English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

2:00 PM

Does that not “answer the question proper”?

@Cerberus that sentence is hideous as shit either way. It needs to be rewritten from scratch, then burned alive, then burned some more, and stabbed to death.

Cerberus

Agreed.

Any sentence with the phrase business goals deserves nothing but fire and brimstone.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist who said it doesn't?

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA Didn't help Rasputin.

tchrist

I thought you were addressing me when you said perhaps you want to answer the question proper.

KitFox

2:01 PM

And anyway, an organization isn't a "their" it's an "its."

Cerberus

@tchrist Waaahhhh....

KitFox

Which you ought to mention, @tchrist.

Cerberus

@KitFox It can be a they in England.

KitFox

Also, maybe change your username to something that is easier to type.

tchrist

I thought of adding more paragraphs for it and he, but it waters it down.

RegDwight АΑA

2:02 PM

@KitFox you mean that sentence's penis will be put on display in the Kunstkammer for times immemorial?

Cerberus

@KitFox Agreed.

tchrist

@Cerberus Or in America.

KitFox

@Cerberus Can be here too, why bother if it is confusing?

Cerberus

I thought it was generally not preferred in America?

I suppose it depends on context whether it is confusing and whether it is felicitous.

KitFox

If one used "its" in that awful sentence, one would see that the question resolves itself.

tchrist

2:03 PM

@RegDwightАΑA I think you should answer the question. Tell ’em how you really feel about the original sentence.

RegDwight АΑA

@Cerberus seeing that sentence, you probably don't want to see any context.

Cerberus

@KitFox *they would see that the question resolves oneselves

@RegDwightАΑA Absolutely not!

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA I mean poisoning it, shooting it, stabbing it, and rolling it in a carpet and drowning it might not do a thing to it.

Cerberus

@tchrist * how one really feels

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist yes, I did contemplate posting "You talk like a fag and your shit's all retarded" and leaving it at that.

KitFox

2:04 PM

giggle

Damn it. I have work to do.

Cerberus

Oh dear.

You can do it!

RegDwight АΑA

Right! I don't run for mod!

tchrist

@Cerberus People on ELU are often a great deal more prescriptivist than they are realistic, or reasonable. There is nothing particularly uncommon with they there.

Cerberus

@tchrist I was referring to style books.

And I must confess that strict numeral agreement is attractive.

tchrist

considers how to draft contempt into being a verb

Cerberus

2:06 PM

Contemn?

tchrist

@Cerberus Strict numeric agreement?

KitFox

> I am contacitn you in reards to the Administrative assistant job opening , advertised on craigslist.

Cerberus

@tchrist Yes.

KitFox

My husband just got this email.

Cerberus

Ouch....

KitFox

2:07 PM

I'm thinking that's a "No."

tchrist

@Cerberus The notion is based on a false assumption. Hence its conclusion is immaterial.

Cerberus

I really wonder why people think spelling does not matter in a job application.

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA I'm sorry. I whooshed on that one.

Cerberus

Or is it the only error in the entire application?

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox and in retards contact you he does indeed.

tchrist

2:08 PM

As a reader of résumés, I assure you I think it does.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox 0_0

Cerberus

@tchrist Which assumption would this be?

tchrist

@Cerberus That they is plural.

KitFox

@Cerberus Not just spelling. The sentence is barely coherent.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox I mean that I can post "your shit's all retarded" because I don't run for mod.

Cerberus

2:09 PM

@tchrist But it is. It has plural agreement.

tchrist

So does you. So what? That doesn’t make it plural.

KitFox

@RegDwightАΑA You think my shit's all retarded? I thought you were supportive of my election bid!

Cerberus

@KitFox Yeah, yeah, the sentence sucks.

RegDwight АΑA

@KitFox well I didn't say your election bid's all retarded, did I? Back to reading comprehension class for you.

If you think your election bid = shit, that's what you say.

Cerberus

@tchrist I could make a list of reasons why it makes sense to consider they plural, but I am sure you are aware of them all.

tchrist

2:12 PM

@Cerberus Mitch posted a Google Books link here in chat a couple of days ago to MW, covering there is/there are, and you can page forward one page to a discussion soundly trouncing the notion that they needs must always be construed to be plural in number. It has also always stood for a “common” or unmarked antecedent. Always.

Matt Эллен

consider they as plural and singular at the same time. They's the right thing to do

KitFox

I have to go. Later, peeps!

Cerberus

@tchrist I know it has been used that way for a couple of centuries, yes.

Matt Эллен

@KitFox CU. Hope the meeting is good

Cerberus

Bye!

RegDwight АΑA

2:13 PM

Put your purple shirt on.

KitFox

Not the dean. Just the usual droobs.

RegDwight АΑA

Mmh. Okay. Roxanne, you don't have to put on your purple shirt.

Matt Эллен

lol

tchrist

@Cerberus No. It has been thus used for six centuries. It has been condemned for only two, by the same people who made up millions of idiotic nonrules about English by nonsensically trying to make it conform to Latin grammar.

Cerberus

That is a couple.

Matt Эллен

2:15 PM

I'd say it's a few

tchrist

@Cerberus must be loads of fun on couples’ night.

Matt Эллен

but then I'm wedded to the strict definition of couple meaning two

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Evil prescriptivist!

@tchrist Hah, yes, it can be overwhelming.

tchrist

@MattЭллен suppresses any rejoinder involving gay

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus liberalist! you're killing America with your freedom hating free defintions

Cerberus

2:17 PM

I know, I know.

The children need to be protected, from terrorists and copyright infringers.

shudders

Matt Эллен

and fatty foods and carbon dioxide

Cerberus

Naaahh.

Those are fine!

Matt Эллен

:D

Robusto

Wow, I just had that bug where it wouldn't let me log in to chat here. Kept trying to make me create a new account with my normal credentials.

tchrist

@Cerberus “Die kinder, dey are vatching!”

Cerberus

2:20 PM

Exactly.

@Robusto Oh, I hate that! It sometimes decides it hates me all of a sudden, and nothing works.

tchrist

Guess we have to stop talking about Rob now.

Robusto

Yeah.

Cerberus

Oh, oops.

How is the knee?

Robusto

@tchrist The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Cerberus

Yes.

Robusto

2:25 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Ho-ho, and you gave me such shit for using a Comic Sans-like font in a photo. Well, you are consistently inconsistent again.

Matt Эллен

doesn't talk about Cerberus

Robusto

Apr 17 '11 at 12:44, by RegDwight

@Robusto See, this is why the US will fail. Comic Sans.

Apr 17 '11 at 13:11, by Robusto

See? Totally not Comic Sans.

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto I just wanted you to roll your eyes and stomp your foot and cry like a child that it was Chalkboard and not Comic Sans. And in that, I succeeded.

Robusto

@RegDwightАΑA You have a devious mind, like all of your kind.

RegDwight АΑA

*all of my evil.

Robusto

2:28 PM

*all of your unkind

RegDwight АΑA

*not some of unhis unkind.

tchrist

libera nos a malo

RegDwight АΑA

Liberate your nose for evil?

Now that's a slogan I can like.

Robusto

@tchrist We will always be enslaved by evil. Sorry to spoil your day.

tchrist

Free noses for everyone.

Matt Эллен

2:30 PM

@tchrist Liberia knows a mallow! good knews indeed

tchrist

Too dry there. No marshes.

Matt Эллен

:(

tchrist

Hence no smores.

Hens nos morēs.

RegDwight АΑA

@tchrist so that one time, I met one Aaron Marshall, who was with Microsoft, and he gave me his email, and it was amarsh@microsoft.com. Little did he know that "am Arsch" is German for "my ass".

2

Matt Эллен

both useful and interesting

2:33 PM

Morning.

hello

Hi

OMG city sevens has been collidered

I never knew it was that interesting

Gigili

Who was Tom Christian Anderson? Sounds damn familiar.

Matt Эллен

2:36 PM

@Gigili are you thinking of Hans?

Gigili

Ah yes, Hans.

Matt Эллен

Maybe Tom was his brother

Gigili

His brother-in-law

Low is something else.

Matt Эллен

an all time low

Mitch

@Robusto No Oscar Wilde in chat.

Cerberus

2:40 PM

> I was playing with my daughter, when my phone went dead. It then rebooted to the setup screen. This was irritating, but I wasn’t concerned. I assumed it was a software glitch. And, my phone automatically backs up every night. I just assumed it would be a pain in the ass, and nothing more. I entered my iCloud login to restore, and it wasn’t accepted. Again, I was irritated, but not alarmed.

I went to connect it to my computer and restore from that backup—which I had just happened to do the other day. When I opened my laptop, an iCal message popped up telling me that my Gmail account infor…

I didn't realize Apple had the ability to wipe your computer remotely.

Very scary.

I can't believe people would expose themselves to that, when a safe back-up and synchronization utility can be had with little to no hassle.

Mitch

@tchrist Links? I have no recollection of that even though I agree with it. Merriam Webster sucks, so does the OED but in a different way. 'They' can be used as a singular cuz Jane Austen did and she's hawt.

Cerberus

emptyage.com/post/28679875595/yes-i-was-hacked-hard

Anonymous

Hello.

Matt Эллен

hello

Mitch

Also, no agreeing in chat.

Anonymous

2:43 PM

I have a question about how to write confirmation email in English.

The company sent me an email for the second interview.

The first time I reply his email with "thank you for offering me an opportunity for an interview. I am looking forward to our meeting on date, at time."

Mitch

ask. no guarantees or warranties though.

cornbread ninja

hello room

Mitch

hi yourself.

Anonymous

What I need to change to reply him for the second time interview?

cornbread ninja

@Anonymous add the word 'second'.

Mitch

2:45 PM

Yes, repeating the exact same thing might look weird. a bit too mechanical.

Anonymous

Thank you for offering me an opportunity for the second interview, right?

cornbread ninja

@Anonymous maybe, just maybe, mention your gratefulness for the first interview.

Mitch

if you're going that way, 'for a second interview'

Robusto

@Mitch Oscar Wilde is a valid subject.

Anonymous

@Mitch please suggest me what I should say?

Robusto

2:47 PM

@RegDwightАΑA It's also English for "a marsh."

Mitch

@Robusto Oscar Wilde could barely tie his shoes in the morning. What a maroon.

Robusto

@Mitch Why do you think I wear slip-ons? People should be free from the tyranny of shoelaces!

tchrist

@Mitch Perhaps it wasn’t you then. This was a Google Books link to an MW style guide, so had no infuriating spamverts.

Mitch

@Anonymous What cornbreadninja said sounded good. You don't need to be too effusive or anything, straightforward is great (a simple modification of what you first said).

Cerberus

Can someone tell me why some websites have this wildly disorganised lay-out where you have several differently shaped columns that all run several screens long? I just want all posts in chronological order from bottom to top: am I the only one?

Mitch

2:49 PM

@Robusto laces are dangerous. you should see the statistics.

Cerberus

wired.com

I'm closing that tab.

Robusto

@Cerberus Pfft! You cite Wired magazine? Those knuckleheads are famous for having the least user-friendly design team ever.

Cerberus

@Robusto I'm glad I am not alone, then.

It's crazy.

Mitch

@tchrist How about I wish I had the mental/effort resources to find such a thing. Kid's these days are explpicitly taught not to use a singular they (based on a sample size of I-heard-a-college-kid-say-that-singular-they-sounds-wrong).

Cerberus

arstechnica.com

But this is pretty bad as well.

I have a feeling is a trend.

tchrist

2:51 PM

@Mitch That’s FITH.

Mitch

@Cerberus that's called 'design'

Robusto

@Cerberus "arse technica"? Huh-huh.

Matt Эллен

That's how I've always read it :D

Cerberus

I saw some people praise this "magazine" lay-out. People who want this for themselves in their news aggregators.

tchrist

@Robusto arse longa vita brevis

Cerberus

2:52 PM

@Mitch It is evil!

Mitch

@Cerberus you don't recognize studied construction when you see it I guess.

Cerberus

@Mitch Studied construction? I see user-unfriendliness...

@Robusto Very droll, Humphrey.

Matt Эллен

that reminds me: I saw a google car in the wild the other day. That's a first for me

Mitch

@Cerberus only old people read for content anymore.

Cerberus

Did you shoot it and take it home?

cornbread ninja

2:53 PM

@MattЭллен just saw one yesterday.

tchrist

@Mitch Here is the link.

Robusto

@tchrist You call your penis vita?

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja maybe they're learning where EL&Uers live...

cornbread ninja

@MattЭллен it didn't look like it was recording, though.

Cerberus

@Mitch I suppose that is true. It should rather be about showing a flashy screen to your friends. Or sharing it on this bird's gathering.

cornbread ninja

2:53 PM

@MattЭллен 0_0

they shot my place a long time ago.

Mitch

@MattЭллен WTFis a google car? the kind without a driver? maybe it was just a short person driving?

cornbread ninja

a street map-shooter

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja yeah, the one I saw was stationery, possibly on breakfast break

cornbread ninja

@MattЭллен I had to have a pumpkin scone on saturday.

Matt Эллен

@cornbreadninja such a hard life!

Vitaly

2:54 PM

@Cerberus two or so years ago some major newspaper rolled out an “iPad” version of their website. I don't know about iPads, but I absolutely loved that layout on my regular screen. I could never find it again after some time though.

Gigili

@Mitch No, WTF is not a Google car. WTF is something entirely different.

Mitch

@Cerberus OMG the NYT web page is worse than yuck.

tchrist

@cornbreadninja Held at gunpoint, eh?

cornbread ninja

@tchrist yes!

Matt Эллен

@Mitch I mean one of their street view cars

tchrist

2:55 PM

@cornbreadninja Tough life, yours.

Mitch

@Gigili Google will patent WTF and make it free for everybody.

Cerberus

Hey, is there an expression in English to indicate that your admirer is "invisible" to you, in that you fail to notice him while he is looking at you, hoping for a glance?

@Vitaly What was it like?

tchrist

@Cerberus Stalker.

Mitch

@MattЭллен Oh..with the alien 360 camera sticking out on top?

cornbread ninja

@Cerberus you are oblivious?

Cerberus

2:56 PM

@Mitch Ohhh claps hands let me see!

Matt Эллен

@Mitch that's the one

RegDwight АΑA

@Robusto Easier that way. While everybody has to go 8=========>, he can just say ˘.

Robusto

@Cerberus Use a blank in a sentence that you would like to construct with the word. It's not clear what you're asking for.

cornbread ninja

@RegDwightАΑA sharp.

Cerberus

@Mitch Ohhh horrible! I had forgotten how bad it was. But at least it is a newspaper, so they have certain traditions to serve as extenuating circumstances.

Vitaly

2:57 PM

@Cerberus It was a clean grid of abstracts and/or headlines you could scroll to the right and left on a page-by-page basis. When you clicked a headline, it loaded the article and you could scroll leftwards and rightwards as well.

Sorted by either date or topic, I think.

Cerberus

@cornbreadninja Yes...but isn't there something like a saying? In Dutch, we say "he doesn't see her standing".

Robusto

@Cerberus We might say "She was invisible to him."

Mitch

@Cerberus their infographics are beyond excellent, they're doing all the right things and going further. But, their website creation team...ack! All the news that's printed fits.

Cerberus

@Robusto It is a SWR, so it ought to be cryptic and vague!

@Robusto Hmm yes. Still not as expressive as what I was hoping for...

Robusto

@Cerberus But a SWR can only be one thing. Choose either cryptic or vague, not both.

Cerberus

2:59 PM

@Vitaly Sounds excellent. Simplicity is a virtue here.

Vitaly

Exactly.

Cerberus

@Mitch It is odd.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…