English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Mahnax

07:00

Hmm.

I think education here is fairly good.

Theta30

Well, you haven't been to college yet

Mahnax

I don't intend to go to college in Canada.

Cerberus

Why not?

Mahnax

I want to travel!

I've decided that university is going to be a lot of fun.

Theta30

@Mahnax so what kind of math you learn these days?

like what subjects

Mahnax

07:13

@Theta30 Hmm. This year, we learned to do factoring/adding/etc. with polynomials, some things with radicals, and trigonometry.

Wow, 95 rep from literally the easiest answer I've ever written.

8

A: How to spell laundre?

The correct spelling is lingerie.

Theta30

@Cerberus Cerb I saw you frequent Cooking too

@Mahnax I think in general the points are inverse proportional with their easiness to be read

Mahnax

@Theta30 Heh, perhaps.

Just the other day, I took 15 minutes to research and write out an answer, posted it, and then realized it was entirely wrong.

So I deleted it.

Theta30

and speaking about laundering , one suggested to use easy points for bounties

Mahnax

Hey, I didn't launder.

Nice play on words though.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Hmm OK...most people here return home after a year of travelling to attend university in their own country...

@Theta30 Yeah, well, I'm mostly chatting there, hehe.

Mahnax

07:25

@Cerberus I might do that. I haven't entirely decided yet. I do want to study abroad though.

And I've been considering majoring in English.

That, or Maths or Physics.

Cerberus

In the end they lured the scammer to their building, they had a dwarf ride around on a pony, and they had themselves "arrested" by the "police", who told Mr Kaba that they were scammers, and he was thanked for helping the police to catch them! Then they let Mr Kaba walk away. So incredibly funny I can't believe it.

Mahnax

2

A: Recent Reputation History Changes

How does unaccept and accept works? why they differs?

Gosh, I love MSO.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Why do you want to study abroad?

Mahnax

@Cerberus I want to see the world.

Canada gets boring.

David Wallace

@Mahnax I saw that in the question list and thought they must want laundry.

Mahnax

07:28

I've actually stayed in Finland, Canada, and the USA.

Cerberus

And you need to see the same foreign place for four years in a row?

Mahnax

Although I had an overnight layover in Amsterdam once.

@Cerberus Maybe. It would be cool to actually live somewhere else for a few years.

David Wallace

And LOL at "Don't click it if you don't want to see a bunch of girls in their underwear."

Cerberus

@Mahnax Yay!

@Mahnax Hmm OK.

-1

Q: Did case systems dissappear in coordination with allowing arbitrarily deep embedding?

Given that Piraha (and Warlpiri) do not allow embedded clauses, and Piraha does not allow recursion at all, clause embedding is not universal to all languages. It is reasonable to suppose that it does not appear in full blown form in pre-literate societies. So unlimited embedding of clauses is so...

Mahnax

@Cerberus Maybe you don't see it the way I do, but hey.

Cerberus

07:29

This ^ is possibly the worst linguistic question ever.

@Mahnax No, it's OK. You have at least argued for it consistently.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Is there any particular reason why you feel I shouldn't study abroad?

Cerberus

@Mahnax No, as long as it is a serious programme, and not one of those specially for foreigners.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Well, I would have to study in English. Maybe French, it depends on how good I get.

I've heard that there are universities around the world that do their serious instruction in English.

David Wallace

There are plenty of perfectly respectable English speaking countries.

Mahnax

I will have to look into it.

Cerberus

07:33

Okay, but have you considered how annoying it is to study with teachers whose English is so-so?

David Wallace

Cerby, what's so bad about that ling question?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace I would love to study in New Zealand.

@Cerberus I don't think it would bother me.

I've dealt with plenty of people whose English is so-so.

Cerberus

In my experience, people teaching in a second language here are often one or two levels below their normal ability.

David Wallace

@Mahnax Could be an option. We have a few good universities here. What field are you likely to study?

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Maths, Physics, or English.

Cerberus

07:34

@DavidWallace It's too long, and it assumes various things that are plain wrong.

Mahnax

Most likely Maths.

David Wallace

I think all of our universities are strong in these fields. The strongest might be Auckland or Canterbury for maths and physics; don't know about English.

Mahnax

That is the user who asked the yucky linguistics question.

Cerberus

Hahahahaha.

Perfect.

That has got to be a joke.

Like the Belgian guys.

David Wallace

@Cerberus Fair 'nuff. There were bits in it that seemed dodgey to me, but I didn't know where to start with answering it. There was just so much of it.

Mahnax

07:37

"I consider myself to be the next Isaac Newton." (Fool's "About Me" Section, Linguistics — Stack Exchange, Lines 4-5).

Cerberus

@DavidWallace I think I've properly destroyed it.

Mahnax

@Cerberus One would hope so.

Cerberus

It has to be.

Noöne would seriously write that. It is impossible.

Mahnax

Cerberus

Hilarious, but impossible.

Mahnax

07:38

He has 17k rep on Physics.

Cerberus

So his profile must be some kind of joke.

David Wallace

His surname is similar to "majmun", which is "monkey" in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian.

Mahnax

1 min ago, by Mahnax

@Cerberus One would hope so.

Cerberus

"I have a lot of my own theories which I like to spread online."

@DavidWallace I think that's a Hebrew name.

Mahnax

@Cerberus "I have a lot of my own theories…which I like to speak online."

FTFY.

Cerberus

07:40

Or possibly Yiddish; in any case Jewish.

David Wallace

OK, I can live with that.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Ack, spread.

I meant spread. Stupid spelling corrector!

Mahnax

@Cerberus Hm?

Spread?

Cerberus

I can't believe how someone capable of writing such a funny profile description should ask a question like that.

Oh, well.

@Mahnax It says "spread", doesn't it?

And spread is way funnier than speak.

Mahnax

@Cerberus Yeah, but what do you mean?

Cerberus

07:42

Not to mention that speak doesn't work there.

Mahnax

Ohhhh.

I see now.

David Wallace

I just +1ed the question, because it's interesting, and he's put some effort into it. I'm considering -1ing Cerby's answer, because it doesn't answer the question.

Cerberus

@Mahnax Someone who wants to spread his own, personal theories about physics on the internet, because all the professionals are wrong...

Mahnax

I had just copied your line into my message.

Cerberus

You don't advertise your own efforts as "spreading personal theories online" if you're serious.

Mahnax

07:43

I didn't notice that it had the word speak in it.

Cerberus

Oh, haha.

Also funny.

We're all funny.

The world is funny!

David Wallace

You're speaking in poetry again.

Mahnax

Hm, [half-]drunk poetry.

Cerberus

More like Jasperese.

And I'm getting somewhat sober now.

David Wallace

Mahnax is funny. Cerberus is funnier. All of us can laugh.

Cerberus

07:45

Hah! Hah!

Mahnax

Aw, thanks.

Theta30

lol Such a beautiful world !

Cerberus

Yup!

David Wallace

Sorry, theta30, but there wasn't room for you in my haiku.

Cerberus

But Belgium wins.

Theta30

07:49

that sounds like the worst scenario

Belgium wins...

Cerberus

You should see how they handle those scammers.

Belgian humour cannot be topped.

David Wallace

Hey is anyone else seeing the avatars stacked vertically, instead of horizontally, over on the right? It's really annoying me!

Cerberus

I.e. no.

Mahnax

@DavidWallace Nope.

I am less than 200 rep from page 2 of users, all time.

David Wallace

Yeah, I'm going to restart my browser, see if that helps.

Ah yes, much better.

Cerberus

07:57

Congrats!!

Theta30

@Mahnax Mahnax I suggest to focus more on the content of answers than in rep

David Wallace

@Theta30 Boring!

Mahnax

@Theta30 Well, yeah. I don't rep whore very much.

Theta30

@DavidWallace what?

David Wallace

Focussing on content rather than repwhorage.

Cerberus

08:04

See, Dave properly appreciates prostitution!

Don't tell the neighbour's cats, though.

Theta30

@DavidWallace yeah, I should have thought that that's what the system wants

David Wallace

It's kind of evolutionary really. Those that are good at repwhorage (I'm going to keep using that word) survive the best.

Cerberus

And hemlines continue to go up and up over the millennia...

Theta30

But they might go down too

David Wallace

Jon Skeet admitted to answering a question on a topic he knew nothing about.

But it didn't concern hemlines.

Mahnax

08:16

Heard about that somewhere.

Okay, bed time.

Good night everyone.

David Wallace

Night

"I appreciate your good eyes David Wallace!! – Sarath Kumar Sivan 1 min ago" ... is the correct response "Oh baby!"

Cerberus

08:41

Quoi?

David Wallace

On SO. Someone posted some code that didn't compile and asked why. Someone else posted some code that didn't compile and said "this will resolve your issue". I contradicted him/her. He/she fixed it, and announced that it did compile. I said "Aha, I see you've fixed it". He/she made the comment above.

And the cricket is finished. What an embarrassing result. SA had 40 balls left.

Simon Righarts

09:04

@DavidWallace Not exactly a surprising result though is it?

David Wallace

I'm an optimist though. I'm looking forward to the test series; presumably Dan and Ross will both be available.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Oh, well done!

Pretty weak not to acknowledge that you were right in the first place.

It's bed time here.

Bye!

David Wallace

OK, see you.

KitFox

13:16

is definitely NOT freaking out

user19161

14:37

@KitFox Why freak out?

user19161

@SonicTheHedgehog Happy birthday!

Robusto

14:57

@DavidWallace You should have heard the hullabaloo in my office when India beat Pakistan last year. (I work with a lot of Indians.)

@DavidWallace Yes, but I do focus on content. Still, sometimes you do get lucky with the multi-collider. There's really no other way to explain some of the enormous vote tallies on anybody's answers.

Robusto

16:13

@Reg, @Vit: NL or DR?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ohai. Just entered the house.

No Limit, I would say. In case you're not spent already. @Rob

Robusto

No, I leveled.

Boy, it never fails. I lose 4 in a row with Killah, so I switch to LtW strike and IMMEDIATELY run into a wall.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well, I suck. Was 3/0 on passive, went on to add two active losses.

Robusto

I need a new surge deck, but I am all at sea with this.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

3/4 now. One more loss and I am in the red.

That's 40 minutes of regen wasted.

Robusto

16:25

Fuck me. I am on my way to a 1/9 result. I think I should just quit while I'm behind.

Story of my war. What a waste of a level-up.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Haha you are so screwed.

Well I haven't run LtW in centuries. Precisely because of this shit.

I'm firmly in the Gorelesup camp.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 My Killah was getting clobbered. And Gorelesup is easily defeated these days. I don't know what to do.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Me, I'll just stop wasting stam, go cook soup, and try my luck again in twenty minutes. Variance, you know. Will probably get ten empty decks.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 At least.

I also need a better def deck. LtW ain't working.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Mine works fine, but it's really a bargain, You change one card, you go from 3/0 to 0/3 on passive.

There are so many variations.

And then people just play on Fight.

Now why did i say bargain there. That's not what I meant at all.

That's what you get from not eating enough soup.

Robusto

16:32

@RegDwightѬſ道 So what did you mean instead of bargain? Trade-off?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's a very good question. The word escapes me.

A bet?

Robusto

BTW, I litotised your ass in an answer to a question.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Trade-off is what I would use there.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's not what I mean though.

You know what, just scrap all that. Let's go shopping.

I should have stopped at "I suck".

Robusto

More pie.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I'm no fan of meiosis. I always go with mitosis.

Robusto

16:38

@RegDwightѬſ道 — You could not survive without meiosis, fan though you are not.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's loser talk.

Robusto

You misspelled "looser" ...

UR A LOOSER

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Now tell me with a straight face that that doesn't beat litotes.

Robusto

It's not a bad illustration, except for the missing bottom half.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

The missing bottom half is left as an excercise to the reader.

Robusto

16:42

Yeah, but I hate exercise that doesn't involve sex.

And before you make the obvious counter, I mean sex on a macro level. Possibly using AHK, if I find an old computer that runs XP.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I'm on Turbo Pascal 5.5 and I couldn't be happier.

Okay so the Ravens decided to try and catch up. Suits me fine, I'll just switch back to them.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 — Turbo Pascal 5.5 ... is that what you're calling Prozac these days?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I never called it anything else.

Two easy wins against the Ravens. And someone's helping, so 1.3k ahead again.

Time for soup!

Robusto

I helped a little.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

1

Q: What does "drive-in teller" mean?

What does drive-in teller mean in the following sentence? It's as those pneumatic canisters you see when you go to a drive-in teller at a bank.

meaning-in-context

Okay, so I have never heard of anything like that before, but come on, it was still perfectly clear to me what it must be.

Turns out a drive-in teller is, well, a drive-in teller. Who'd have thunk.

Robusto

16:53

@RegDwightѬſ道 What if they really mean a "drive-in fortune teller"? Huh? Didn't think of that, did you?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

What if they mean drive-in Sean Penn and Teller?

Robusto

Or a drive-in Edward Teller.

Edward Teller

Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb", even though he claimed he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy (the Jahn–Teller and Renner–Teller effects), and surface physics. His extension of Fermi's theory of beta decay (in the form of the so-called Gamow–Teller transitions) provided an important stepping stone in the applications of this theory. The Jahn–Teller effect and the BET theory have reta...

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That guy ain't driving in anywhere anymore.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 What, you don't have drive-in mausoleums in your country?

Hmm ... note to self: tell Putin that Lenin's Tomb needs a drive-thru.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

With hookers and blackjack.

Robusto

16:55

And slots. It has to have slots.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's where the hookers come in.

Robusto

I said slots, not sluts.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

But you meant sluts.

It was clear from the context, the moon phase, and Tuesday.

Robusto

Well, if you take into account the schwa-de-vivre, then yes.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

This new place is so huge I can never find my way to the kitchen. To cook soup.

I am starving!

Robusto

16:58

@RegDwightѬſ道 Next time leave a trail of breadcrumbs.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That's what my wife does.

So if I follow them I end up in the bathroom, or the drive-in shoe storage.

Robusto

17:17

hmmph .. suddenly my arena rating is 4995. It was 5000 before the expansion.

There we go. Back to normal.

@Reg, @Vit: Do you see any advantage realized from the Intercept skill? It's like giving soldiers body armor that doesn't stop bullets, exactly, but deflects them into their fellow soldiers.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

17:49

Actually I was going to ask about that one myself.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

18:12

This Bulging Mantis shit has to stop.

A typical example of an OP card created solely for the purpose of milking people for money.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 /nod

Cerberus

Hi.

Robusto

The thing that's turning me off to this game is the idea that you can't really be competitive if you don't spend real $$.

Hiya @Cer.

Cerberus

@Robusto WMT? Yes, but maybe that is the future of gaming...

Robusto

I like fixed-cost games. I buy an X-Box game, I know it's not going to cost me $$ to equip my character.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

18:18

@Robusto Well yes and no. Thanks to power creep, you don't really need to buy cards. They will be obsolete in a month.

Remember all those folks running ten Collossi?

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 But the new standards will be set by those with the $$ to buy all those packs.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Or Orbo the Wrathful. Or Grim Specters, for that matter. Not many of those to be seen these days.

Heck, when was the last time you saw an OPollo? I know that's a free card, but still. It illustrates the point rather nicely.

@Robusto Those packs, too, will be obsolete. Perhaps not exactly in a month, but they will be.

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 But the bleeding edge will always cost money. That's my point.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Of course. That much is for sure.

But look at LtW.

Cerberus

I think the worst kind is where the more you spend, the stronger you will be; just buying a certain pack of cards once in order to be able to compete at a decent level forever is still annoying, but at least it doesn't break competition.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

18:21

You could build it at level 10.

Predator, Tiamat, Niaq... all for free and as good as ever.

Cerberus

OMG I have those!

Robusto

@RegDwightѬſ道 Except — not as good as ever. Once they were invincible. Now they readily fall as def decks.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well I consider LtW rainbows the most powerful def decks these days.

Robusto

You saw how I did with one earlier.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That was active.

Robusto

18:24

2 hours ago, by Robusto

Well, my passive score was like 0/4 when I started.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

17 secs ago, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

That was active.

Robusto

And that's my def deck too.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well, this is what my monologue about, um, trade-offs was all about.

Robusto

So is it worth buying Homeworld packs for 60K?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

See screenshot above. I'd love myself those Beacons.

Especially for that insanely hard Hydra raid.

Which has a nice reward according to Vitaly and others.

I only have one Beacon so far.

So every time I can afford it, I enter a tourney for 240k.

Robusto

18:27

I have but a single Beacon as well.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Last time I got Necrogeddon, at last.

Robusto

240K is a lot for a tourney. How many cards do you get?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Four packs.

The same price you'd pay for purchasing them individually.

Robusto

What do you use to fight those tourneys nowadays?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well if you enter Sealed to buy decks, you use whatever you get in those decks. :P

Robusto

18:29

0

Q: Is there a word for people who don't like prefixes?

So if there is a person who likes to leave off the prefixes from words... such as "Whelmed" as opposed to underwhelmed... is there a name for that type of person?

prefixes

Puh-leez.

I voted OT, but maybe NARQ or localized would work as well.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Hahaha what the

Oh, soup's ready!

Robusto

Well, that's just great. I broke down and spent money on WB and didn't get any. WTF?

Robusto

18:54

Haha, I thought this said "EA SPORTS SEX IS BACK" ... and, yeah, it kind of interested me.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:17

snort

Cerberus

Hey @Reg and @Rob, do you have critical television programmes that try to show how stupid and inconsistent certain well-respected institutions etc. are, like newspapers and policemen?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Of course. All over the place.

Cerberus

Could you recommend one?

In German, not Russian, please, hehe.

I've never seen anything as good and funny as Belgian Basta.

But then I haven't seen much.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Hold on. You mean not journalism, but entertainment?

Cerberus

What the Belgians do is journalism, but in such an absurd way that it is extremely effective.

They let newspapers publish absurd articles and such. And, while you're at it, why not make them funny?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:31

Hm.

I can't think of anything in that vein in German.

Decades ago, there used to be Wie bitte? Who at least tried something like that.

But it was way too bieder overall.

Cerberus

In the last episode I watched, they spread a "research paper" that showed how people of a certain Flemish political party had more sex than some other party. It was printed in all major newspapers. The next week, the leader of this party even mentioned it (proudly) during a party congress. Nobody ever checked the story; everyone believed it.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Well, perhaps that's what one ought to expect...

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Ah okay. Well, no, nothing of that kind that I can think of.

Cerberus

The Dutch spin-off had a major talkshow promote their product, which was basically cow poo.

Everybody fell for it (it must be said that the talkshow was not very reputable). But, more strikingly, they got 30 e-mails the following day of companies who wanted to invest in their project!

Which was all bullshit. Literally.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Well don't underestimate the fortunes one can make in the manure business.

Cerberus

Heh.

They purported to make fibres for clothing out of cow dung.

They presented a brown tie to the talk-show host.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:37

Well why not.

People eat bee dung.

Cerberus

The point is, nobody checked anything.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

They pay huge monies for bee dung.

Cerberus

Not the scientific articles, not their registration, nothing at all.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

That only makes them human.

Cerberus

They were just believed and broadcast on national television.

@RegDwightѬſ道 Whom?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:38

You should read some O. Henry.

@Cerberus anyone.

By default, people don't check anything. By default, they believe.

Cerberus

@RegDwightѬſ道 Hmm whadda?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

O. Henry

William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Life Early life William Sidney Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he changed the spelling to Sydney in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter (1825–1888), a physician, and Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833–1865). They were married April 20, 1858. When William was three, his mother...

Cerberus

@RegDwightѬſ道 That is why journalists have a responsibility. They must at all times check their sources.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Says you.

Cerberus

Says any journalist code every written.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:41

You are so idealistic it's pathetic. :P

Anyhow. I'll go eat some more ideal soup.

Cerberus

I think most journalists check their sources. Our major newspaper is always going on about that. But even the best newspaper has some rotten apples, and this is a perfect way of weeding them out.

Not to mention the less respectable newspapers.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

So how many people, exactly, have been fired?

Cerberus

In any case it is good to remind people of all this, because most people never seen to realize it.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

And fired as in, they are working as garbage men now rather than just switching newspapers.

Cerberus

@RegDwightѬſ道 Probably none. But let's hope they were reprimanded. I know they must feel ashamed.

At least the ones at respectable newspapers.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:43

Oh yeah. Journalist code. Reprimanded. Ashamed. Rrright.

Cerberus

You're cynical today.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

I am cynical always.

Cerberus

But now especially.

Which is your good right.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

At the end of the day, it's just entertainment for the TV viewers.

Who in turn, will forget all about it in a couple weeks.

Cerberus

You don't have any faith at all in respectable newspapers?

RegDwight Ѭſ道

19:45

That's a very vague question.

Soup!

Cerberus

So were your statements.

Bye!

Let me know if you think of a similar programme.

Cerberus

19:57

Oh God, I'm laughing so hard. Again. And this time I have a hangover: it doesn't make any difference.

They delivered a container blocking the entrance to the headquarters of a major Belgian telephone company.

On the outside there was a label and a telephone number.

Inside were the journalists-comedians.

The people from the telephone company were put on hold, redirected, etc. etc.

"Please provide your customer service number."

"But I'm not a customer! I just want this damn container gone."

"Oh. Please hold."

They performed all the waiting music live from within the (sound-proof) container, including subtly mocking songs.

After four hours or telephone calls, they took the container away. Then they offered a customer compensation gift.

"If you want a restitution coupon worth € 50, press 1. If you want a free Bureau [bla bla] Container for one month, press 2."

[Guy presses 1, obviously.]

"Thank you for your choice. The Bureau Container will be delivered [electronic voice: "today"], at [electronic voice: the HQ address]."

Theta30

20:48

@Cerberus I saw yesterday the guy who wanted to pay in llamas at Western Union

quite funny

it would be nice if they actually can scam the scammers

that is to make them pay money

Cerberus

@Theta30 Haha, yes, that one is great!

@Theta30 Yes! But how would you do it?

Theta30

@Cerberus hypothetically speaking

Cerberus

21:06

@Theta30 OK.

But wasting their time is great too.

Theta30

@Cerberus and mocking them in public

Cerberus

Yes!

And those guys are so stupid that they don't even realize it.

Theta30

John Lawler says writing is not English

Cerberus

Huh?

Theta30

I try ti understand his distinction

he says the writing is an artificial construction

Cerberus

21:09

It is like saying apples are not green.

They can be green, or red, or partially green. It is a meaningless statement in the given context.

Theta30

but it's more than that, according to him speaking is English

Cerberus

Seems like a rather arbitrary definition.

Some of these modernist linguists insist on saying that a certain phenomenon "is" term x.

Sounds a bit unscientific to me.

It's just a matter of definition. And it usually doesn't matter, as long as you're using your definitions consistently.

David Wallace

21:37

@Cerberus - I see what you mean about Ron.

Cerberus

@DavidWallace Heh, OK.

To his credit it must be said that he is genuinely fascinated by language.

David Wallace

and physics :-)

Cerberus

@DavidWallace But only his own!

I still think that's a joke btw.

David Wallace

@Robusto - but India have always been far superior to Pakistan in cricket. I would have thought there would be have been much more of a hulaballoo (sp?) if they lost.

About 10 years ago, when the Indian team toured NZ, an originally-Indian workmate of mine (who openly called himself a NZer) started referring to the two teams as "us" and "you". I called him on it - reminded him that he claimed to be NZer. He said "not with cricket". But several months later, when the Pakistan team toured NZ, it was "us" and "them". He was back to being a NZer.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

21:53

He likes to cheer for the winning team, doesn't he.

David Wallace

Actually, in the particular tour 10 years back, NZ trounced India.

RegDwight Ѭſ道

Oh.

David Wallace

They blamed our pitches of course.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…