English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

The last weeks and days have seen some erratic behaviour by Stack Exchange Inc., such as likely illegal changes to the content license and the firing of an upstanding community moderator with no explanation except copy-pasted responses (leaving many to believe it was for no good reason). It wou...

RegDwigнt

No not this again.

Matt E. Эллен

that has a list

RegDwigнt

Gah, them goggles does nothing.

Matt E. Эллен

1:30 PM

yeah, I'm not trying to bring up the topic, just if you want to know who has resigned then that has a list

RegDwigнt

How can a mod be fired. They're not employed.

In fact if they were, they'd have no time to clean up websites.

Matt E. Эллен

yeah, that terminology has annoyed me a bit, but wevs

RegDwigнt

How most very British of you, sire.

Wouldn't want to make a ruckus.

Matt E. Эллен

aye. they didn't put me in charge of brexit for nothing

or for anything

I'm not in charge of brexit

RegDwigнt

> Now, I admit I haven't been in Britain for nigh-on ten years now so maybe Carol Vorderman founded a neo-fascist revolutionary movement while I wasn't paying attention, but most of the British people I know, if you invited them to truncheon an underclass for the greater glory of the superior British race, most of them would reply with, "Ooh, I wouldn't want anyone to think I was making a fuss", before apologizing for no reason.

Matt E. Эллен

1:33 PM

lol

sorry, didn't mean to laugh so loudly

RegDwigнt

> At the height of the Empire, maybe, but I just don't think there's anything the modern British care enough about to inspire violent dictatorships (except maybe football).

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен Naming names

which they named them selves openly

so it's basically a lot of work cutting and pasting links

Why is the word 'firing' used? Nobody is earning money by being a mod. There's no contract for being a mod.

David M

@MattE.Эллен Is anyone in charge of Brexit?

Matt E. Эллен

there is a thing we have to agree to, to be a mod. about user data and such.

RegDwigнt

After three years you can't even call it a charge anymore.

David M

1:35 PM

It seems Teresa May was the only who might have had a shot at holding that title, but she was fired like a SE mod.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен as in a legally binding contract?

Matt E. Эллен

@DavidM I can't say for sure. I asked around and people pointed fingers at a couple of guys, but they looked away, trying not to catch my eye

RegDwigнt

It's not a legally binding contract if I didn't sign anything and if I live in a whole different country that isn't even my country of birth or residence.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch I think so. like a EULA is

Mitch

Also why aren't mods resigning here?

RegDwigнt

1:36 PM

I'm just a person on the internet who ticked off a captcha.

Robusto

Yeah. So I think we can all agree that Brexit is basically @RegDwigнt's fault.

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен would anybody pay real world money to contest such a thing?

RegDwigнt

@Mitch see your top starred message on the wall.

This place is different. Because we are here.

David M

@RegDwigнt On the internet, no one knows that you're just a broom handle in a soggy pair of boxers and a gimp mask . . .

Mitch

Like they say about academia, the fights are so serious because the stakes are so low.

RegDwigнt

1:37 PM

@Robusto I started the revolution by singing Philadelphia Freedom.

Robusto

See? I rest my case.

RegDwigнt

@DavidM exactly. Yet here in this room absolutely everyone knows that.

David M

@Robusto Oh good, it looked tired.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt I just want to get along, have people unable to downvote bad puns, and subtweet Dr. Seuss.

Robusto

If you want to get along you have to go along.

Mitch

1:38 PM

Also, I don't recognize that message. I should have said 'surprisingly'

RegDwigнt

I will downvote your bad pun for ten easy and so on.

Matt E. Эллен

@Mitch SO inc. might? I don't know I doubt a mod would

RegDwigнt

@Robusto a please would go along way.

Mitch

@Robusto And instead of going he went.

David M

@Mitch Not unless it caused you harm in the form of reputation or financially . . .

Robusto

1:39 PM

@RegDwigнt I watched you get 'em wet.

Mitch

Wait, that was subtweeeting a dirty limerick, not Marvin K Mooney

RegDwigнt

@Robusto you can watch as long as you pay.

Marvin Mooney was a looney.

Robusto

When I washed my hands the towel didn't look like no damn Maxi-Pad.

RegDwigнt

There, that's my limerick.

@Robusto try a stronger towel. Try concrete.

Robusto

It's this kind of thing that is going to bring this whole Bonnie situation to a head.

David M

1:41 PM

@Robusto You didn't rub hard enough. Eventually you can remove the skin.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto The coffee tastes nice tho.

Mitch

@DavidM See 'stakes, low'

Robusto

I know how good my coffee is.

David M

@Robusto I can't believe I missed the PF reference on that

Robusto

We can't either.

RegDwigнt

1:42 PM

Yeah that's like the entry-level exam for this room.

Robusto

Epic fail.

RegDwigнt

Someone did quote TbL the other day tho, whom I wouldn't expect to. I was pleased.

David M

@Mitch Perhaps some people in SO have some sort of reputation tie in to their professional life that would make it worth it? Unlikely, but possible.

Mitch

@DavidM Oh. Yeah. I suppose.

Robusto

@DavidM: You thought med school was hard? You need to be able to recite several films from memory to fit in here, including, but not limited to, Pulp Fiction and The Big Lebowski. Get crackin'.

Mitch

1:44 PM

Makes more sense than paying real life dollars for virtual dollars in World of Warcraft or Sims 2 or whatever the Matrix is making us play lately.

RegDwigнt

My professional life is 99% posting inane bullshit on the Internet. Try and ruin my reputation in that department. I'd only be thankful.

David M

@Robusto I only slept 2h last night.

Robusto

@DavidM Slacker!

David M

Fucking surgeon insisted on doing a lap chole at 3AM. Totally elective.

Mitch

Showoffs

Robusto

1:45 PM

What's a lap chole?

Mitch

It's Indian street food

RegDwigнt

@Robusto you also need to possess the secret knowledge of which season to start watching Breaking Bad from.

David M

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Mitch

Chick peas and mango curry

David M

@Mitch I'd probably have gotten much more sleep

Robusto

1:45 PM

@DavidM I didn't realize that was a thing. Now my world is shattered.

David M

@Robusto Wait until we start talking about lap appy's and lap colectomies . . .

Robusto

@Mitch What do streets eat in Finland, I wonder.

RegDwigнt

Well who needs parts of their body. Just remove them.

Mitch

My question is... how do they pull the whole thing out through that little hole?

David M

@Robusto Hahahahaha

RegDwigнt

1:47 PM

@Mitch very, very painfully.

Mitch

Or do they cut ut up into small pieces -inside- and pick out the little pieces one by one?

David M

@Mitch They put in a plastic bag and pull really hard.

Robusto

@Mitch And while you're at it, how do they get 8 great tomatoes into that little bitty can?

RegDwigнt

See. Toldya.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt The sound it make swhen it gets pulled out:

David M

1:47 PM

@Mitch That doesn't work well. It would leak bile everywhere and cause nastiness

Mitch

Beloit

RegDwigнt

@DavidM and the problem with that is?

Worse things happened in Aliens.

David M

@Mitch It actually does make a noise. The abdomen is inflated with CO2 so, when it pops out, it sounds like a balloon being deflated.

Robusto

No discussion of Wisconsin border towns in this chat, tyvm.

Mitch

@DavidM Look man I don't tell you how to do your job, if you want to leak bile all over the place you clean it up

David M

1:49 PM

@RegDwigнt It happens from time to time, but they have to go around looking for stones and suck them up . . .

Mitch

@DavidM Oh. More like...

RegDwigнt

My abdomen is filled with daffodil perfume and pixie dust.

Mitch

blorp

@RegDwigнt What did you ... do to yourself?

Robusto

@RegDwigнt See? You're not the real Reginald Dwight because you didn't once mention semen.

David M

@Mitch Blorp then pfffffffffffft

@RegDwigнt Do daffodils wear perfume?

RegDwigнt

1:50 PM

This is very interesting. I am learning so much in this chat. Maybe we should append a Q&A section to it.

Mitch

Ooh... can you do a 'baa dum tss'?

Maybe for a shoulder undislocation?

@RegDwigнt Screw that. I'm resigning.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto no, that stuff goes somewhere else entirely.

Mitch

Unless I'm fired.

David M

@Mitch If you've never seen a shoulder reduced, it's a sight to see. But, nothing compared to a hip.

RegDwigнt

@DavidM I know that electric daffodils dream of perfume. Will that information suffice for your needs?

Mitch

1:51 PM

@DavidM I've seen c-beams glisten over the shoulder of Orion. Does that count?

David M

@RegDwigнt But they don't have any b/c it's all inside of your abdomen?

Robusto

@DavidM Aren't you supposed to be watching vital signs or something? Not gaping at open wounds?

RegDwigнt

@DavidM that is a very personal question that I can only answer in private. Call me up.

Robusto

Fuck it, Dude, let's go bowling.

Mitch

Beep...beep... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

p

David M

1:52 PM

@Robusto My role is generally supervisory. The nurse anesthetist watches that stuff while I make pithy comments and stuff.

Robusto

@DavidM So you could be replaced by @RegDwight and nobody would know the difference.

David M

@Robusto I'm much more handsome, otherwise, maybe not.

Mitch

If I ever hear my doctor call my insides pithy again I'll... mmmph... mmmm propofol

Robusto

On the Internet nobody knows you're not really handsome.

RegDwigнt

@Mitch I wouldn't believe the things you've seen.

David M

1:53 PM

@Mitch The milk of amnesia

Mitch

@RegDwigнt Good call

RegDwigнt

Amnesia is just a machine for pigs.

Mitch

@DavidM I remember going under, asking them to ask me to count backwards from 100 by 7's (because I had practiced beforehand) and then I was in a room with different wall paper.

And I said either I go or the wall paper does.

Robusto

Obviously it was closely associated by somebody. Otherwise it wouldn't have gained currency. — Robusto 5 mins ago

Mitch

So they wheeled me out.

David M

1:56 PM

@Mitch We change the wallpaper when you're asleep just to fuck with you.

Mitch

@DavidM I liked the trick where they replaced all the furniture with identical furniture in the same spot.

I said nothing.

I'm not playing your game.

Robusto

@Mitch No, you're playing Stephen Wright's.

David M

@Mitch Wasn't there a movie like that. Dark City?

Mitch

Some Philip K Dick fan fiction

Robusto

Dark City! Where the Long Coat trope went to die.

Mitch

1:58 PM

Book of Mormon?

RegDwigнt

@Robusto Somebody is the worst. I wouldn't want to be associated with them.

@Robusto also, where William Hurt played the most obscure Polish waltz on the accordion.

Robusto

There is no association bonus for that.

RegDwigнt

Blue Handkerchief by Jerzy Petersburski.

David M

@RegDwigнt The most obscure?

RegDwigнt

@DavidM name a Polish waltz more obscure than Blue Handkerchief by Jerzy Petersburski.

Matt E. Эллен

2:00 PM

second most obscure only to one I've never heard of

Mitch

@MattE.Эллен I love that one.

RegDwigнt

Yeah I transcribed it for tuba with piccolo and added it to my Waltzes, waltzes, waltzes set at the very top.

But then they ruined the custom sorting and it's somewhere in the middle.

It's only more obscure now.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt add castanets for color

Matt E. Эллен

fades into obscurity

RegDwigнt

@Mitch I am the orchestrator here.

Mitch

2:02 PM

from too much wshing

RegDwigнt

I take no advice on waltzes from buffaloes.

Robusto

I thought the plural of buffalo was buffali.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt OK Ozymandias. OK

Robusto

Not enough dopamine in this chat. Keep churning!

RegDwigнt

buffali, buffali, bravo bravissimo,
buffali, buffali, bravo bravissimo,
bravo bravissimo, forte fortissimo,
forte fortissimo, felicittá!

@Mitch no that is precisely not where you start watching Breaking Bad from.

Mitch

2:03 PM

Oh... you sing opera too?

RegDwigнt

I sing everything. Insert your mom joke here.

Mitch

@RegDwigнt I started from Better Call Saul. I like thing chronological.

Robusto

> The substantia nigra is a small midbrain area that forms a component of the basal ganglia.

Watch me get banned for that.

David M

@RegDwigнt Is that like Dances with Wolves?

@Robusto How DARE you!

Robusto

@DavidM Now you're trying to hard. Too weak! Too slow!

David M

2:07 PM

@Robusto I was AFK

Robusto

Uh-huh.

David M

@Robusto And too weak

RegDwigнt

@DavidM if you want a good movie with William Hurt, watch Smoke instead. Harvey Keitel's in it, too. And Forrest Whitaker.

And of course Gus Frings.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Best William Hurt movie? Body Heat, by far. With Kathleen Turner Overdrive.

David M

@RegDwigнt I wasn't in the market for a good William Hurt movie . . . But, then again, why not? I'd usually say The Accidental Tourist . . .

Robusto

2:08 PM

Nope. Body Heat.

RegDwigнt

@Robusto William Hurt is a fine actor if I may say so.

Robusto

See, nobody got my Kathleen Turner Overdrive reference, not on any level, although it exists in several planes.

David M

And, The Doctor was amusing. They made us watch it in med school to teach us humanity. But, I told them they couldn't tell me what to do.

@Robusto High Fidelity

RegDwigнt

@Robusto This is the Internet. I am twelve and who is Kathleen Turner.

Robusto

@DavidM Ding!

David M

2:10 PM

@RegDwigнt and a dog

Robusto

And overtone #2?

@RegDwigнt She's too old these days, but in 1981 she was hotter than fuq.

RegDwigнt

High Fidelity is a fine one, too, but it's so filled to the brim with references you just can't catch them all.

Robusto

That's why we go over this stuff.

We are doing important work in here.

RegDwigнt

Always have.

David M

That was the first (and last) time I found Jack Black really funny.

RegDwigнt

2:11 PM

That's why we don't resign.

David M

@RegDwigнt But maybe why you get fired?

RegDwigнt

You can only fire me after I've signed a paper saying that you can.

Matt E. Эллен

I will not be fired out of a cannon

RegDwigнt

You will be fired into the cannon.

From the Sun.

Robusto

See, Monica should have quoted Shakespeare when she found they had taken her job: "You cannot, sir, take from me any thing that I will more willingly part withal."

Matt E. Эллен

2:13 PM

OK. So long as it's not out of a cannon

RegDwigнt

16 hours ago, by RegDwigнt

I do believe for a whole lot of people it's just an excuse to leave. Which I mean in a good way.

You can only clean up pineapples on aisle three for so many years.

David M

@RegDwigнt Don't worry, Tom Hagen will be by to convince you to sign . . .

RegDwigнt

I only know Hulk Hogan.

Never heard of nobody named Tom.

Robusto

Yeah. Here's what really happened. SO management paid a whole lot of shekels to some management consulting firm to find out why their product is slipping, and the firm took their top sheet and folded it twice and handed it over and said "Your users are too mean!" and then said "That'll be $5 million, hand it over" and SO folks decided to get busy alienating everybody.

David M

@RegDwigнt Robusto, you want to handle this?

RegDwigнt

2:16 PM

@Robusto Well I would if it cost me $5mil. Any advice worth that much must be good advice.

Robusto

@DavidM Godfather I and II

David M

Tom Hagen

Thomas Hagen is a fictional character in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and Francis Ford Coppola's films The Godfather and The Godfather Part II. He is portrayed by Robert Duvall in the films. He also appears in the Mark Winegardner sequel novels, The Godfather Returns and The Godfather's Revenge, as well as Ed Falco's novel, The Family Corleone. He operates as the consigliere and as a lawyer for the Corleone family, and is an informally adopted member of the family. == Character overview == Hagen is the informally adopted son of the mafia Don Vito Corleone. He is a qualified lawyer and...

RegDwigнt

See. Told ya. Fictional. No one with a name like Tom can actually exist.

David M

They'll deliver the horse's head straight to your bed.

Robusto

I thought Tom was a drummer. Or a drum.

RegDwigнt

2:18 PM

They'll have to make room first by cleaning up all the heads in there already.

David M

And, you'll sign whatever they want and give Johnny Fontaine a part in your movie.

RegDwigнt

As long it's Falling Down I don't mind.

David M

@RegDwigнt That's a great fucking movie

Robusto

See, this is what happens when I take a day off from riding. I fall into this maelstrom here.

RegDwigнt

@DavidM You do not say.

Robusto

2:20 PM

It used to be easy when I had a job, then I could fuck off all morning and nobody cared. Now I'm retired and I generally have better things to do.

David M

@RegDwigнt I think I did . . .

RegDwigнt

@Robusto speaking of which, I must tie a nice little bow around this chat. Got some notes to write. And only two hours before choir rehearsal.

Robusto

Better learn your part.

Or isn't it that kind of rehearsal.

RegDwigнt

I'd sprinkle the bow in daffodil perfume, but it's quite a hassle getting to that.

Robusto

Is it the kind where people learn their parts at the rehearsal?

RegDwigнt

2:21 PM

@Robusto we're starting with Messiah today.

David M

@RegDwigнt There's no body cavity you can't reach with an 18 gauge needle and a strong pair of hands.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Well hallelujah!

RegDwigнt

@Robusto people? No. Me right now? Yeah pretty much so.

Robusto

hehe. The amateur spirit is a wonderful thing.

RegDwigнt

Fake it till you make it.

@DavidM there's no body cavity you can't reach with your bare hands if they span a quintdecime.

Robusto

2:23 PM

What happened to the days where people knew the entire repertoire before ever auditioning? So that nobody ever sight-read anything in an audition?

RegDwigнt

Well. I happened.

David M

@RegDwigнt It's an old maxim of medicine. It comes from a book called "The House of God"

RegDwigнt

I am too busy chatting on the Internet to handle the Händel.

Robusto

You better get a Handel on the Bach.

RegDwigнt

So far I'm finding Bach is easier to get a handle on.

Händel is a noticeable step down.

David M

2:24 PM

Too ... many ... music ... puns ........

RegDwigнt

And yet them's not puns. Them's truths. That's how we roll in here.

I'll be leaving you to ponder on that.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt True, but Handel has his uses. When you think you've been doing too much Bach, you try Handel, and midway through you say "Hey, how about some Bach?" And everybody else breathes a sigh of relief.

David M

OK. Time to go grab a bagel and hit on the cuteish girl behind the counter who is way too young for me.

Robusto

Something tells me they will never be old enough for you.

David M

(But well above the legal age)

Robusto

2:27 PM

But good luck anyway.

David M

I'm not interested in her. She's just fun to flirt with once in a while.

Robusto

And I'm out as well. Gotta get a shower and face the day.

Matt E. Эллен

byeeee x3

Cerberus

2:59 PM

@DavidM What's the legal age in your country?

Interesting map.

The higher the age, the better?

I wonder why "must be married" is the greenest.

I'm sure you can get married at a very young age in several of those countries.

David M

3:15 PM

@Cerberus 17-18 depending upon the situation. But, younger if married to that person with parental permission.

But, I employ the time honored formula of age/2+7

Which means I have to find a 29 year old these days.

My GF is 34, so I'm ok.

Cerberus

@DavidM That is a minimum, eh?

David M

@Cerberus This map is hard for me to parse. I'm red-green colorblind. So, some of those colors blend together for me.

@Cerberus The youngest person you can date without looking like a creep

Cerberus

@DavidM I wonder why exceptions are made for marriage. We don't have that here.

@DavidM Right! And how about the oldest person you can date?

David M

@Cerberus It varies from state to state. But, I think many of the laws are antiquated from the days of yore.

Cerberus

@DavidM OK, well, Mexico has "less than 12". Sudan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have "must be married".

@DavidM As usual.

David M

3:19 PM

@Cerberus Well, they'd be bound by the same rule, in theory. But, I'd say after 30 years older than you, and you look like a gold-digger.

Cerberus

@Robusto Fair enough.

You stick to your Android.

@DavidM And how do you calculate that?

(age - 7)*2?

David M

Age/2 first

Then +7

Cerberus

No, I mean the other way around.

I'm trying to calculate my maximum.

David M

Yes, that seems appropriate. Of course, then I'd be able to date a 74 year old.

But, of course, like most formulas it falls apart at it's extremes

I think it works up to about 60 years old. A 37 year old can date a spry 60 year old.

After that, it gets a bit hinky

Cerberus

@DavidM Does it, really?

I suppose the absolute difference becomes larger as one grows older.

Mitch

3:33 PM

@DavidM Interesting factoid: that rule was originally proposed as the -maximum- age of the intended, ie the girl should be -younger- than x/2 + 7

Probably invented by the French.

Mitch

3:50 PM

Also...

> just told my best mate how much I love Beyonce. She said 'whatever floats your boat'. So I said no, that's buoyancy.

6

Matt E. Эллен

lol

David M

@Mitch that just seems ... Icky

@Mitch Anything that assures the continued buoyancy of your watercraft.

Tanner Swett

4:18 PM

This morning, I thought that the rules of when to use "a" and when to use "the" were pretty simple.

Today, I looked at ell.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/articles.

(The [articles] tag on ELL.)

That put an end to my belief. :D

Someone brought up an example similar to: "I can't talk when I have a mouth full of food."

But why do I say "a mouth" when I only have one mouth?

The general rule I'm coming up with is that you say "the" when you want the listener to examine their current mental image of the situation and pick out the more-or-less uniquely identified object you're mentioning; and you say "a" when you want the listener to think up an additional object of the type you're mentioning and add that to their mental image.

But even that rule doesn't quite work. Another question brings up an example similar to "He was beaten and left to die by the side of the road."

According to my rule, I'm supposed to imagine a man being beaten and left to die; and now, at this point, I'm supposed to examine this mental image and pick out the one particular road in it, and then pick out the one particular side of that road.

That doesn't work, of course, since I can't identify either a particular road or a particular side of a road.

SmokeDetector

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body (96): Routine or routines by crgamb22 on english.SE

Cerberus

4:52 PM

-154

Q: An Update to our Community and an Apology

Last week we made an important decision for our community. We removed a moderator for repeatedly violating our existing Code of Conduct and being unwilling to accept our CM’s repeated requests to change the behavior. We recognize it has caused concern in the community as a whole. We made a hard d...

discussion featured moderators

Stack Exchange replies...with very little.

46

A: An Update to our Community and an Apology

Your actions have harmed the Lavender Community here at SE. I have taken a leave of absence effective today. This means Writing.SE has no active moderator. As a queer user I used to feel safe here on SE. Monica's skillful and caring moderation was a large part of why. Now I don't. If you ...

SmokeDetector

5:08 PM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in body (96): Routine or routines by crgamb22 on english.SE

marcellothearcane

@Cerberus She now has no rep

Mitch

5:31 PM

@Cerberus Whew. I'm glad that's all cleared up now.

What's funny is all across the world, Stackoverflow programming is an accepted form of software engineering practice.

Cerberus

@marcellothearcane ...because she has received so many down-votes.

@Mitch Yes, isn't it wonderful how they solved it?

@Mitch Programming, as in mentally preconditioning people?

@marcellothearcane Now she has 28!

That means she must have received a handful of up-votes.

marcellothearcane

6:03 PM

@Cerberus Nom nom

Cerberus

@marcellothearcane Are you the rep-muncher?

marcellothearcane

Someone's been voting irregularly, methinks

@Cerberus I wish

Cerberus

@marcellothearcane What's that?

Is that Sara's score?

marcellothearcane

@RegDwigнt is going to make my upvotes give one rep instead of ten in exchange for 5 easy payments of $3000

@Cerberus yep

So, 17 upvotes?

People keep editing out the 'friends' at the top, which is pretty savage

Anyway, I'm off

Cerberus

6:20 PM

@marcellothearcane So what's irregular?

Mitch

6:32 PM

@Cerberus haha but no I mean using SE as a mens to aid in software engineering

I still don't know who is for what? Does the CoC say that singular they obligatory? Forbidden? Obligatorially optional? And did MC vehemently deny/obliquely insinuate/confusedly understand to have mumbled that all people should be shot in the face/DNA tested then sexed like a chick then thrown into a chipper either way?

No. Really. I don't know.

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