English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:24 AM

@simchona — Who dat?

12:34 AM

@Robusto A user who said a mod abused him in chat. Cue argument in which he said everyone was on the mod's side, and he kept asking people to delete answers stating their opinions

Robusto

@simchona — Drama. Just what we need.

simchona

of course

Kitḫ

@MetaEd Try Robert's Micropoche. ;-)

@Matt You about?

@wai You reading?

simchona

At the rate I'm going, I'll be level 25+ in about...2014

Kitḫ

XP increases in the later missions.

Cerberus

12:46 AM

Hi!

@simchona Hey, whom was this about?

Oops.

Kitḫ

*About whom was this?

simchona

@Cerberus A mod and a user

Robusto

Hey, don't forget to celebrate the Feast of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys. It's today, you know. There's still time.

Cerberus

@simchona OK, not anyone we know?

simchona

@Robusto How could I forget! That's only the most important feast to occur on January 12th!

Cerberus

12:49 AM

@Kitḫ Hey, I don't care about that rule.

simchona

@Cerberus No. But it was an interesting discussion until it degraded

Cerberus

OH, OK.

Robusto

Apr 17 '11 at 12:30, by Robusto

Well, that's why we go over these things, etc.

Cerberus

Did it reveal something about the way users view the site?

simchona

@Cerberus It revealed something about how mods are viewed

Kitḫ

12:51 AM

As moderators?

Cerberus

Hmm, and how is that?

simchona

The OP claimed that users were all taking the mod's side

Original claim: A mod trolled me, please unmod him because I am clinically depressed.

Cerberus

@simchona Hmm I must say I am usually one of those users, as long as the moderator is local.

simchona

Massive downvoting, and lots of mods came in to read through the post

@Cerberus Most people were trying to be neutral, or at least defuse the situation

Cerberus

@simchona Any idea what this trolling was?

Kitḫ

12:52 AM

Yoda.

Cerberus

@simchona Hmm, yes, OK, I would do that too; but I usually agree with the mod.

simchona

@Cerberus Another user posted an Area 51 proposal. The OP didn't like it, flagged it as spam

Then there were comments that the OP took the wrong way

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Hey! He is just a wrinkly-challenged person!

simchona

Cue argument and name-calling by the OP

@Cerberus Wrinkly-challenged? He's perfectly well-wrinkled

Kitḫ

The mod was Yoda.

Cerberus

12:54 AM

@simchona Hey, I'm calling all women sexually challenged, so pick your battles.

simchona

@Cerberus Define "sexually challenged"

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Ohh haha. I thought you were describing the troll.

@simchona Not male. A "minority".

simchona

@Cerberus Aren't there more women than men?

Cerberus

That is irrelevant.

simchona

@Cerberus then praytell, define "minority"

Cerberus

12:55 AM

A minority is a group that people like to apply some taboos to.

simchona

So you mean the double standards that are applied to women?

Cerberus

Okay, seriously: I have heard people actually say things like "minorities, like blacks, gays, and women", and I laughed so hard I decided I must use it that way too. Similarly, the way people attach "challenged" to handicaps is so ludicrous that I like to use that inappropriately too.

simchona

Ohhh. That type of minority.

I was honestly curious where you were going with this.

Cerberus

Heh.

Too bad.

simchona

Dang. Blame school mode.

Robusto

12:59 AM

@Cerberus — Whoa.

Cerberus

Hmm, and what does school mode do to a person?

Kitḫ

She's in college.

You remember that, right?

Cerberus

@Robusto I really, really hoped either she or Kit would bite.

@Kitḫ Of course!

Robusto

@Cerberus — No pickin' on da ladies, plz. No future in it.

Kitḫ

Come on, @Cerb. I think I know you well enough to know when you're trolling.

simchona

1:00 AM

@Kitḫ I don't :]

Kitḫ

No, and you can't resist a challenge anyway.

Cerberus

@Robusto There is no future in heroin either, but...

Kitḫ

And for the record, I don't bite.

simchona

@Kitḫ Nope.

Robusto

@Cerberus — Actually, I think the drug cartels would disagree.

simchona

1:01 AM

@Kitḫ Just nibble?

Kitḫ

Not in anger.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Yeah, I didn't expect you too, but I was hoping you might be tired or not paying enough attention, hehe. Similarly, I was afraid Sim would ask me to explain instead of biting, and, alas, I was right there as well.

@Robusto Fair enough.

simchona

@Cerberus I'm working on my biting problem.

Kitḫ

@Cerberus Not listening to explanations so much as gathering ammunition. Don't you have girl friends?

Cerberus

@simchona I knew you'd made great progress. Such a pity.

simchona

1:02 AM

Apparently that's easier with three-headed dogs than with hedgehogs.

waiwai933

@Kitḫ Hi! Just got your ping—um... is there something I'm supposed to be reading?

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Of course. But I knew my attitude couldn't even survive ammunition phase.

Kitḫ

@waiwai933 Oh. I meant it like "Are you paying attention to chat?"

Cerberus

@simchona No doubt! But, you know, you're not correcting me as often...

Kitḫ

@waiwai933 I can't remember how to log in to the EL&U blog. I figured you could remind me.

waiwai933

1:03 AM

@Kitḫ Oh, a little. Just stopping bye really.

simchona

@Cerberus Don't get me started on semi-illiterate spiky mammals

waiwai933

@Kitḫ english.blogoverflow.com/wp-admin

Kitḫ

@waiwai933 Danke, danke.

Oh noes! 404!

Cerberus

@simchona They have soft noses.

waiwai933

Sorry, wrong url. Fixed. (Click again!)

Kitḫ

1:04 AM

OK. Thanks!

simchona

@Cerberus Boopable noses?

Kitḫ

You mean the teenage boy who doesn't speak English as his first language?

simchona

@Kitḫ Is his nose boopable too?

Kitḫ

I have no idea.

simchona

@Kitḫ Then I'm not sure who you're referring to.

Robusto

1:08 AM

Well, Skyrim isn't going to play itself, so I'm out. Y'all don't forget to celebrate St. Canute's day tomorrow. Also, Friday the 13th.

Kitḫ

@simchona He's the only semi-literate spiky mammal I can think of who frequents this chat and gets trolled by you.

@Robusto Tschuss!

simchona

@Kitḫ I don't troll him...

Kitḫ

@simchona Right.

simchona

@Kitḫ Ok, I haven't trolled him since the summer.

Kitḫ

Really? I thought you had a big fight a couple days ago?

simchona

1:11 AM

I didn't troll him. He started making implications.

Cerberus

@simchona Oh? Is that some common hedgehog disease?

@Robusto Bye, will do!

simchona

@Cerberus Yes, it's a terrible malady

Cerberus

Poor creatures.

Trolled by bacteria and mammals alike.

Or is it a virus?

Kitḫ

@Matt Hey, I proofed your blog post. I hope you don't mind that I added some commas. I left out the Oxford comma though, even though I really, really, really wanted to put it in.

simchona

IAMAV

Kitḫ

1:21 AM

Well, now.

I suppose I shall have to go find something funner to do.

Unless someone wants to play a game?

I like games

What shall we play?

I have no idea

Maps?

Mysteries?

Morphs?

simchona

What's that?

Kitḫ

1:24 AM

Which?

simchona

Any of them

My brain shut off a few hours back

Kitḫ

The map game is the one where someone posts a map and people try to guess what it is.

simchona

Not good for someone who's braindead

Kitḫ

Mysteries is the one where someone posts a short description and people try to guess what happened by asking yes/no questions.

simchona

maybe @Cerb will play

Kitḫ

1:25 AM

Morphs is a word game.

@Cerb? Play with me?

Could someone please fix this?

2

Q: Englishman and British man

Why do we spell Englishman, Frenchman, etc. (one word) but British man (two words)?

spelling

simchona

@Kitḫ What would you like changed?

Kitḫ

It's not spelling. What is it?

I'm editing it now, but I can't think of a proper tag.

simchona

The answers show it's etymology, for one

Kitḫ

Well, I'm not sure I agree.

But still. Differences, maybe?

@JSB Are you around?

simchona

hmm...

Kitḫ

1:42 AM

I lamely added nouns, but I am not satisfied.

And differences is not really right, since it is for differences in meaning.

But it's not really spelling. I don't know. Morphology?

And where is @aedia when I need her search power?

2

Q: "all that" vs. "all what"

I've heard somebody say: All what is needed is ... I thought the correct way to phrase it was: All that is needed is... However, thinking about it more, the former doesn't sound too incorrect, albeit a bit odd. Is the former grammatically correct? Am I alone in thinking the latter sou...

grammar

I'm pretty sure this is a dupe, but of the difference between "what" (dialectical) and "that," which is nigh impossible to search for.

Cerberus

@Kitḫ Oh! Oh! Game!

Which do you prefer?

1 sec.

Kitḫ

I can only play about 10 minutes.

Hmm map, then?

OK.

1:53 AM

Scotland?

Cerberus

Nope.

I knew you'd say that.

Kitḫ

Well, it looks like Scotland.

Hmm.

Cerberus

nods

Kitḫ

Latvia?

Cerberus

Nope.

First guess was closer.

Kitḫ

1:55 AM

Northern Hemisphere?

Cerberus

Yes.

Kitḫ

Europe?

Cerberus

You can't ask too many questions. Let me give you a few square kilometres instead.

Kitḫ

Well, I didn't think the angle was right for Iceland.

Cerberus

Ding!

It was fairly hard.

Another one?

Kitḫ

1:57 AM

Quickly, yes.

Cerberus

Kitḫ

Alaska, around Anchorage.

Cerberus

Ding!

Kitḫ

I have family there.

OK. One more fast one.

Cerberus

Kitḫ

1:59 AM

Oh, come on! Vancouver Island.

Cerberus

Ding! I knew it would be easy for you.

Kitḫ

OK. Off to snuggle with my husband. Night!

Cerberus

OK, have fun!

aedia λ

4:27 AM

@Kitḫ I linked some that may be related but can't find an exact dupe.

Cerberus

@aediaλ Hi!

I cleaned up the Apple wiki.

At least the upper part of the article.

Apple Inc.

I can't do much about the tiring "as of"s, as changing them would mess up their functionality (they are an easy way for people to update fast-outdated figures).

At least I made it less like one big advertisement written in the typical semi-literate marketese verbosity.

aedia λ

4:44 AM

@Cerberus Hi!

Ooh much better.

I am a bit ashamed to admit I do all my wikipedia editing as anon. Ought I to have a user name and page and stuff? I never seem to have the energy to do large revisions, so it doesn't seem particularly important, just that I fix problems when I spot them.

I was going to tell you something else, @Cerb, what was it now? Hmm.

Oh! I was playing Carcassonne with the first expansion tonight, had a competitive, fun game, and had just had a beer and was really starting to get empathetic toward my little dudes on the board imagining them stuck farming a field all game, or living in a drafty unfinished castle, and I was thinking it was quite a bit like a board game version of Civ or Age of Empires and you might like it.

Carcassonne (board game)

Carcassonne is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glück in German and Rio Grande Games in English. It received the Spiel des Jahres and the Deutscher Spiele Preis awards in 2001. It is named after the medieval fortified town of Carcassonne in southern France, famed for its city walls. The game has spawned many expansions and spin-offs, and several PC and console versions. The game's wooden follower pieces, colloquially called "meeples," have become a symbol of European board gaming. Gameplay The g...

I think there is a way to play or demo it online at least, if you want to see it.

But it really is great in person and can be played just as enjoyably with two players as a larger group (which I can't say is true for a lot of 4- or 5-player games that say you can play with fewer).

Anyway, sleep calls. Don't clean up too many more wikis, puppies! Get three to bed too!

Cerberus

5:34 AM

@aediaλ Owww sorry I missed you! I was having computer problems, had to restart many times. Carcassonne is great fun! I once knew I site where one could play it. It was called Toulouse, how funny is that? I don't remember whether it was multi player, though. I shall try to find it again, though I think it died, sadly.

@aediaλ Thanks! Many Wiki pages about commercial products are not as neutral and encyclopaediac as they could be. About getting a user name: do it! You absolutely don't need a user page: just a user name. Nor do you need to do large edits: small edits by named users are absolutely fine.

The thing is—at least it is so on Dutch Wiki—: all edits by anonymous IP addresses have to be checked by volunteers! I used to do that, check all anonymous edits in a certain time frame, say, 2pm–6pm. That took about half an hour, if I recall correctly. Imagine how much time could be saved if all reliable, cool people would do their edits logged in instead of anonymously!

Mahnax

6:08 AM

Whew.

Mahnax

6:36 AM

Hi @simchona.

simchona

General opinion question: is chat in Hindi like here ok? I feel like I could never go into that chat room and ask questions

Mahnax

Heh. Well, sometimes languages get out of hand here, so I'd say it's fine.

Cerberus

7:56 AM

@simchona Good question.

Of course it would be annoying if people started talking Hindi here, but I can't think of a rule to throw at their faces.

simchona

I tried to search meta, and asked in that chat room if I could bring up potential questions but nobody was there

RegDwight Ѭſ道

11:30 AM

@Cerberus how come you are en-3? Clearly you are en-4.

JSBᾶngs

12:42 PM

i'm here now @Kit. no saying how long i'll last

hey, i finally successfully logged in on my laptop

i don't know why that didn't work for so long

user19161

@JSBᾶngs Try the method I told you before.

user19161

@daniel I see you are vegetating.

JSBᾶngs

@WillHunting what was that method? in any case, it worked once i explicitly logged on from the chat page

user19161

12:57 PM

@JSBᾶngs Well, log in, go to english.stackexchange.com/users/chat-stackexchange-login, log in there.

user19161

@Cerberus I think we should let them talk whatever they want.

JSBᾶngs

my boy is running around wearing snow boots, pajama pants, and no shirt

this is what he usually wears these days

user19161

That sounds too cold.

JSBᾶngs

it's pretty warm in the house

Kitḫ

1:32 PM

Holla

> His last lesson was December 2, 2011. I can't discontinue him myself because I entered 3 weeks of data saying that the week did not count as an intervention week. If you could edit that data entry, then put his end intervention date as 12/2/11, Add him in a Literacy lessons intervention beginning on January 4th, 2012.

In other words, "If you could help me doctor my records..."

JSBᾶngs

awesome

it's -10 F here right now

that's -23 C for you europeans

Kitḫ

A bit nippy, that.

JSBᾶngs

just a bit!

Kitḫ

It's a mere 23 F here.

But we've got thick cloud cover and snow, so...

Oh. I pinged you about the tags on that question, @JSB.

speedyGonzales

1:53 PM

@Kith what did you mean with that 23 f :D is it one of these linguistic jokes

Kitḫ

Um, no. I mean it is 23º on the Fahrenheit scale.

speedyGonzales

Got it now. Try with hot tea or wine ;)

Kitḫ

Coffee's doing the trick. Thanks.

Ali Amiri

oh what?

i am very celever

but i dont know how to spell celever

JSBᾶngs

@AliAmiri do you just mean "clever"?

Ali Amiri

2:00 PM

yeah

your better than me

JSBᾶngs

well, you know, i've been writing it for a long time

Ali Amiri

how your so good at english

JSBᾶngs

also: you're. (many native speakers get that one wrong, too)

Ali Amiri

?

i am native too

JSBᾶngs

um, i'm a native speaker? i've been writing english for, like, 25 years

Kitḫ

2:02 PM

@JSBᾶngs Late bloomer, eh?

Ali Amiri

i'm native but i couldn't write in english for 23 years:D

Kitḫ

How's an Iranian a native English speaker?

JSBᾶngs

@Kitḫ hint: i learned to read/write when i was 4

Ali Amiri

yes

JSBᾶngs

i was wondering the same thing

Kitḫ

2:03 PM

@JSBᾶngs (I was teasing.)

JSBᾶngs

:P

Ali Amiri

there is no difference between english and persian

:D

Kitḫ

Oh, I see.

Ali Amiri

but still i'm alone

i dont have any one

Kitḫ

I wonder what my Persian friends would think of that.

speedyGonzales

2:05 PM

if you ask me there is no such thing as English language, it is just a demo made from German and French :D

Ali Amiri

are you nazi?

i must go

bye

speedyGonzales

no but i really admire Hitler for some of his abilities :D He is extraordinary administrator and exceptional in making people take his ideas as their own .

Ali Amiri

i'm administrator too

i'm Data base administrator

will you admire me?

speedyGonzales

only if you are chick with boobs :D

Ali Amiri

:)) i think i'm the only one who is jack ass here

but you're jackass too:D

speedy are you there?

:2985155

@speedyGonzales where do you take IQ test?

speedyGonzales

2:14 PM

online using my browser apperantly

Ali Amiri

@speedyGonzales what exactly you type in your browser?:D

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JSBᾶngs Canadians too. Here in Toronto it's -4 °C

And for all lego-philes, this is a minifig-scale Saturn V rocket:

speedyGonzales

open google write free iq test and search the results. i have thought that db administrators are really capable of working with data. Well until i have asked the oracle geek we have in the office how i can make substring on clob in informix and he said fuck off

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

flickr.com/photos/ryanmcnaught/6681409863/in/…

JSBᾶngs

@MrShinyandNew安宇 so toasty warm, in other words?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:18 PM

@JSBᾶngs Not too bad. But it's snowing a tad, so traffic was the shitz

Ali Amiri

@speedyGonzales i mean how you put that in your profile? i think it's part of stackexchange

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2

Q: Why homework and work are uncountable in English?

In Bulgarian both homework and work are countable. Why they are uncountable in English then? What is the difference in meaning that make that happen?

etymology grammar word-usage

Somehow I don't think this is on-topic.

You can ask the OP the exact opposite question.

Kitḫ

Indeed. He's right here.

But you are right, I think it is subjective.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

See my comment here:

12

A: What questions are on-topic and off-topic here?

{Off-topic} Languages other than English

JSBᾶngs

@speedy, don't use word-usage. it makes me cry

Kitḫ

2:21 PM

Voted to close as Not Constructive.

JSBᾶngs

also so voted

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Besides, I am not sure at all that those words are countable in Bulgarian.

Kitḫ

And I feel like it would only be relevant if those words are derived from Bulgarian or something.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

It can be just poor translation. Like saying "homework" where the original actually has "home assignments", which are countable in English as well.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Time for a programming/batman pun

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:24 PM

AUA.

Feb 17 '11 at 19:20, by Martha

OWWWW! That's terrible! THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK THWACK!

@RegDwightѬſ道 Ditto

Well, I LOLed

That's how you lol.

hm, maybe that should be LedOL

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Oh noes not that can of wurms.

Kitḫ

2:26 PM

L'dol

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I've heard people actually say "lol" out loud. I think we've caused irreparable damage to the dignity of the English Language.

JSBᾶngs

@MrShinyandNew安宇 as if the english language had any dignity to begin with

Kitḫ

My mom says "lol."

Also occasionally she says "El oh el"

She is the topic of my next blog post.

I am nearly finished with the first public draft.

I know you are breathless with excitement, so I will just let that sink in for a bit.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@JSBᾶngs Please! You're talking about the language where the word shithole was coined twice! It was totally dignified until humans started saying "lol" out loud.

@Kitḫ You're being facetious but I like every single one of your blog posts so far.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Lol, he said shithole.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:33 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 lawl, he said lol

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Lolhole?

Kitḫ

shithlol

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Hlol? Is that Klingon? Or a chemical element?

Kitḫ

Dunmeri.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

In other news, I should stop misreading "excitement" as "excrement". My head's got enough scratching as it is.

Kitḫ

2:35 PM

Rofl.

Literally.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Decimated.

Kitḫ

Brought my keyboard down here with me.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

You going down on keyboards now?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwight do you have kids?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Don't let the keyboard go down on me, although I search myself, it's always someone else I see.

Kitḫ

2:37 PM

@RegDwightѬſ道 What? No. Drink some coffee.

@RegDwightѬſ道 thwack!

RegDwight Ѭſ道

So many questions, so little answers.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Because if you had kids, you'd learn that excrement can lead to excitement.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I'll let you in on a secret: I used to be a kid.

Kitḫ

@MrShinyandNew安宇 And vice versa.

@RegDwightѬſ道 You're a transspeciate?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

This is so deeply philosophical. Like, so deeply philosophical.

Kitḫ

2:39 PM

Dude. You just blew my mind.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@Kitḫ Oh and no drugs in this chat.

We are incomprehensible enough without LSD or coffee.

Kitḫ

@RegDwightѬſ道 hides coffee cup

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightѬſ道 The excitement and the excrement are not necessarily originating in the same person.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Jul 14 '11 at 11:18, by RegDwight

This chat is so useful! Like, so useful!

Kitḫ

Ugh. Can I get programmer advice?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

2:45 PM

I dunno, can you?

Kitḫ

I have this nonprofit organization that wants me to do some work for them.

speedyGonzales

@AliAmiri It is insert picture, select from the web and put the url there

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Doesn't sound like something specific to programming.

Kitḫ

They have this frigging cardboard box and coathangered Access database with Forms that they would like me to put the "finishing touches" on.

I don't know if I should take the job or not.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ugh.

Can you spell "run, Kit, run"?

speedyGonzales

2:47 PM

@RegDwight So my question is of topic because I want to know what makes work and homework uncountable in English ?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

No your question is off-topic because your premise is flawed.

Kitḫ

Problem is, several of the people who are in this group are my friends, they work for a cause that I support, and if built correctly, this database could really help them.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1. Why should "work" be countable in English? 2. "Work" actually is countable in certain meanings.

speedyGonzales

If you really think so you can delete it but I wasn't joking . I really want to know the answer and i have a discussion about a while ago.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well we are not saying you must be joking. We are just pointing out that this question is speculative.

Again, ask yourself the opposite question: why is "work" countable in Bulgarian?

How do you justify that? It doesn't make sense, does it?

speedyGonzales

2:51 PM

Well I consider myself rather Mathematician then Linguist so please excuse me . I always look in both directions.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

The truth is, that noun is only countable for you because that's what your mother taught you. There is no other reason.

speedyGonzales

If a ->b doest it mean that b->a ?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Um. No.

And I am rather surprised to hear that from a mathematician.

speedyGonzales

Well you have written your homework in math and in Biology . Why I can't say I have done two of my homework(s) ?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well you drank water yesterday and you drink water today. Why don't you say you drank two waters?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:54 PM

@speedyGonzales In English we say you've done two assignments

user19161

@speedyGonzales Because we think of homework like we think of water.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwightѬſ道 (people do say that)

speedyGonzales

Well if i had two assignments in my English homework ? What is the difference between task and assignment when we are talking about homework ?

user19161

@speedyGonzales Task and assignment are countable nouns.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@speedyGonzales "task" might be used synonymously with "assignment" in the context of homework.

i.e. there might be no difference.

user19161

2:56 PM

Water and homework are uncountable nouns.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

Or, an assignment might have several tasks.

user19161

Task and assignment mean similar things.

speedyGonzales

I have drunk 2 cups of water one today and one yesterday . :D

user19161

@speedyGonzales Yes very good. Cup is a countable noun.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@speedyGonzales see what you did there? two CUPS of water. just like you finished two homework assignments

user19161

2:57 PM

Of course CUPS=Common Unix Printing System.

user19161

This is what I use to print on Linux.

speedyGonzales

Yeah but in Bulgarian for assignment and work we used work or problem , 1 noun

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

cup is countable, assignment is countable, but homework is uncountable

RegDwight Ѭſ道

@speedyGonzales your point being?

speedyGonzales

apperantly that is the answer .

user19161

2:59 PM

Different languages use words differently, obviously.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

If every language were the same as Bulgarian, there would be exactly one language, Bulgarian.

user19161

A cat eats cat food. A dog eats dog food.

user19161

QED.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@speedyGonzales Let me confuse you further: In English, you have a dog, or two dogs, or three dogs. But in some other languages, like Chinese, you can't just say "two dogs", you have to "measure" the quantity of dog. So you say "two units of dog"

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Once you accept the premise that there are different languages, you don't have a question anymore.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…