English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

7:01 PM

@MattЭллен Well, when one expects negligence and doesn't get it, one is liable to sue.

indeed!

I shall have to take advantage of this

The non-negligent bastards! Sue them right out of their socks!

you've provided 99% uptime for my games. This is preposterously lacking in negligence!

yesterday, by Robusto

@tchrist I の, right?

My username and password have not so much as been questioned!

7:11 PM

@MattЭллен mah-na mah-na

@KitFox You've run rings around me logically.

@KitFox Do you have any idea what logistical nightmare orgies are? ftfy

There goes Kit, removing things again.

When do I earn my curmudgeon badge?

What? Huh?

I think an indefinite article is fine there.

it is, but it's a different meaning without!

And what am I removing now?

Oh, right. RenderOuterTable="false"

I just moved it actually.

A: Is it acceptable to start a sentence with 'However'?

0

It is acceptable to start a sentence with however. However, according to Strunk & White’s Elements of Style, it may only be used at the beginning of a sentence when it means “in whatever way” or “to whatever extent”. When the word is used to mean “nevertheless”, it may not come first in its ...

Yes, really.

@KitFox Matt got it.

@KitFox Messages.

pfft Matt always gets it.

7:25 PM

in the neck

@Meysam I want to see if he can get it larger. That'll be the test for my vote.

Q: How can I say 4 different colors for 5 different items using one, another, the other?

0

Am I saying this correctly? There are five items in 4 different colors. One is in red, another is in yellow, another is in green, and the others are in black. Also, can I say "Two items are in black, and each of the rest is in red, yellow, and green."? And, can "the" be omitted before "two item...

grammaticality expressions articles

I think I don't understand English anymore

What I want from the voting on the nominees? actual score for negative scores instead of capping at -1. I want to see who the expected -non-electable person is easily.

@MattЭллен it's just words. you know. and colors.

@Mitch Click on the vote number.

I that question a proofreading question?

Is it saying "Are there any mistakes in this?" but in a convoluted way?

7:33 PM

@MetaEd Yes, I can click on the number but that involves...well...clicking. Why didn't they just do the default and just display difference of up and down votes instead of using the max function.

@MattЭллен Maybe. could be a 'what's the best style?'

@Mitch We were speculating that the reason is that large negatives invite pile-on.

But so do large positives. So I don't really get it.

@MetaEd oh... well... yes, piling on can be fun I suppose.

you know...

Logistics.

all sorts of interesting NC questions...

Everybody thinks an orgy is going to be fun. Nobody ever considers the logistics.

2

7:35 PM

get asked...

and then in a comment...

tweened of course...

Can we create a moderator blacklist and put on it everyone who voted for EC? Ha, ha, only serious.

someone says...this isan NC question, but...

but you should come ask it in chat...

but then no one ever does.

You are so elliptical.

I'm not saying I would spend time chatting about it...

but..

@Mitch well, some of the people can't ask in chat (20 reps entry fee)

7:37 PM

but...

do we scare them away?

@MattЭллен oh.

<- terrifying orc head

@KitFox exactly. nobody ever has enough parking. and you always forget the ice.

I know, right?

@MetaEd ther's the...what do they call it...the protest vote? no..the goofy vote? no..

spoilt ballot?

7:39 PM

the ironic vote?

the hipster vote?

crazy vote///gah...I should ask on some website.

like voting for ... mickey mouse for president...

if only there were a site you could ask for a single-word-requests

@Mitch Yeah, but which one?

How about SWR&U?

7:41 PM

if I could request one word in the world, what would it be?

@Cerberus perfect! propose it on area 51

I would be happy with more than one word, but a site like that...they'd probably only take single word requests.

@MattЭллен I'll leave that to you.

@KitFox make the logistics part of the fun, duh. This is like saying, ice cream is no fun, the cone isn't even made of ice cream!

@Mitch A question would be like "Buzzard?".

@Cerberus OK I"ll bite...what is '...U'?

7:42 PM

bit.ly/PmzSGx

Usage?

@RegDwightАΑA hahahaha

U is for Unicorns!

Oh, yes!

How stupid of me.

@MattЭллен U are for Unicorns. ftfy

7:43 PM

@Cerberus do you plan on participating in the Town Hall Chat?

Sadly our two unicorns haven't been present recently

@RegDwightАΑA I probably will if I am at home.

But I may be out.

@MetaEd Unicorns am for rainbows

@Cerberus I'm just saying, you could ask about SWRs.

Oh no. Please don't.

7:44 PM

I can write up a question, too. Just in case.

Skittles. Taste the unicorn.

Actually, I don't know when it is any more, because my time was removed.

Check the board puppy.

3am Cerberus time

@KitFox No fun!

7:44 PM

@Cerberus in 5 hours 16 minutes.

I think, unless you don't do DLS

breathes into paperbag

Oh, today!

@MattЭллен yeah his time was actually wrong. And he didn't even notice.

Good thing I clicked on the "view in other timezones" myself.

@Cerberus today? no, 3am tomorrow! it's already been 3am today!

7:46 PM

So 3 am, yes. We will be in a palaeography session for a couple of hours, but they will have left by then.

Of course they will have left. It's palaeography.

@RegDwightАΑA How would I notice? It's 8 January here.

@MattЭллен Arg.

I count in days from sleepy time to sleepy time.

is that why it's only Jan 8?

Ah, doorbell!

Later.

CU

7:47 PM

Gah! Who wrote this crappy ass code!?

@Cerberus Makes sense. Life's longer that way. You only use up like 300 days a year.

punches past self

@KitFox It's much more effective to feel guilty on behalf of past self. Guilt can last a lifetime if you do it right.

lmgtfy.com/?q=single+word+request+and+unicorns#seen

Damn. Why can't we copy edit in chat.

7:50 PM

creationtoday.org/why-does-the-bible-mention-unicorns

tastes the unicorn

mingle2.com/dating/unicorn

But this is what I was actually looking for:

OK, gotta go. Bye!

see you!

8:33 PM

call it a draw

Wow, almost killed my Chrome. What do they load up, Emacs rewritten in jQuery?

I'm out.

CU

9:02 PM

@RegDwightАΑA No, silly. LISP rewritten in jQuery. Then Emacs runs natively.

BTW @Rob, will you be around for the Town Hall Grill tonight? You had some quality questions the last time around. I plan on reasking them all with zero attribution.

@MetaEd that's not even a proper rewrite. JavaScript is way closer to LISP than most people imagine.

@RegDwightАΑA Not nearly close enough for comfort.

Hell: Perl is way closer to LISP than most people imagine.

That much is true. It's just that we're not talking Brainfuck or Piet.

Or INTERCAL.

Apr 18 at 12:48, by RegDwight Ѭſ道

Turbo Pascal 5.5 is the best.

9:06 PM

OMSI Pascal is the best. ftfy

Blaise Pascal is way better than OMSI Pascal.

Blai ... ok, good. You're getting faster.

But I'm watching you.

I am not getting faster. I was always faster to begin with.

fastly

Damn it, I left my notes for the Town Hall at work.

oh, I remember them

1. be awesome

2. see 1

9:12 PM

You remember Kit's notes?

you're welcome

Peculiarer and peculiarer!

Hey … what's happened to our favorite troll?

Evan Caroll or Nortonn S?

NS.

EC is not my favorite troll.

9:13 PM

lol

@KitFox don't worry, notes won't help you anyway. No admission for pianos.

His porn isn't as good, for one thing.

@RegDwightАΑA How do ducks learn how to fly?

No fair, that is one of my questions for the Town Hall Chat.

@MetaEd now that would be a great question. "Is your porn any good? Why or why not?"

Q: How can I say four different colors for five different items using “one”, “another”, “the other”?

one more close vote needed...

2

Am I saying this correctly? There are five items in four different colors. One is in red, another is in yellow, another is in green, and the others are in black. Also, can I say: Two items are in black, and each of the rest is in red, yellow, and green. And, can “the” be omitted befor...

grammaticality expressions articles

9:18 PM

@Mitch No help here.

as you wish

Gee, can't you guys pick one close reason? Hrmpfgrml.

How can I say "This question needs to be closed, and this one, but not this one Reg, really it's interesting, but this one could be closed instead"?

s/neds/needs/ftfyftw

@Mitch for starters, you have to say that in Afrikaans.

English no have word's for that.

9:19 PM

Your Afrikaans sounds so much like English, but with sort of a sore throat.

Don't leave it that way.

My Afrikaans doesn't sound. It's dead.

better?

Not you. Reg.

Sadist.

I am here to sadist.

9:21 PM

@RegDwightАΑA You don't need to water them that often.

I am here to sleep.

mmmm...sleep

Stop it.

I have to stay awake, too.

And I'm two hours ahead of you.

And fresh out of Dexter.

No sleeping in chat.

4 more hours? what a bout a nap?

9:23 PM

At least not till Brooklyn.

there's no sleeping in Brooklyn.

kinda like chat

kinda hate chat

Oh.

So I thought I'd be lurking during the Grill, then a couple hours ago two questions did cross my mind, then I started writing them down, and now I'm at five and notes for a dozen more.

Must. Stop.

This all comes from not killing time with Dexter.

@RegDwightАΑA Eh, probably. If I'm not, feel free to ask away. Everyone knows you steal my stuff anyway, so no harm done.

9:31 PM

I promise to pay you royal teas one day. Like, honestly or something.

Uh-huh.

So okay. With Kit's duck question, and Ed's porn question, that makes like OVER 9000 questions in total. I think I'll go rent a room and just talk to myself.

@RegDwightАΑA Spoiler alert: Dexter kills a lot more than time.

Tintenkiller

Ein Tintenkiller, kurz Killer, auch Tintentod, Tintenlöscher oder Tintenlöschstift, ist ein Stift, mit dem man Korrekturen an mit (meist nur blauer) Tinte geschriebenen Texten vornehmen kann. Meist besteht ein Tintenlöschstift aus zwei Teilen. Mit dem einen Ende kann man die Tinte „unsichtbar“ machen, mit dem Filzstift am anderen Ende dann die Korrektur vornehmen. Geschichte des Tintenkillers Erste Mittel zum Entfernen von Tinte entwickelte die Pelikan AG um 1930 unter den Namen Radierwasser und Tintentod. Die ersten Exemplare im Handel enthielten die wirksame Substanz als gepressten S...

Wirklich?

9:36 PM

Aber sowas von!

Zem Schömans are violent people.

Wieso nur blau?

Some chemistry shit going on I guess.

In Amerika können wir mit allen Farben des Regenbogens killen.

Actually when I was in school most ink erasers had a pen on the other end, which could write over the erased region, and be erased again. Magic.

I never owned one.

@Robusto yes, I know how gay you are about killing.

That's the thing about guns. They don't have an eraser on the other end that lets you correct your mistakes.

9:40 PM

Wow. What will they invent next?

i no rite

@simchona: Seriously, you need to be more TOLLERANT.

Weren't bayonets meant for correcting mistakes? Like, fiddling out the bullets?

@RegDwightАΑA Well, in the sense that enemy soldiers were "mistakes" they were.

But no, way back when the ramrod would have a corkscrew thingy attached that could fish out misfires.

Better than Miss Doubtfires.

The doubt is in there for a reason, after all.

I would gladly use a bayonet on Mrs. Doubtfire. The film, that is, not the person.

9:45 PM

No doubt.

Tragic kingdom.

In fact, any film that has male comedians in fat-lady drag ought to be sent sofort to the wood chipper. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

Tootsie or not to see? That is the question.

Well, Dustin Hoffman didn't play a fat lady. And the film did have Bill Murray. But on the whole, I wouldn't cry if it got shredded.

Also, films that have women playing men. Like Albert Nobbs. And practically any other Glenn Close movie. And it's a good thing someone finally managed to end Tracy Ullman's career, come to think of it.

The longer I live, the more I suspect that Bill Murray must have a secret plan to surpass Christopher Lee, or at least not let him get too far ahead.

Oh my, not Glenn Close. A dangerous liaison.

Bill Murray keeps reinventing himself with the same old character. Somehow it works.

I did tell you that I met Bill Murray once, didn't I?

9:51 PM

I am not sure. There, I said it!

Roger Ebert I remember.

No signs in the transcript.

Bill Murray too. Back when I was in advertising. We were filming a commercial on one set, he was in the next one doing a movie. He walked into our set with an entourage looking for the "hot babes" he was sure we had a big supply of.

@Robusto well it works for many people, like I dunno, Tom Cruise. And he even skips the "reinventing" part.

@Robusto so you offered your duties?

He was a good guy. He had those makeup tissues on his costume because he had come right from makeup and he joked with us for a few minutes, long enough to ascertain that we didn't have any babes.

hey guys... quick question for ya:

which is correct:

> This store has a wide range of fruits that have their own price tag
> This store has a wide range of fruits that has its own price tag

@RegDwightАΑA You misspelled services. And, no. But I did get his autograph.

9:54 PM

Damnit, I knew duties was wrong. Frigg.

@KronoS have, their, if you ask me.

But I just misspole services as duties, so what do I know.

I had a pen and some paper, but he looked at the pen and said, "You don't want me to sign with that, do you?" And he turned around and yelled, "Someone get me a Sharpie!" And someone in his entourage bestirred himself and got him a Sharpie, and so I got his autograph in bold.

@RegDwightАΑA lol. We were having a discussion regarding this over at chat.SU and needed it cleared.

Thanks

@KronoS I wouldn't use either one, personally.

@Robusto what would you use?

You could patch the first one by pluralizing tag: This store has a wide range of fruits that have their own price tags.

10:00 PM

@KronoS basically "a wide range" works like many there. Ignore that it looks like a noun with an article. You have the same with "a lot", "a few" etc. You wouldn't say, "a few people is", or "a lot of people thinks".

so the plural of the fruits is incorrect?

The plural of fruit is fruit or fruits.

It's like fish. You can say fish or fishes.

@KronoS quite the opposite. People is plural, too.

But you can say "peoples" as well. :)

> This message goes out to all the peoples of the Earth.

@Robusto that sounds weird though.

10:03 PM

I keep looking for that answer of Barrie's, can't find it. It was about a different phrase, but the idea was the same.

@KronoS I'll be the judge of what sounds weird.

2

@KronoS "all the people" = "all the humans"; "all the peoples" = "all the nationalities".

Or nations. Verdammt, mein Englisch ist miserabel heute.

I'll have a short walk in the garden, see if it helps.

@RegDwightАΑA Just ask candidates what questions you thought of. That's the only question you need.

We'll see.

Last time around barely anyone was asking, with the notable exception of Rob, so they just supplied some standard questions.

@RegDwightАΑA Wie geht's are fine.

10:07 PM

@MetaEd okay now I don't understand any language it seems. BRB

@MetaEd are you guys having elections right now?

Look this way →

Elections, Town Hall Chats, everything. @Robusto even promised girls!

@KronoS Ayup.

(Modulo who "you guys" are.)

@MetaEd dang 2 point shy of being able to vote.

You still have six days.

Still primaries right now.

10:16 PM

wow looking for an edit on an eglish and language site is fairly difficult

Think big. Post an answer.

Post a question.

Or what Reg said.

@MetaEd that will probably be what I end up doing.

"How can I gain enough points to vote in the 2012 EL&U Moderator Election?"

11:18 PM

Marry is a minced oath? Hostia, what’ll they think of next?

They'll merge it with merry, that's what.

Don’t talk to me about mergers. I just today finally figured out that I have neither the RP nor the GA vowel in the PALM lexical set. No wonder everybody sounds so weird to me.

Pfft. Who needs palms anyway. Use hooks.

I say [pɒɫm]. I knew I wasn’t fully cot–caught merged, but now I find I’m an undocumented splitter. Now I know why nobody understands me.

11:33 PM

@tchrist Judean People’s Front!

I have to find more people like me, so that we can be united against the LoCal oppressors.

WTF don't you ever dare unite against LolCats.