English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

Robusto

12:12 AM

@tchrist Of course.

Abortions are just the sort of operation you can put on hold until a more convenient time.

tchrist

12:30 AM

Up to +17k new cases in the US of A today.

Thank God Trump will have us all in the pews for Easter.

Colorado's new cases are 100% higher than yesterday's were.

And people have begun to show up at the county morgue here, demanding service.

New York's morgues had a hundred new customers today.

Daniel Rigg

@RegDwigнt hello?

tchrist

@DanielRigg Are you heated or merely spurred?

Daniel Rigg

he hasn't answered my question

tchrist

But I have.

Daniel Rigg

no him >RedDwight

RegDwigнt

12:50 AM

@tchrist so have I, actually.

Robusto

1:11 AM

@RegDwigнt The game is not worth the candle.

Cerberus

1:54 AM

@tchrist Oh, wow, that happened fast.

But the number of infected is somewhat meaningless, isn't it?

It's the number of hospitalised, intensive care and otherwise, and the number of dead that count.

@Robusto I hear post-natal abortions can be quite effective.

Robusto

3:28 AM

@Cerberus What? Post-nasal abortions?

Cerberus

@Robusto I don't think abortions usually take place in the post-nasal area.

Perhaps abortions of snot.

Robusto

3:44 AM

@Cerberus That's the only kind I've had.

Cerberus

Lucky man.

CowperKettle

4:11 AM

@tchrist Yes, the daily rate of new cases, the acceleration so to speak

I saw the figure 8.3% somewhere and jury-rigged an XLS file to estimate future new cases in Russia based on that.

SmokeDetector

6:56 AM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Bad keyword in answer, bad keyword in link text in answer (167): A word for (a lens which is) "able to see in the dark" by emarketzindia pvt on english.SE

Færd

8:21 AM

> When we pulled out into the winter night and the real snow, our snow, began to stretch out beside us and twinkle against the windows, and the dim lights of small Wisconsin stations moved by, a sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air. We drew in deep breaths of it as we walked back from dinner through the cold vestibules, unutterably aware of our identity with this country for one strange hour before we melted indistinguishably into it again.

What do you think brace means there? Pair?

Like two jets of cold air coming into the train at the cold vestibule?

Maybe the vestibules are open. Or have two open windows. I just don't get the picture.

Maybe it's an attempt to make a noun from bracing:

> Fresh and invigorating.
‘the bracing sea air’

There's also this speculation, which doesn't hold much water to me:

> When Nick says that a "sharp wild brace came suddenly into the air," he's describing two things which happen to be analogous to each other. Note that Nick feels that the culture and even the snow of the Midwest both have a genuine appeal. This is his subjective interpretation because the Midwest is more genuine to him than the superficiality of the East where people don't really know one another (recall that no one came to Gatsby's funeral; a very impersonal culture).
The air he feels as the train starts out in the Midwest is sharp (immediately noticeable), wild (natural), and braces (cla…

On second thought, the last explanation is looking more convincing. Maybe it's not wholly unrelated to bracing (fresh and invigorating) as an adjective.

RegDwigнt

10:01 AM

@Robusto precisely right. I knew you would see it. You've seen it a lot before.

> So, things have been going well for me as a composer. I have run into a bit of a problem though. I can't think of what to write as my next piece. I have had this problem all day.

So, things are not going well for you as a composer, then.

@Cerberus haha, of course you as a hell dog would say that.

@Færd no idea. That is a good question best directed @Robusto.

Personally, my money is on "a thong used to regulate the tension of a drum".

Those come in the air quite often where I live. And always suddenly.

Færd

10:53 AM

@RegDwigнt Like these?

But there's no drums in the story.

M.A.R.

11:04 AM

@DanielRigg I think if you Google half your questions, they would solve themselves

@Curio

8

A: "to be prejudice towards/against someone" vs "to be prejudiced against/towards someone"

"Prejudice" is a noun. You can't be prejudice -- instead you have a prejudice. He has a prejudice against eating what he considers "foreign" food. Or you can say the same thing with "prejudice" as a verb, in this case expressed as a past participle adjective: He is prejudiced against e...

RegDwigнt

12:10 PM

I am become prejudice, the destroyer of worlds.

@Færd well. There should be. And preferably cowbell as well.

A fitting photograph.

Up until now in every photo he looked like a character from Sesame Street.

M.A.R.

@RegDwigнt Now he looks like a grouchy character from Sesame street

Robusto

12:37 PM

@Færd It's a nominalization of the verb brace, one meaning of which is " to act as a stimulant to sth."

So there was a "bracing quality" to the air.

It enlivened the senses.

@RegDwigнt Er war auf Coronavirus "getestet"? Was wirst du sonst noch von Englisch stehlen, Spiegel?

Probably "downloaden" and "scrollen" and "upgraden" for starters.

RegDwigнt

1:27 PM

@Robusto that's not from English. That's from French. Just like where English got it from.

Downloaden is a very interesting case, actually.

You can say that, and occasionally people do, but it sounds clunky. So the German verb, herunterladen, is vastly preferred.

However, for the noun it is the exact opposite. There is no good correspondence in German. You can try and construct something, and again, occasionally people will try, but it sounds even clunkier and very convoluted.

So for the noun, people say Download.

Robusto

How about scrollen?

And do you have your Handy handy?

RegDwigнt

It's almost like some weird prephase of suppletion or something. The root changes depending on part of speech.

@Robusto that one is perfectly fine.

Ich scrolle, du scrollst, scroll mal hoch, scrollen Sie runter.

@Robusto ja, ich hab mein Handy immer zur Hand.

Robusto

Es gibt noch mehr.

RegDwigнt

Upgraden is fine as well.

@Robusto da, wo's herkommt, gibt's immer mehr.

Robusto

So da is borrowed now from po-russky?

Oh, you mean that da. Never mind.

RegDwigнt

1:42 PM

Everything has always been borrowed from po-russky.

It is the Source. Ergo and concordantly, I am the Architect.

Robusto

Shoulda been an Ayn Rand novel.

RegDwigнt

Nah, too may of those around already.

Robusto

Well, Rand was a Russian import we would have done well to refuse entry to.

RegDwigнt

Sorry no backsies.

We ain't taking Sarah Palin back, either.

Much as Trump wants to sell her off.

Robusto

She's watching you from her porch, you know.

RegDwigнt

1:44 PM

That's a good place for her to be, and we're not having it any other way.

Robusto

You can have Trump, too. Oh, wait, you already do.

Cerberus

@tchrist That is terrible.

Robusto

Please note: Please refrain from adding late drive-by comments to this task as they are not helpful. Thanks..

RegDwigнt

Instructions unclear. What if I add a really helpful drive-by comment?

For example, I could post a picture of my favorite giraffe.

Please send new instructions.

Robusto

The statement is declarative, just like vue.js.

RegDwigнt

1:51 PM

Sounds like the villain from Star Trek: the Motion Picture.

You just need to add some letters and then you'll find out it was the US all along.

Robusto

Glad I'm outta the biz, actually. Too many freakin' frameworks, Freddy.

RegDwigнt

Yeah and they all suck. I hope to alleviate that by introducing ten new frameworks that don't.

Robusto

So I relented yesterday and answered a poor request for information, and I provided the actual answer in an unequivocal way, with reference, and today I wake up to find someone downvoted it. Like, wtf, dude?

RegDwigнt

I was asked no later than yesterday to see if I could remove vue.js from our site. I didn't even know it was there. That's what happens when other people are allowed to put shit on your site.

Mitch

Apropos of nothing, astronauts don't wear pajamas.

RegDwigнt

1:53 PM

@Robusto well we all know the usual suspects.

Robusto

@Mitch You don't know that.

Mitch

@Robusto You are correct. I do not know that for certain.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Yes, and Comrade K was seen complaining about getting downvoted himself recently. Irony of ironies!

RegDwigнt

Astronauts don't even exist. Like, have you ever seen an astronaut and the ISS in the same room? QED.

Mitch

But everybody on earth does so now, at least for work.

Robusto

1:54 PM

I don't wear pajamas and I don't work. QED

Mitch

When they get home from work, by walkng to the kitchen, that's when they change into street clothes.

and when they go into the street, they're wearing business casual.

RegDwigнt

Yeah that's what Stanley Kubrick would have you believe.

Robusto

Downvoted without comment!

RegDwigнt

I comment a lot without downvoting, and let me tell you, nobody is happy about that, either.

It's almost like they want me to go play Tetris instead.

Robusto

There's only so much snark people are willing to take.

Mitch

1:56 PM

@RegDwigнt I think a possum was involved.

RegDwigнt

I shall be the judge of what constitutes a non-lethal dose of snark.

Robusto

silently judges amounts of snark

RegDwigнt

Use kitchen scales.

Robusto

Too noisy.

RegDwigнt

Try setting to Réaumur.

Robusto

1:57 PM

Judging, not weighing.

RegDwigнt

I shall be the weight of that.

Robusto

But weight, there's more!

RegDwigнt

I've been weighting, but the miracle never came.

Robusto

@Mitch People sleep in their undies, then put on pajamas to go to work.

Several Species Of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave And Grooving With A Pict

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RegDwigнt

One morning, I met an astronaut in my pajamas.

Robusto

2:02 PM

They don't make songs like that anymore.

Fuckin' tweened me with your weak shit.

RegDwigнt

Tell you more, they don't even make song titles like that anymore.

It's all just "wrecking ball" and "roar".

Robusto

Tru dat.

RegDwigнt

The top comment is mildly funny for YouTube standards.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt At least it said "That's cute" instead of "Hold my beer."

People talk in memes now. It gets very tiring.

RegDwigнt

Oh good point, thank fuck for that.

These days people aren't even confident enough in their skills to produce a five-minute track. As well they shouldn't be.

Everyone is scared that if they don't get to the hook within ten seconds, people will turn it off.

Same with movies, mind.

Robusto

2:08 PM

Pink Floyd never even used hooks. They just enveloped you with sound, slowly lulled you into a false sense of security, then dropped the hammer.

RegDwigнt

> Tried to listen to other artists, but I just don't know what to listen to besides Pink Floyd.

Now that's a comment.

Robusto

Perfect example of PF leading you down a garden path:

Careful With That Axe, Eugene [Live]

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Then dropping the hammer ... er, axe.

RegDwigнt

> Bought Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and then A Saucerful of Secrets... More had not been released in the USA, yet. Then Ummagumma. They were played on the Underground stations only, in NYC.

> Then they came and did Ummagumma live at the Fillmore East. I was there 3rd row right of center to the stage. Shelly and I. Two pounds of pistachio nuts... red ones, and a couple of sodas. This was the first time I had seen them live. Five more times, over the years. I set the controls for the heart of the sun, that night, and never returned to...

Someone's waxing poetic.

Robusto

Yes. Easy to do, talking about early Pink Floyd.

I saw them in Chicago in 1970. On a bill with three other unrelated acts. The crowd was mixed, which meant people talked over the quiet parts in PF's set. Fuckheads.

So here's why I was looking into Pink Floyd this morning:

Grantchester Meadows

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Trying to find the track that started with birdsong.

Because I heard exactly that birdsong outside my window this morning.

RegDwigнt

No prophet in his hometown.

@Robusto yeah that I just listened to just now before you posted the Axe.

Robusto

2:14 PM

And I want to know what song that is.

I mean what bird.

RegDwigнt

Not the American magpie, it would seem.

Very unrussian to my ear, this.

Robusto

So if anybody knows ... @tchrist, perhaps?

@RegDwigнt Dude. Mason Proffitt was on the same bill.

Mason Proffit

Mason Proffit was a country rock band from Champaign, Illinois that released five albums between 1969 and 1973. == History == Brothers Terry Talbot and John Michael Talbot played together in several local bands around Indianapolis, Indiana and later in Chicago. After their group Sounds Unlimited disbanded, in 1969 they formed Mason Proffit with a focus on the emerging blend of folk, country and rock that would come to be called country rock. "Two Hangmen", written by the older brother, Terry, and released on their first album, Wanted, became a regional hit. This helped their second album, Movin...

Also The Rotary Connection and some band I forget.

RegDwigнt

See. They won't even listen to a prophet named Proffit.

Robusto

Rotary Connection

Rotary Connection was an American psychedelic soul band, formed in Chicago in 1966. In addition to their own recordings, including their 1967 debut album Rotary Connection, the band is notable as the backing band for Muddy Waters on his 1968 psychedelic blues album Electric Mud. The band's members included Minnie Riperton, who would emerge as a notable solo artist. == Career == === Foundation and debut album === The highly experimental band was the idea of Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess. Marshall was the director behind a start-up label, Cadet Concept Records...

RegDwigнt

I am actually vaguely familiar with Rotary Connection. Can't claim the same for Mason.

Robusto

2:16 PM

How could PF be on the same bill as these poseurs?

RegDwigнt

You have to start somewhere.

This is where it starts, and if you're not careful, this is also where it ends.

Matt E. Эллен

@Robusto wikipedia says skylark

Robusto

@MattE.Эллен Thanks!

Matt E. Эллен

np :)

Robusto

See, that's how old I am. I don't bother to look in Wikipedia for info about a 50-year-old song because Wikipedia didn't exist back then, so how would they know?

RegDwigнt

2:20 PM

Robusto

I love birds. You gotta love an animal that sings.

Only trouble is, skylarks supposedly don't inhabit The High Desert out here.

So what was stealing its song?

And why hasn't YouTube demonetized them yet?

RegDwigнt

Birds can't file manual claims. Because of patriarchy.

Robusto

Well, they don't have hands, so they can't do anything manual.

digg.com/2020/trump-impression-coronavirus

RegDwigнt

Digg exists?

Now that is worrying news.

Robusto

What, you can't digg it?

RegDwigнt

2:27 PM

Can I digg it? No I can't.

A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It? (Official Video)

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Robusto

@MattE.Эллен: What do you make of this accent? Lancashire? Yorkshire? Scottish?

MOST UNBELIEVABLE RUN OUT EVER?!! 8 Ball By Chris Melling!

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RegDwigнt

Keighley

Keighley ( (listen) KEETH-lee) is a town and civil parish within the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, 11 miles (18 km) north-west of Bradford, 11 miles (18 km) south of Ilkley, 13 miles (21 km), north of Halifax, 12 miles (19 km) south-east of Skipton, and 20 miles (32 km) north-west of Leeds at the confluence of the rivers Aire and Worth.Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Keighley lies between Airedale and Keighley Moors. The town is the terminus of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, a heritage steam branch line which has been restored and runs through the Worth Valley...

Robusto

West Yorkshire then? i was close.

RegDwigнt

Well the UK is quite tiny.

They don't even have Hong Kong anymore.

Robusto

Check the guy's runout, though. Geezis. I'd have been snookered by any of those shots.

It's like voodoo.

RegDwigнt

2:38 PM

Will comply.

I'm not knowledgeable about 8-ball at all, tho.

I only watch snooker.

Oh yes, that was nice.

Robusto

That was voodoo.

RegDwigнt

I am even less knowledgeable about voodoo, so I will take your word for it.

Robusto

Basically, in 8-ball you have to run out the same-color balls that match the first one you pocket. Then you have to sink the 8-ball. Do that, you win.

Trouble is, in every shot he was snookered, but found a way out. I mean, a magical way out.

RegDwigнt

I see. That's just what we call billiards, then. Those are the rules I only ever played by.

I just know there's a billion variations.

Robusto

I don't often click on billiards videos, but that one was worth it.

RegDwigнt

2:49 PM

Yeah. I did watch a bit of billiards back in the day, but mostly it's always snooker.

Though I've always played billiards and never snooker.

Though there was a snooker table in the billiards establishment I used to frequent with friends.

But I don't think we ever tried even once.

And we only ever talked about snooker championships and never billiards.

Weird.

Matt E. Эллен

I see you have your answer :D

I'm not sure I can tell Lancs from Yorks, but don't tell them that

RegDwigнt

calls up all Yorks

"Listen up, there's that one guy..."

"Half his name is Russian..."

"And he thinks you're basically Kiwis..."

Matt E. Эллен

hey! now I didn't say that! they have more than one vowel sound

RegDwigнt

Is that additional vowel sound also an /i/?

Matt E. Эллен

jə

RegDwigнt

3:03 PM

That's just Russian, then.

RegDwigнt

3:16 PM

> Not Pro
A group for those without a pro account (but feel free to join even if you have 'gone pro')

How is that at all useful.

Robusto

You're reading MuseScore comments again ...

Færd

3:34 PM

@Robusto Thank you.

Robusto

No problem.

Færd

That sounds fitting.

Robusto

Note that it's still an unusual usage. I had never heard it used that way before, but it was immediately obvious what was intended.

Cerberus

4:04 PM

@RegDwigнt Bien sûr!

Robusto

4:35 PM

TOP 10 COMPOSING HACKS!

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@RegDwigнt: No doubt you've seen this before. ^

CowperKettle

5:01 PM

> Brazil cannot stop . That is the name of the campaign launched by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro , massively shared on social networks, to mobilize his followers and put them on the streets of hundreds of cities in the country, pressuring mayors and governors for the opening of shops. and schools.

Cerberus

Bolsonaro is worse than Trump.

He is more like Zuma in his badness.

Anti-knowledge, anti-science.

M.A.R.

Two things something something infinite something something stupidity

Robusto

5:29 PM

@Cerberus If that's possible.

@Cerberus And all ego.

CowperKettle

5:51 PM

> Located at Survey No. 7-70, 70/1, 70/2. Digwal Village, Kohir Mandal, Medak District, Telangana – 502331, India

What on Earth is Survey in Indian addresses?

I don't know what that means, so how do I translate that to Russian..

M.A.R.

6:08 PM

@CowperKettle does it have to do with this?

Survey of India

The Survey of India is India's central engineering agency in charge of mapping and surveying. Set up in 1767 to help consolidate the territories of the British East India Company, it is one of the oldest Engineering Departments of the Government of India. Its members are from Survey of India Service cadre of Civil Services of India and Army Officers from the Indian Army Corps of Engineers. It is headed by the Surveyor General of India. At present, Survey of India is headed by Lt Gen Girish Kumar, VSM. SI (cartography) as well as ASI (archaeology), BSI (botany), FSI (forests), FiSI (fisheries),...

skullpatrol

6:46 PM

@Robusto if it's possible for him to put troops on the Canadian border, anything is possible.

Mitch

@skullpatrol Did someone do that? Which one, B or T?

skullpatrol

T is talking about it @Mitch

He's a news making machine

Mitch

Mar 24 at 18:29, by Mitch

Mar 12 '13 at 20:01, by tchrist

Of course he did.

@skullpatrol Sometimes I wish I didn't know some things.

skullpatrol

hence, ignorance being bliss?

Mitch

Like maybe you think you'd like to know the exact circumstances of your own death. I'm pretty sure knowing that would not make you feel any better under most circumstances.

@skullpatrol Well, not bliss exactly. It'd be more like you would have so much -extra- dread than you already have.

@skullpatrol Which now that I think of it, as so many already have, is exactly the intent of 'ignorance is bliss'.

So never mind.

Go back to what you were already thinking about.

Apropos of nothing, "apropos of nothing" is self-annihilating despite meaning something substantive, namely "On a different note.." or "Irrelevantly..." or "Cats would eat your face off if they were just a little bigger" or "To bring up an entirely new subject..." or "I realize this is a change of topic, but".

RegDwigнt

7:04 PM

@Robusto yeah. More than once actually. It will sometimes pop up in my autoplay list and then I just let it play out because everything else is very hard.

@Mitch knowing the circumstances of your death actually will make you feel much better under most circumstances, with the one and only exception of the circumstances of your death.

If you learn that you die on a cruise ship, and you're not on a cruise ship, it's all smooth sailing.

@Mitch to coin a phrase, what the fuck are you on about.

Cerberus

@Robusto Alas, it is!

@Robusto That, too.

And in bed with evangelicals.

Mitch

7:47 PM

@RegDwigнt and then you show up to The Price Is Right, they call your name to 'come on down' you give a dumb-ass answer that is less dumb than the others, you're in the final two and the other person is an idiot, and you win a cruise to the Puerto Vallarta that leaves immediately.

I mean I can understand being upset about that if it were Acapulco.

@RegDwigнt Can't you read? Fucking possums. I'm changing the subject.

@Cerberus What if they're hot evangelicals? I mean there's a cutoff, right?

RegDwigнt

8:23 PM

@Mitch see that's your problem right there. The other person is an idiot. I never have such problems, myself.

@Mitch obviously you're not an evangelical. Their cutoff is at hot.

If you hot, they no let you in. Also, you no ask for ingress to begin with.

Just the other day in the youth section of Der Spiegel there was an article about a lesbian pastor couple.

Titled, and @Robusto will be delighted to read this, "Geinfluenct seist du".

How's that for a verb.

Never mind downloaden. This one I can't even read, and I speak all of the languages involved, and many more.

It's like Dutch with all its geverificeerd.

Shudder.

Robusto

8:40 PM

@RegDwigнt zomg

Maybe they were trying to spell genuflect?

RegDwigнt

No, it's a play on words.

"Gesegnet seist du" is what they say in church.

And Influencer, apparently, is now a profession.

I look at all these people and I shake my head in disbelief. Who the fuck can they hope to influence. They can't even influence their mom into buying them a new nintendo.

So anyway. Influencen, then, is a verb.

Robusto

@RegDwigнt Yeah, be blessed.

RegDwigнt

Dangerously close to Influenza, if you ask me. But then again that's what it is.

Robusto

BTW, genuflect was a joke.

RegDwigнt

Yes I will laugh once I'm done venting about all the kids on the lawn.

Robusto

8:44 PM

Please don't use the answer box to make comments. Answers are for answering the question, not chatting. — Robusto 5 hours ago

Still not deleted.

RegDwigнt

So anyway. This is actually quite interesting. Because English often has those silent Es on the end of verbs. So when you borrow one into German, you never know what to do with it in the Present Perfect form. It looks wrong without it, and it looks wrong with it.

Geinfluenct? Geinfluencet? Geinfluenced, even?

Nobody is ever sure, so you keep seeing all three until one wins over in a landslide, or more likely, the verb vanishes again altogether.

Robusto

Seems like there's something you could do with Einfluß.

RegDwigнt

inorite

@Robusto it's only fair. You post answers in comments, they post comments in answers. Yours gets deleted, theirs doesn't. It's only fair.

Robusto

inorite

But thanks for siding with goodness and fair play.

RegDwigнt

I always.

Not sure what to do with their other non-answer. It's less of a non-answer.

Where's Thor when you need him.

Robusto

8:52 PM

I just looked away.

I can only do so much.

RegDwigнt

Elton John - Easier To Walk Away

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What happened to that song by the way.

Even I haven't listened to it in a decade.

Robusto

Dunno.

RegDwigнt

That's what happens when you write two thousand songs. People pick their three favorites and forget the rest.

Robusto

9:13 PM

I'll never know what that feels like.

RegDwigнt

I've only ever written like three and a half pieces, and I know what that feels like already.

Which is why that Simon interview that you showed me hit so close to home.

But it doesn't have to be music. Or art. Can be anything at all that you do.

You talked about how you put some beautiful nugget in your club's website and nobody gives a fuck but then you go and do something mundane and everyone's like whoa.

Or indeed everyone's like whoa about the nugget, but what about all the other nuggets. No love for those.

Life is like throwing a ton of spaghetti at the wall, except that you cooked every single spaghetto individually and with great love.

And throw them one at a time over the course of many decades.

Robusto

9:41 PM

Well, I used to write fiction. Not anymore.

RegDwigнt

> Hey, guys pretty new on here and was wondering if any one has posted, or is going to post Symphony, Simple, and piano sax for 7 yrs to name a few...