English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

12:01 AM

@Mitch I'd like to taste cake sweat

And wet sand

Sticky tears? Eww

A forehead coat is probably just a hat

Well-draining spray is probably those Taft things that cause hair loss

2 hours later…

Q: What is data from a problem called?

2:16 AM

In Greek we say δεδομένα. I don't know what it is called in English or I've just forgotten. For example, a maths exercise when a value x is given to calculate y. When a problem gives us data and requires to solve a problem, what is that data called?

2 hours later…

4:20 AM

@Mitch Nice!

@Mitch I guess there's more to his mid-Atlantic accent than just the non-rhotic r. For example, the ups and downs in his voice, the inflection?, is rather British too. Americans tend to speak relatively more monotonous than the British.

Jun 4 '16 at 0:58, by tchrist

Well, the thing is that most North American accents have less phrasal pitch variation than in the UK. This is one of the tricks Hugh Laurie uses but he hates the sound of his own voice when he does that because it is so damned monotone.

That Wiki page claims that FDR "had a number of characteristic patterns".

It's quite surprising that, for some time, Americans with their sense of hyper nationalism affected a foreign accent to sound posh and upper-class and educated and vote-worthy for president.

@Mitch That's helpful indeed. And thanks for your comments below my answer. I wouldn't have minded if you'd added them in the body. Maybe I will, when I get the time.

The problem with those crude numbers is that it's not easy to see the pleasant/unpleasant connotation only through collocations. You gotta read whole sentences and maybe more, which I did back then. A good proportion of the damp examples weren't about discomfort at all, I shoould admit.

4 hours later…

Educ

7:59 AM

@Tonepoet Thank you, I prefer booklet

2 hours later…

Educ

9:55 AM

Is it correct

to say to my professor

My pleasure, Professor.

Q: can a figure in a paper be titled "questions respective [topic] ?"

10:29 AM

I am currently writing a scientific paper in cooperation with multiple co-authors, some of them being more experienced than me. In a figure, questionnaire results are shown. One of my more experienced co-authors chose the title "questions respective [topic]", which I find somehow unsettling, ev...

single-word-requests meaning title science

SmokeDetector

10:59 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected: Which verb to negate by R. Doe on english.SE

Q: Information / data that is related to a particular object

Imagine you create a note and write down information about a particular book (name, author, year etc), then create another note and add information about another book. How would you call the set of data that is pertinent to a certain book? Example: You should make a new note for each seque...

2 hours later…

Q: Term for describing phenomenon of equal prices without price collusion

1:02 PM

Some time ago, I came across a term describing a specific phenomenon observed in free markets. I'm now looking for this term. When comparing prices of certain staples in some countries, one quickly notices that their prices are exactly the same in different supermarkets and discounters. For exam...

Q: Term for describing defensive reflexes when no harmful action is being initiated

1:36 PM

A little background: I wanted to button up my sleeve, so naturally I moved both of my arms up to my chest level and that is when my friend thought I wanted to hit him so he took a defensive reflex. The thing is this scenario happened multiple times when he would just take a defensive reflex in...

single-word-requests word-choice

Q: Understanding the word 'generic'?

2:09 PM

I know my question may be somewhat basic but stick with me for a second. I've looked online at various websites explaining what this word is, but I just can't understand it. The reason I need to clear this word is for a programming language. I'm somewhat an unintelligent person that finds it har...

2 hours later…

Cerberus

3:57 PM

Interesting suggestion for an edit, isn't it?

:))

That's one miscellaneous assortment of objects.

Cerberus

I don't know what most of them are supposed to be!

Mitch

4:13 PM

i thought the picture was pretty obvious. There's a coffin on the floor; the guy is talking on an iPhone, and in the background is a large flywheel to store the energy from a electric generator from, say, a hydroelectric dam.

I mean, the connection is so obvious say to not need an explanation. It would be insulting the intelligence of the viewer

4:29 PM

I can't imagine how such a collection could be irrelevant to anything.

@Færd it would be irrelevant to something that's irrelevant to everything

No such thing.

@Færd you might as well say there are no flying dolphins

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Offensive answer detected: A word for 'a series of events' by PORNO on english.SE

@M.A.R. That picture is relevant to flying dolphins. Is Mitch's explanation not enough to point out the connection?

4:39 PM

@Færd that was not what I'm implying

Does something that not exist really not exist? Can we never make it exist?

You gave an example of something irrelevant to everything.

Otherwise it was disconnected from the previous comments.

@M.A.R. You could imagine it exists!

@Færd so I imagine something irrelevant to everything exists

But that'd be relevant to irrelevance, maybe.

It's not impossible to suppose the impossible.

But that doesn't make it possible.

Q: Word Request - Implying a False Truth

Is there a word for Implying something that is actually false to be true as is pressumed, without specifically stating it to be true or false? As an example (can’t really think of anything better); In terms of Person A and B on the phone. A Are you ready, I’m near your house. - B (While still...

I hate math.

4:44 PM

It loves you!

That's why I hate it

I'm sick of its face staring at me

The more you hate it the better you feel when you victoriously grapple with it. Then you'll just love it.

I suppose you're alluding to Konkoor.

Nah not really

OK.

I come here to escape from Konkur

4:52 PM

@M.A.R. You'll do much better this time.

As you know yourself.

@Færd that's not the problem. The problem is whether it'll be good enough

You could build up toward a good enough goal gradually.

Not everything depends on Konkur, despite what they have you think.

On a different note, what is the quality of sound that makes two musical notes with the same pitch sound different? I mean, what's it called?

There's pitch and volume and ... color (as it is called in Farsi).

OK. Easy.

Timbre

In music, timbre ( TAM-bər, also known as tone color or tone quality from psychoacoustics) is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voices and musical instruments, such as string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments. It also enables listeners to distinguish different instruments in the same category (e.g. an oboe and a clarinet). The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include spectrum and envelope. Singers and instrumental musicians can change...

Oh, now I get what Justin Timbrelake means

Mitch

5:17 PM

1 hour later…

Q: Word for earning less than spent

6:28 PM

The word could be any part of speech. The purpose is to communicate that an entity was gaining / earning less than losing / spending. Income < expenses. Example 1: The company has been _________ for the last 2 years. Example 2: He has been working ______ for the last few months.

single-word-requests phrase-requests

Tonepoet

6:43 PM

@David Even if your claim was true, no such word exists is an answer. and the community would prefer for those questions to be answered properly over closing them. However, such a word exists, and I bet you already know it, even if you do not realize which word it is yet. However, that doesn't help this question, since it is answerable with the aid of a thesaurus. — Tonepoet 6 mins ago

I mayn't answer in the comments, and I shouldn't vote to reopen a gen. ref. question, but nobody ever said I can't bring an interesting fact into chat. XP

Psyche

Psyche (Psyché in French) is the Greek term for "soul" or "spirit" (ψυχή). It may also refer to: == Psychology == Psyche (psychology), the totality of the human mind, conscious and unconscious Psyche (book), an 1846 book about the unconscious by Carl Gustav Carus Psyche (consciousness journal), a periodical on the study of consciousness == Religion and mythology == Psyche (mythology), a mortal woman in Greek mythology, who becomes the wife of Eros, and divine Soul in the Bible, spirit or soul in Judaic and Christian philosophy and theology == Arts and media == === Based on Cupid and...

6:59 PM

@Tonepoet ugh, there are three links in your comment

@Tonepoet that book is garbage. It's not written by Webster

Tonepoet

@M.A.R. I can't help it. I'm a genie. I have to do things in threes.

@M.A.R. Good point! ;-)