4:34 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 No.

Which ones were removed?

And why not use Swype?

It now has dual-language support!

Like Swiftkey.

Last time I tried swype it was buggy and annoying.

Really?

What did it do to displease you?

since then the google keyboard has gotten so good, including gesture typing, that I just use it.

This is the first time it has really disappointed me.

(In my experience, Swype has the best gesture recognition/correction, then Swiftkey, then Google/Touchpal.)

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 So you're rolling back to the previous version? Or switch to Swype?

@Cerberus I'm not sure how.

I don't know the whole list of things it got rid of. But it got rid of ".

fucking "

4:39 PM

You haven't made a back-up?

like nobody uses that?!

Isn't it under some other key?

It also got rid of ( and )

it's under the symbols keyboard

Jesus.

there used to be, like, 12 punct symbols on the "."

4:40 PM

Are you sure you have checked everything? Because this would be absurd.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 well I'm not sure, either, but the answer is the same.

now there are 8

What if you hold the . key longer? Doesn't a more elaborate little menu pop up?

And it's not the answer that he got...

holds the . key longer

That's how it works in Swype.

4:41 PM

................................................................................‌.................................................................................‌.................................................................................‌......................................

I only get this, @Cer.

<menu pops up> What would you like to eat, Sir?

You're not doing it right.

Lekker middageten.

You forgot to sing the incantation "Google, take all my data, take my sister, take everything".

@Cerberus No. Just the same old secondary characters it always had.

@RegDwigнt That should work too.

4:42 PM

@Cerberus How would you know? I'm singing off the top of my lungs.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 That's mind-bogglingly stupid of Google. Can you find other people complaining about it? Can you find the old APK online?

Actually you're not too far away to not notice.

I'm off to play some chat noir. BBL.

@RegDwigнt Yeah all I heard was sss shhh sss, which is what one hears when one is just too far away to understand what Germans are saying, but you can hear they're German.

Ugh.

No fair.

You can win that.

4:45 PM

I think I'm done with chat noir for today.

It all depends on which side it is going to.

@Cerberus I just sent them feedback through the keyboard's send-feedback feature.

That'll help...

No I can't.

Wow you suck, bro. Sorry.

4:46 PM

Coming from you that means a lot.

I wish you could share a game.

Thanks.

Oh yeah.

That'd be cuil.

But I'm not here. Yet.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 So when I long-press the . key in the Google/Android keyboard, I get a menu with lots of characters, including ".

The keyboard has the swipe gesture and all, so it can't be that old.

@Cerberus you have an older version

Yes, but it can't be very old.

4:49 PM

yes, it's the most recent update that changes it. They pushed the 4.4 version out to everyone.

4.4 seems to have another annoying regression; the blue highlighting has been replaced with white.

so good luck looking at your wifi icon and seeing easily if your internet connection is working or not.

obviously, it isn't a regression per se. it's by design. but W.T.F.

Oh, yes, and they've also removed the arrows that show an active data transfer.

That alone would be a good reason not to update.

really? why would they do that

By the way, my keyboard is called "Android keyboard (AOSP)".

oh, you're on CM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Why do developers introduce functional regression?

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes.

I do have a Google Keyboard back-up from July, if you're interested.

4:52 PM

@Cerberus I guess someone had the idea that the little triangles are somehow confusing or something.

"Confusing" — what company does that remind me of?

now now. sometimes things ARE confusing.

every company should have a goal of reducing confusion.

What that means is you have to present the same information in a clearer way. Add an "advanced" lay-out, if you have no time to come up with a real solution. But removing functionality is a big no-no.

sometimes there isn't enough time or manpower to support all the advanced modes you would want.

Then leave things as they are.

4:55 PM

every single configuration point in the system doubles the testing workload.

Just add a tooltip or something.

well, sometimes "leave things as they are" isn't an option either. But in this case I fail to see what's so bad about those little triangles.

It is usually an option.

Actually I was annoyed when they switched from the bigger arrows, which were easier to see, to the tiny triangles.

Yes, their smallness annoys me too.

4:57 PM

Can anyone tell me what, "not one for --" means? Something like, "he's not one for modesty"..?

I think that was the sentence

He is not one inclined towards modesty.

@Cerberus Often it isn't an option. Sometimes the status quo is problematic and they need to change it somehow to fix the problem. Sometimes there is something else that needs changing and the changes ripple into other areas, introducing new confusion and new problems.

@Cerberus okay, thanks :-)

@Alraxite if you're not for something, you are opposed to it. Or somewhere on the gradient in between.

@Alraxite It's usually used with actions, rather than something as abstract as modesty, but that's what it must mean.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I'm not sure that is the actual sense of for involved in this particular idiom...

4:59 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh, okay, now it makes sense..

thanks

I tried searching for it, but I couldn't find anything relevant

Yeah it's hard to find.

If you Google ["not one for" idiom], you may find something.

Yes! usingenglish.com/forum/ask-teacher/139095-meaning-not-much.html

:D

Yay!

Or ["not one for" idiom|phrase|expression].

> If you say that someone is one for or is a one for something, you mean that they like or approve of it or enjoy doing it.
♦ be one for/be a one for phrase oft with brd-neg, v-link PHR n/-ing
I'm not one for political discussions..., She was a real one for flirting with the boys.

Cambridge:

> be one for sth informal › to like something very much: I've never been one for staying out late. He's a great one for the ladies.

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/one_9

5:31 PM

okay, thanks :)

...why do you have square brackets around the search term? Does it do something?

@Cerberus

@Alraxite No, that is just so that you can see what's part of the search query and what's not.

Otherwise it could get confusing, because of the "".

Limerick Machine: Heed her words

oh, okay, that makes sense.

Stack Exchange

7:06 PM

posted on November 15, 2013 by sgdi

"Do as you wish," said the crone. “But if you stray too far from home “They’ll pick up your scent “And you will lament “If they catch you and feast on your bones.”

7:31 PM

^ yikes

Hiya.

@KitFox Hi! Congrats at breaking 20K!

Thank you. beams

:D

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Crones, eh? What do they know?

Johan Larsson

memolition.com/2013/10/16/…

7:50 PM

They didn't mark when the Soviet Union broke up.

Though it is obvious.

Q: Is it "Play it by ear" or "play it by year"?

0

I've come across a few cases where I needed to write this phrase and I cannot determine which is correct. Do we "play it by ear" or "play it by year"?

phrases

@robusto: play it by year! How often in your professional career did you get to do that? Though so. High time you began. It's the rage with kids these days, I'm tellinya.

@KitFox Hoozah.

Ima build me a Palace Cinema.

KitSox

brickset.com/detail/?Set=10232-1

!!lego 10232

Didn't get the most formidable reviews. A very straightforward build with zero to none surprises. But a completionist gonna completion.

I like the design from here.

What a useful bot function.

Hmm I see a fair number of pieces/bricks?

8:05 PM

@MattЭллен beats me.

@KitFox indeed. the bots creator should be commended for such untility

creator? extender?

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 best stay in, just to be safe, though, eh?

what's a good synonym for bragging that connotes bragging about how rich you are?

assmillinery

!!define millinery

KitSox

@KitFox millinery Women's hats.

Specifically women? Huh.

I've gone for "grandstanding fat cat"

8:17 PM

ass haberdashery?

Oh.

haberdashery? does that imply bragging?

Haberdassery.

There.

:D

What does that mean?

The art of creating asshats.

!!define asshat

oh :D excellent

KitSox

8:18 PM

@KitFox asshat (pejorative, slang, vulgar) An obnoxiously ignorant person; a fool.

Yay me! I was clever!

You did a clever

That's well bing-bing.

Wow, I was accepted within a couple of minutes, with zero votes. english.stackexchange.com/questions/137883/…

I wonder if they read it

or accepted because it's long

Hehe.

Either way works for me!

8:24 PM

lol

It's not just your length that matters, Cerb

Whatever works, I'll use.

I don't suppose you've seen that film?

I think it's a Woody Allen creation

No?

Whatever Works

That plot sounds...

Well.

8:27 PM

I don't usually watch Woody Allen films, but I was given it as a gift. It's enjoyable

@RegDwigнt I have this set. I thought it was fun. It looks nice when finished. Also, you're right. not really any surprises.

not what I would choose, but not something I regret watching

OK.

As long as I can play with my phone during the film, I'm OK with it.

:D

Yes, D.

By the way, have you people seen La vie d'Adèle yet?

It is about two lesbian girls.

8:30 PM

> She looked around. Her tab was missing. She looked down. So were most of her clothes.

Very much en vogue right now.

With long sex scenes.

I have not

We're supposed to go see it.

If a convenient date can be found.

@KitFox tab of what?

@Cerberus oh! you're going on a date?

Bioscoopbroeken were mentioned. Do you guys know "cinema trousers"?

@MattЭллен Nope, friends and I.

8:31 PM

lol, no

Do you know what they are?

@Cerberus oh, well, good anyway :S

The front pockets are removed.

nonstick trousers, so popcorn isn't a problem?

Haha.

Not quite so decent.

8:32 PM

@MattЭллен It's a generic computer device. That's not the part you were supposed to think was funny.

@Cerberus Well, popcorn containers are much the same way.

@KitFox oh! OK :D

Although I don't see the point in cutting out the pockets.

@Cerberus I see, for easy access

You'd still need two holes that way, one in the cup, and one in the trousers, and at a rather visible place...

@MattЭллен Yup.

Do you not have zippered pants in Dutchland?

8:34 PM

I figured it was for other's hands to go in

You would put your cup there?

OK, maybe I need a diagram.

@MattЭллен Yeah.

Cutting out pockets seems overly complicated when all you need is a little friction.

And pockets are usually lightweight cotton.

But it's not my specialty.

Don't you think full hands and fingers works better?

8:39 PM

I wouldn't know.

9:21 PM

I'd get elected on Friday / assassinated on Saturday / buried on Sunday

@RegDwigнt Y-glide when you can skateboard?

Send lawyers, guns and money / Dad, get me out of this

Leaving my homeland / Playing a lone hand / My life begins today

Don't be in such a Rush.

And he shall be Zevon / and he shall be a good man

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 Let's not bring Reginald Dwight into this. (But not a bad pun.)

9:31 PM

Well, okay.

barlop

i'm sure I asked a question here about what a phrase was, if anybody could remember it, I remembered what it sounded like.. an idiom. And the question seems to have gotten deleted.

Where do I wrote a feature suggestion of not deleting questions completely?

i.e. of still letting the person that posted it see it

there were comments on it too

Excitable boy, they all said.

@barlop Ha, that's pretty optimistic. I don't even remember all of my own questions, much less anyone else's.

barlop

well i'm not optimistic that you'll remember your questions or anybody elses.

but that'd be a good reason to store it for the person that wrote it

I do not disagree.

> Those thumbnail-sized flakes have a storage density of up to 160 terabytes per kilogram, which means a FedEx fleet loaded with MicroSD cards could transfer about 177 petabits per second, or two zettabytes per day—a thousand times the internet’s current traffic level.

what-if.xkcd.com/31

> So the bottom line is that for raw bandwidth, the internet will probably never beat SneakerNet. Of course, the virtually infinite bandwidth would come at the cost of 80,000,000-millisecond ping times.

Ah yes, it's Friday.

9:43 PM

Yes.

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 In Japan it's already 土曜日.

@Robusto you misspelled "send Lawlers" !

@RegDwigнt Huh? I mispole something?

@Robusto ah, yes, Robusto-san.

@Robusto yes, I think that was my point. I think.

9:46 PM

I will need a citation.

reads Rob his rights

I'm not giving you citations. You spent years blowing hard wood for money. Dude. I have dignity.

@RegDwigнt You have a mere facsimile of dignity, which you clutch to your cheek even now like a baby blanket, yet all here can see it is threadbare and in tatters.

Yeah yeah yeah all I hear is "I whoreheartedly agree with you, Reg".

sits in stupefied amazement at the hubris

►

9:49 PM

There is nothing stupefied about hubris.

Stultified?

hubris => I brush

@Robusto you really have the verve to post videos not available in my country?

Mar 6 at 13:38, by Robusto

@RegDwighт What a loser country.

And why am I getting notified about deer huntre spam?

Maybe they mean Spam, not spam. I bet if you look hard enough you could find deer offal in Spam.

9:51 PM

Honey, I am discussing tea in Received Pronunciation. I have no time for your tomfoolery.

But I must be off to be drinking again. Or more. Or both.

Lators-gators.

darkens up the room and leaves

Don't call me Honey.

It's dark, nobody can see it.

why would you darken leaves?

it's Autmn, they do it all by themselves

@MattЭллен Sometimes they lighten in autumn. Take aspens, for instance.

Aspen

Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section Populus, of the poplar genus. Species These species are called aspens: *Populus adenopoda: Chinese aspen (China, south of P. tremula) *Populus grandidentata: Bigtooth aspen (eastern North America, south of P. tremuloides) *Populus sieboldii: Japanese aspen (Japan) *Populus tremula: Eurasian aspen (northern Europe and Asia) *Populus tremuloides: Quaking aspen (northern and western North America) Habitat and longevity The aspens are all native to cold regions with cool s...

they go from green to dark yellow.

10:10 PM

how pretty!

I meant bright yellow. Too much talk of darkness in this room has infected my brain.

oh! that makes more sense :D

10:28 PM

Meh, bitcoin is slowing down.

Johan Larsson

Switch to Litecoin?

oh man, so you can't afford a yacht in the bahamas?

Not yet.

@JohanLarsson Is that quickly rising?

Johan Larsson

no idea

@MattЭллен He can't even afford a yacht in Glasgow.

10:40 PM

@Mr.Shiny the stuff I use on my chilblains is made in Brampton.

By Taro Pharmaceuticals.

I've never had chilblains. Are they painful?

Yes.

Mostly when you hit them on things, even the slightest bit.

It sucks when they get itchy. And drinking aggravates them. :(

Wow, adding insult to injury.

Right?

@Robusto lol

10:45 PM

@cornbreadninja麵包忍者 "Chilblains can be prevented by keeping the feet and hands warm in cold weather." Duh.

Must feed cats.

cornbread out.

@Robusto yeah.

I only get them on one hand.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I've been hearing negative things left and right, and I'm only 2/3 through but already inclined to agree. As much as I didn't care for the pet shop, it's actually growing on me. You get two buildings with three floors each. Jamie knows his stuff. Palace Cinema is not quite as repetitive as Grand Emporium, but that's about all it's got going for itself.

@Robusto that's the French spelling. The AmE one would be chilblahs. Which incidentally reflects the amount of pain much more accurately.

user43418

10:57 PM

Hello I have a question

How could I rephrase the following sentence: "less certain is Hitchcock’s legacy in the area of feminism. "

@reg Full disclosure: the cinema is the only modular building I made

> Hitchcock's legacy in the area of feminism is less certain

user43418

@MattЭллен Thank you but I was actually hoping I could express a similar idea but without the idea of feminism..

> less certain is Hitchcock's legacy

Haha.

@user43418 "with respect to women's rights"?

What are you trying to say, and why don't you want to use feminism?

11:18 PM

@user43418 do you mean idea or word?