English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

user19161

2:28 AM

@Cerberus Boo!

3:30 AM

Is asking a question about what ":3" and ":S" mean on topic? I see it kind of as asking about a slang term, but it's not technically English. Ok to ask or not?

Cerberus

Hi!

John

@Cerberus Hi!

Cerberus

@John I'm not sure.

Some people are a bit close-happy on this site.

John

@Cerberus You're almost a 20k! You can't be not sure! :P

Cerberus

You could ask on meta.english.stackexchange whether it is on topic for this site.

@John Hah, you'd think so!

But, alas.

It is all rather arbitrary to me.

John

3:38 AM

@Cerberus A saddeningly large part of the network is that way.

Cerberus

@John Yeah, you get that feeling too?

It usually doesn't bother me personally, but I sometimes feel bad for new users.

They get scared off by closings.

John

@Cerberus Actually I was just talking about that over on the bridge with a guy from PSE.

Cerberus

PSE?

John

@Cerberus I still have bad memories of my first questions on SE. They were both closed rather fast.

@Cerberus Programmers.stackexchange.com :)

Cerberus

Ah!

@John Yeah I can imagine.

Well, the site is what our Makers wanted it to be.

Especially Jeff.

But asking your real question on Meta can be a nice trick to circumvent the system.

John

3:41 AM

@Cerberus That cannot be emphasized enough. "The community is you" isn't really true. Which I'm ok with, I just wish they would be a bit more consistent.

Shog9

@John "Progse" ;-P

John

@Cerberus I was actually thinking about doing that. :P

Cerberus

@John Agreed, but Shog will probably disagree, hehe!

Hi Shog.

Shog9

'evening, @Cerberus

John

@Shog9 That sounds funny and it's 3 too many characters. :P

Oh yeah, and hi @Shog9.

Shog9

3:42 AM

's why I like it...

Cerberus

Sounds like proxy.

Shog9

@John, check the faq - there's a bullet list of topics that are on-topic for the site. Does your question fit?

John

@Shog9 It falls under usage. But I'm still a bit worried as it's still not technically English.

Shog9

And if it makes you feel any better, I've asked five questions on Programmers.SE - all of them have been closed. Four have been deleted...

Cerberus

@Shog9 I can think of three bullet point sit might conceivably fall under, then different people will interpret them differently.

@Shog9 Haha, that does in fact make me feel better!

Nothing personal, of course. You know.

Shog9

3:46 AM

@John I'm skeptical (sounds more like "'Net / txtspk culture" to me), but my personal philosophy is, make up your own mind and then act accordingly. If others disagree, make your case, try to convince them otherwise, but be prepared to abide by their decision.

Cerberus

I wonder what will happen to the single-word requests.

Haven't been following your thread, but I agreed with most of what you said.

Shog9

@Cerberus I've straight-up told the progse mods before, "You'll finally have a quality site when a recalc leaves me with 0 rep".

waiwai933

@Shog9 I really, really hope you mean 1 rep, not 0.

Shog9

@waiwai933 HA! Good catch

Cerberus

@Shog9 Heh. It was that bad, huh.

Hail, Constitutionalist!

Shog9

3:49 AM

@Cerberus Well... A lot of folks - me included - signed onto the site as a way to sorta do all the stuff we weren't supposed to do on SO. Argue, language-hate, war stories, GTKY, etc.

John

finds Shog9's MSO profile, glances behind him

Shog9

;-P

Cerberus

@Shog9 Hmm that sounds...paradoxical, but OK.

Shog9

@Cerberus Well, the original charter for the site was "Not Programming Related" - named after the off-topic close reason, stuff that cannot and should not be asked on SO. Which is good fun and stuff, but doesn't exactly make for anything useful.

Cerberus

Huh, that was the charter for SO?

Shog9

3:52 AM

No, for Programmers

Cerberus

Oh!

I see.

Shog9

Not Programming Related – programmers.stackexchange.com

Launched Q&A site for expert programmers interested in discussions that are only indirectly related to programming.

Cerberus

Then I got the paradox right.

John

@Shog9 Well ok, I took your advice. We'll see how it goes.

Cerberus

Then what is it for?

Shog9

3:54 AM

@John Best of luck...

John

@Shog9 Thanks. I have a feeling I'll need it...

Shog9

@Cerberus Currently? "professional programmers who are interested in getting expert answers on conceptual questions about software development"

John

A close vote already?

Cerberus

Right.

So it changes every week?

@John Not mine!

I told you, people are quite close-happy here.

Shog9

@Cerberus Not quite that bad. It took a hard left back about a year ago, and has been refined several times since.

Cerberus

3:56 AM

Ugh.

Shog9

The problem is, most of what's on-topic there now has never been off-topic on Stack Overflow - so there's a bit of an identity crisis.

Cerberus

That is confusing.

Shog9

On the one hand, you're more likely to find people willing to discuss, say, the more abstract points of development methodologies or some funky design pattern than on SO. On the other hand, you're more likely to find more people willing to give you a straight-up answer to any sort of concrete design question on SO.

Cerberus

Okay.

I am not a programmer so I wouldn't appreciate the difference. But I see what you mean.

Shog9

It's sort of like... SO has a ton of folks who just eat and breathe code and everything that goes with it, while Progse has a larger percentage of users who really don't care to spend their free time coding, but will happily do some armchair quarterbacking on your behalf.

Cerberus

4:09 AM

So the workmen and the Lords each have their own site, huh?

Shog9

4:44 AM

Interesting way of looking at it... I'll have to throw that in somewhere :-P

prasanna

11:11 AM

Hello all

RegDwight Ѭſ道

13

Q: Usage of "And" in the beginning of a sentence

Since I first learned English, I have been holding this understanding that "and", as a conj. but unlike "but", can only connect two clauses, not two sentences ended with periods. But recently, I have seen so many prints, either in entertainment or in academia, where "And" is popularly used in t...

grammar

Dupe of:

8

Q: Why is it incorrect to start a sentence with "and"?

I know it's wrong, but I do it all the time or else my sentences would go on forever.

grammaticality conjunctions

I wonder which to merge into which.

Thoughts?

JSBᾶngs

12:26 PM

0

Q: English Subjunctive

Why is it that in the English language, the past subjunctive is the same as the past indicative for all verbs except to be? In other languages that I have learned there is no relation between these two tenses, even in languages similar to English.

past-tense subjunctive-mood

^ this is a dup of something, but i can't find it right now

RegDwight Ѭſ道

12:48 PM

The only suppletion question I can think of right now dealt with go vs went.

There are a couple questions dealing with the subjunctive, but I don't think they specifically address to be.

Matt Эллен

1:24 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 the longer question is the better question. Get rid of the shorter question.

Kitḫ

What's a tactful way to tell my project lead that I will just ignore it if it is always "priority 1" ?

I hid the column, but I don't think he will be able to tell.

Matt Эллен

hi @Kit :)
You could say "There are so many priority one items that it's difficult to tell them apart. Maybe you should differentiate them by priority"

Kitḫ

Hi @Matt!

That could work. And if I say it today at the meeting with the big boss, he might get the idea.

Matt Эллен

Hehe. Hint hint, nudge nudge

user19161

@MattЭллен Boo!

Matt Эллен

1:35 PM

hi @JasperLoy :)

user19161

@Kitḫ Boo!

user19161

@RegDwightѬſ道 Boo!

user19161

@JSBᾶngs Boo!

user19161

I am in a boo mood today!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

No boo mood in this chat.

Kitḫ

1:37 PM

Eeek!

user19161

8

Q: What's the origin of the stock phrase "tall, dark, and handsome"?

Most everyone has probably heard the phrase "tall, dark, and handsome" being used to describe the physical qualities of a perfect male romantic match. Where did this phrase come from, and who, if anyone, made it popular?

phrases etymology

user19161

My high school girl classmate always used this phrase.

user19161

I thought she made it up, just like I made up ctfd=check the f dictionary, and Reg made up Holy B as an exclamation.

Matt Эллен

I believe it originated because I was born, but started out as small, blond and gorgeous, and evolved as I grew up.

user19161

Reg told me to google, but googling Holy B did not tell me whether it is a standard exclamation like J C, so I really don't know.

user19161

1:41 PM

@MattЭллен That refers to a female right?

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy I am not female

user19161

Urban D also does not list Holy B or my definition of ctfd.

user19161

So I think we can form a team and rewrite the OED together with Barrie.

Matt Эллен

well, so long as you don't mind most of being made up!

user19161

I mean the OED has so many words we never heard of, why can't we make up our own too!

Matt Эллен

1:44 PM

the word police might catch us

Kitḫ

ears prick up

Is someone breaking grammar rules?

Matt Эллен

Nothing to see here! sweeps made up words into sack

user19161

Some people in their questions used the word legal. I edited it to legitimate!

user19161

And because Robusto left a comment on the legal, drm re-edited it showing the strikeout, everyone's nuts!

user19161

But I think better not use the Islamic names as exclamations. The Muslims will consider it too offensive said anywhere.

user19161

1:50 PM

I will eat dinner soon: noodles with chicken slices and mushrooms in gravy with much vinegar.

Matt Эллен

sounds sour!

user19161

I like sour stuff, especially when I feel nauseous from anxiety. Now I know why pregnant women like sour stuff. Try it when you feel like vomiting.

user19161

And I like salty stuff too, like my instant noodles gravy.

user19161

And I also like sweet stuff, like my chocolate.

user19161

So basically I like all stuff. QED

Matt Эллен

1:52 PM

If I feel like vomiting, I just stick my fingers down my throat ;-)

user19161

I don't know what made me try Mageia, opensuse and fedora again the past few days. Maybe it is the new releases. But I am glad to be back to Debian which I intend to use forever! Yes, I may change now and then but I will come back to it I think. Just like those who lose faith temporarily.

Kitḫ

Vinegar neutralizes the acid.

user19161

And it is amazing that fedora does not seem to have the splix drivers in their repositories, I definitely need that for printer.

Matt Эллен

Ah yes, remember from chemistry, acid + acid = no acid

user19161

I tried to install splix from the splix site but too hard to get it to work.

user19161

1:56 PM

The problem is the different config in all the distros. There's no way to give documentation that works on all.

user19161