English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

terdon

4:03 PM

So, something like It's only hard for the first three days @MartinAJ

Martin AJ

god it, thx

M.A.R.

4:30 PM

@terdon no, the first night is actually the hardest

Yeah @sumelic, IIRC autocomplete and chat pingability used to be different things until just a while ago

terdon

@M.A.R. ?

M.A.R.

@terdon it was a response to one of his messages but it's too hard to get a mobile reply right

terdon

@M.A.R. No, I am asking what you mean. I'm pretty sure the autocomplete has been linked to chat pingability for as long as the autocomplete feature has been around.

M.A.R.

And there's this bug that when I click on the arrow that's besides the message, the message that's supposed to show up doesn't show up

Also hi

terdon

Hi :)

M.A.R.

4:36 PM

@terdon I remember before my disappearance, I informed balpha of a chat bug related to auto complete and pings

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer: Nice expression for saying "I need to actually do the entire task just to check if it is doable" by vega on english.SE

M.A.R.

And he said different pieces of code determine either

Actually, he didn't say that, he just pushed a change to make them identical and then said there was no reason for them to be different

terdon

@M.A.R. Ah OK. But that would suggest they were mostly the same except for rare cases. But I see what you mean.

M.A.R.

I don't remember what the bug was exactly, maybe names vanishing from autocomplete even though the pingable users list said the user was pingable

And only in some rooms

And only sometimes

MetaEd

5:17 PM

grumble grumble Bill Gates grumble grumble

terdon

@MetaEd You still on about this?

5 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

user288256

6:24 PM

@Mitch Why? Are you depressed? I didn't see the context of your comment so... hope that's okay.

user288256

"..." in my own comment reminds me, some people make lots of ellipses in their writing and it hurts my eyes.

user288256

@Cerberus Yes exactly, too much paranoia is unhealthy.

M.A.R.

7:05 PM

@Ghalib . . .

Mitch

7:46 PM

@Ghalib depressed??? I'm perfectly happy, except for those first couple of hours after waking up. It's not my doing. I blame morning entirely. It should have realized this years ago. And fixed its-effing-elf.

Goddamned morning

user288256

@Mitch Yeah, so I don't understand the "after" part. 'After' what exactly?

Mitch

The time after you wake up. That's morning.

user288256

I hate to appear dense in front of you, but I am kind of tired after the whole day's work.

user288256

Okay

user288256

Cool.

Mitch

7:49 PM

Unless you're @Cerberus and then you're from another planet and anything goes.

user288256

Yeah. hah.

Mitch

Maybe that's the problem. Other planets don't have morning

Breakfast of course is such a good meal that you can have it any time of the day.

You can't have lunch at 3am. That would be wrong.

Cerberus

@Mitch Huuh, what?

Mitch

@Ghalib no worries. I turned around so now you're behind me.

@Cerberus haha. Woke you up

user288256

@Mitch So was my sentence not natural sounding?

user288256

7:52 PM

I didn't mean in front in front man

Mitch

I didn't think you meant 'besides'

@Ghalib what will you be having for breakfast?

Cerberus

Oh, this was about sleep cycles.

wakes up

Mitch

Also breakfast

user288256

@Mitch Oh man, when you English speaking people about food my mind goes numb because I have to search my mind for the language (food related) which you could understand. Do you understand the word "tiki"? I will eat that in breakfast. But no Google will tell you what it means.

user288256

Because it is a word from a language here besides Urdu which I am transliterateratering to English.

user288256

7:56 PM

Typo on purpose. :P

user288256

@Mitch Alright, besides "tiki" I will eat one roti (I can't eat much in the breakfast) and drink some tea.

user288256

@Mitch "Tiki" is made up of the paste of beef/chicken and other things and very delicious.

user288256

Now your turn, what did you have in the morning?

Mitch

Mmm... sounds nummy

Wait....what language other than Urdu is there?

I have an elaborate breakfast of a number of small things.

user288256

Yes it is quite delicious, come to Pakistan and we will be eating it together sometime. By the way, not many westerners come here. It is not like people have to constantly dodge bullets and take cover from bombs here.

user288256

8:04 PM

I guess our country is quite pleasant except for a few unpleasant bits of course.

user288256

But I digress.

Mitch

Small slices of toast, with cheese, or jam or whatever good spread I have found

Plus hot tea w milk

I am no hot uncle though

user288256

What do you mean by "hot uncle"?

user288256

I hope I didn't give you the wrong signal. I am a straight guy.

Mitch

@Ghalib it was a Persian tongue twister from yesterday

user288256

8:10 PM

Ahh gotcha.

user288256

I didn't read the transcript

Mitch

What language is 'tiki' from?

user288256

@Mitch Lots of. Pashto, Sindhi, Punjabi, Balochi, Siraiki, etc. Lots of languages are spoken here.

Mitch

Which one is 'tiki' from?

user288256

But those are all provincial languages or what do you call it... can't remember the right word at the moment

user288256

8:13 PM

@Mitch It is from Sindhi. I can't speak that language though,

user288256

I know how to construct basic sentences in the language though. But that's about it,

Mitch

Isn't Sindhi just a synonym for Hindi (which is just Urdu written w Devanagari)?

user288256

Nah they are different. Totally.

Mitch

Totally?

user288256

It is only spoken in Sindh here. As far as I know.

Mitch

8:14 PM

Not close?

user288256

Yes, Sindhi and Hindi are totally different. No, not close.

Mitch

Closer than Persian?

user288256

I can speak Urdu which is like the carbon copy of Hindi (in speech) and Sindhi is very different.

user288256

@Mitch You mean closer to Persian? No.

user288256

@Mitch Learn Urdu, then Learn Arabic, then learn Sindhi and at the same time learn English you will feel exhausted. I never wanted to learn Sindhi but at my school it was a compulsory subject. So I know its basic stuff.

Mitch

8:19 PM

Wiki says it is closely related to Hindi but Punjabi and Urdu are much closer

user288256

Languages are fun though.

user288256

Not that I hate 'em.

user288256

@Mitch Okay, I never Wikipedied it.

user8469759

8:35 PM

Hi guys

stupid curiosity

what's the meaning of this sentence in toto

"Just to let you know I have chased your 2nd test marking again and someone is marking"

I'm not sure

about the use of the word "marking"

I mean I understand the meaning of the sentence

but it's the use of "marking" that puzzles me a bit

Cerberus

Hello.

It could be a typo.

Maybe he meant missing or something.

But, without context, it's hard for us to understand what the sentence is supposed to mean.

user8469759

I did a test time ago, still waiting for a feedback about how it went. And basically they apologies for the delay, but it's still under review

Mitch

I can't make sense of it either

user8469759

so is the sentence just wrong?

Mitch

Are you sure about 'chased'?

Did you copy paste the sentence or is it from memory?

user8469759

8:41 PM

it's cut and paste

but that term is used

not sure whether it is a slang or not

but with chased in that context means

like "there's this person that should do the review, and I'm pressing this person to do the review"

or trying to catch up with that person in order to finish the review

that's not the first person that uses that term

although now that I read better the sentence

"chasing a test" doesn't make much sense

anyway, again, I was curious about that word "marking"

Mitch

Marking probably means 'grading' in US (we don't use 'marking' to put a score in a test)

Cerberus

@user8469759 Ahh, then it makes sense.

Chased, as in pressured people to mark your test.

Marking, as in looking at your test and marking answers right or wrong.

Mitch

9:19 PM

In Proto-World language there was only one word. And every word in every language today is cognate with each other and all the words in all the other languages.

There's been a lot of sound changes since.

And semantic changes too

Cerberus

Why do you think several independent words could not have been invented?

Mitch

That's a viable hypothesis based on animal utterances (who already have distinguishable 'words' but I think the analysis will show that it was just 1 way back when.

Also there is a single semantically and phonetically universal 'word' which is 'huh?' Which entirely substantiates my point

So I'm not going to bother learning any more words

And will use 'huh?' from now on.

All the nuance is from context.

Hmm...maybe I should use the cognate word 'hmmm'

Also the cognate 'mmm'

That's probably enough for what I have to say, hmmm?

Pfft is not necessary. It will be obvious by context

It's not like there's much to say.

Cerberus

9:36 PM

How about the cognate word contrapunctuality?