English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

I'm not PM, so I can't track that many items

> "This sentence" is a noun phrase and indicates a particular sentence. — Matt Эллен when he become that snarky

Oh Matt. You forgot to tag it this-sentence-meaning. Umexcusable.

what's "umexcusable"?

9:22 AM

The opposite of "excusable".

Like "umpossible".

9:37 AM

@RegDwightАΑA I sorry. I precise would the tag as indicated

wikipediaredefined.com

OMFG how dare they touch nohat's stuff.

Jmagine? that's not a word. piffle, I say!

> The compound word wiki-pedia, is divided into italic and regular. The italic wiki part will later be used as a prefix for other sub-brands.

1998 called. They want their crap idea back.

> A huge family of various wikis is represented by dominant first letters.

Guess which is which?

I only got Wikisource right.

And that's because it's three letters.

@RegDwightАΑA I only got metawiki right, but I don't know why, because this is the first I'd heard of it

Actually that's the one I found most confusing.

I didn't even recognize the letter. I still don't.

Is that a mu?

9:51 AM

I think it's an upside down W

Or just an upside-down W masquerading as an M? That's a crime against humanity.

Don't let @tchrist see that.

:D

But what do you expect from, people who place, commas like this?

the leadership and luck with the ladies of Kirk

Kirk would leave Wikipedia alone. And he would do that like a man.

9:53 AM

true

> Jf one needs to quickly shift from Wikipedia articles to, let's say, Wikiquotes, s/he simply...

Hahaha.

Who needs content? On Wikipedia? People come there to look at giant icons galore.

mmmm. Iconicious

It's nice people are thinking about these things. Fail quickly, fail often!

I'm trying to find any talk pages dedicated to this proposed design...

So far only this bit here. But it has a link to Hackernews...

10:09 AM

@RegDwightАΑA Wtf? They're redesigning Wikipedia?

> It's hilarious from the start - first thing they do is throw out the logo that incorporates multiple languages and says 'fuck you, we're going English for Wiki'. They compound this by then making all the various logos English-derived, so these guys have basically shouted to the world that they don't grasp the basics of their client.

yeah, that's a good point

lol?

this drive for brand simplicity is somewhat nauseating

stop representing yourselves with one letter, people!

it makes sense if a brand needs to be on all sorts of things, big and small, monochrome and colour

but not if it's just on a few things which are capable of complex graphics

@MattЭллен even with that aside, the whole idea is so unoriginal it stinks. There are OVER 9000 companies in Germany alone that have been doing this "use one font for one half of the word, another font for the other" thing for decades. Opel, Deutsche Bahn, insurance companies, you name it.

The one-letter variation is less original still. First we had myThis, myThat, mySpace, myFart; then we had iPad, iPod, iStink, iScream; now they propose wBooks, wQuote, wTionary (wTionary!), and wUpsidedownw.

And yeah. Icons instead of content. Fabulous.

BRB

gah. Xavier thingy thing is awake

Sorry, but abstract concepts can only be noncount nouns, even if they may be used as count nouns to express specific meaning. So abstract words can include - for example - 'feminism' and 'sexism', not meeting, party and events! Due to these facts your question is clearly unanswerable! — Xavier Vidal Hernández 17 mins ago

10:25 AM

there have been a bunch of companies embracing stupid (re)designs though. London 2012 comes to mind, as does Firefox and my ISP, Be.

@tchrist heidi was the one that i knew well. i've met geneva

i'm still facebook friends with heidi and andy, FWIW

did you meet her at a convention?

12 hours ago, by RegDwight АΑA

Apr 25 '11 at 15:38, by JSBangs

and my claim to fame is that for a while i went to church with Larry Wall's daughter, where we were friends and hung out in the same circles. i once met larry when he came by to visit his daughter and son-in-law

I can't tell if you are deliberately ignoring my pun

i don't see any pun

10:31 AM

Geneva Convention

oh, geneva

sorry

Don't hide your pun in a bun, it's no fun for anyone.

Conceal your crime in a rhyme and your won't end up doing time.

all the puns!

"Wee knights" I don't get.

10:44 AM

I took me a few tries too

Do they mean week nights?

yes

That's not a pun, then.

the knights have M T W T F on their shields

and they are small (wee)

I saw the picture.

10:45 AM

it's a bit of a stretch

I broke it.

congrats! what did you do?

Click on the back arrow.

The sword is now on top of everything.

I cannot reproduce the bug

FF, Ubuntu. I clicked rather fast.

10:51 AM

what is "words apart"? a phrase?

A pun on A List Apart?

No idea.

what's a list apart??

A quality publication for webmasters.

With articles on typography, CSS, and the like.

alistapart.com

"words a part" because the words represented are split up.

@J.R. & Andrew: finally RegDwight has disambiguated the question! Now that is answerable! — Xavier Vidal Hernández 3 mins ago

Yay me.

I get the POMO seal of approval!

11:03 AM

woot!

11:53 AM

@Cerberus: If I were coining a new logical fallacy in Latin (which I just did: "argumentum ad NGram"), how would I Latinize the word NGram? NGramiam?

A: Difference between "fell to the ground" vs. "fell on the ground"

3

You can fall to the ground only if you are in the air.

This is simply not true.

@RegDwightАΑA drools It's so pretty.

Glad to see you're a fox again.

Well, nobody liked the real me.

Change your name to KitBazooka, then see if people complain!

12:00 PM

@KitFox It was way too associated with Knight Industries.

Words Apart is a pun on Worlds Apart, innit?

The boy group?

@KitFox I thought it might be

@RegDwightАΑA Menudo?

Wha?

12:01 PM

Which boy group?

Well dunno. What's its name?

Menudo?

Worlds Apart (boyband)

Worlds Apart were a multi-national boy band of the 1990s that featured Marcus Patrick (billed as 'Patric') in the original (5 piece) group and Totally Scott-Lee's Nathan Moore in one of the later incarnations of the band. After scoring a few hits in the United Kingdom, the band re-emerged as a 4 piece and became chart stars in France. Discography Albums {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Album !width="40"|UK !width="40"|FR !width="40"|BE !width="40"|DE !width="40"|AT !width="40"|CH ! Sales |- | 1994 | Together |align="center"| 88 |align="center"| 46 |align="center"| - |align="center"| 84...

Worlds Apart!

I is right.

How did I get this confused already?

No, the expression 'worlds apart.'

Gracias.

12:03 PM

Des nadas.

@RegDwightАΑA Nothing genitive, nothing gained.

Oh, I thought I did that. disappointed

Stop fighting. I love you both equally.

@KitFox you did, just a minute too late.

Best not ask how much

12:05 PM

So the version you're seeing is Kit's, in point of fact.

Well, I thought it looked like I didn't do anything.

And I didn't.

that's the secret of being a mod

Only mods can see that.

I bet there is no difference between the two. You both did the job quite well. Have a cookie.

Kit's timestamp is nicer. It's divisible by four.

12:08 PM

Aww, Reg. You always know how to make me feel better.

So. Where was we. Worlds apart. Hm. Well, where was we before that.

A Band Apart?

Yes!

Girls Aloud?

A Band Apart Films was a production company created by Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender, which has been active since 1991. Its name is a play on the French New Wave classic, Bande à part ("Band of Outsiders") by filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard, whose work was highly influential on the work of the company's members. Thanks in part to the popularity of Quentin Tarantino's and Robert Rodriguez's films, the company quickly gained cult-like status within Hollywood. History Tarantino formed A Band Apart in 1991, naming it after his favorite Godard film, Bande à part. The company's logo was a ...

12:09 PM

Yes, yes.

That's what I was actually thinking about thinking about.

But then I thought about a boy group instead.

hehehe

Maybe you were thinking about 少年ナイフ (Shonen Knife), which is a girl band whose name means "Boy Knife"?

Maybe I was. But I wasn't.

How about now?

nope

12:13 PM

Fine. I'll just take my girl groups and go home.

lol

I wonder if my mind is more indecent than normal today

Hello, girl group. I have some recording devices I'd like to show you over here in my van.

You're either indecent or you're not. Once you're beyond the threshold it doesn't matter.

Hello guys and ladies or the other way around

Who you call the other way round.

12:15 PM

The ladies are the other way around. The guys were trying to take advantage of that before you stuck your oar in.

ladies and guys

calling the other way round makes it hard to hear

@MattЭллен you migh have your earmuffs on...

Earmofos.

@Noah no, the phone is the other way around

12:16 PM

Maybe you mean these guys? They are the other way around.

Now those are some serious earmofos.

OMG, is that Kenny Loggins?

Konny Leggins.

OMG... they look like girls

Very observant.

12:18 PM

They are Mothers.

Can we say that ladies have builtin earmuffs...

...uh, not any girls that I know.

MIWNLTFs.

Hahahaha

Moms in White Negligés?

12:19 PM

The Mothers of Invention

The Mothers of Invention were an American rock band from California that served as the backing musicians for Frank Zappa, a self-taught composer and performer whose diverse musical influences led him to create music that was often impossible to categorize. Their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B band called The Soul Giants, the band's original lineup included Ray Collins, David Coronado, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. Zappa was asked to take over as the band's guitarist following a fight between Collin...

How fitting you would quote that.

The mother of invention made it good for me
Tighter in the rear
Longer in the seam
Kicked out yards of leather
Wrapped around her waist
Trimmed it to perfection
And left a little space

Yeah they got competition now
All across the world
But there ain't been no looking back
Since God invented girls

From the album "Reg strikes back".

Hawt.

No, God invented Adam and he was a guy

Hahahaha

That's what God says. Bernie Taupin begs to differ.

Now I know what Brian Wilson meant
Every time I step outside
I see what Heaven sent
There may be seven wonders
Created for this world
But one is all we need
Since God invented girls

12:21 PM

@Noah I think you mean "No god invented Adam."

@MattЭллен, God created Adam... so I object to what you jsut said

♫ I'm lying in bed ♪ just like Brian Wilson did ♫

Q: Multidimensional arrays in Perl

I want GenRef close options on SO:

-1

Is there a way to create/simulate a 3D (or higher dimension) array in Perl? I've tried to search on the web, but found nothing.

perl multidimensional-array

@tchrist how else are people to get reps on SO if not for repeating general references?

@Noah Maybe he created Adam Sandler ... for which he has a lot to answer.

12:23 PM

@tchrist I thought they were going to introduce that for PHP.net lookups, no?

english.stackexchange.com/suggested-edits/3098

Wowza.

*A lot of people don't bother about their
friends in the vegetable kingdom. They
think: Oh, ah, what can I say? What can
a person like myself say to a vegetable?
But the answer is simple, my friends:
Just call, and tell them how you feel
about muffins...pumpkins...wax
paper...Caledonia, Mahoganies, elbows
...green things in general...and
soon, a new rapport...you and your
new little green and yellow buddies,
grooving together...Oh, no! Maintaining
your coolness together! Worshipping
together in the church of your

@KitFox I like how he took his time to write up an edit summary, too.

lol

@RegDwightАΑA I don’t look at PHP anything if I can possibly help it.

12:25 PM

Well, copypasta an edit summary.

@tchrist not everyone is as smart as you. No seriously, not everyone.

I had a brilliant plan this morning.

@KitFox pasta still requires effort, copy or otherwise.

Tru dat.

So what's with the plan.

12:26 PM

@Robusto yea, God created him too, but his dad is responsible for him:)

@Noah God has a dad? Crazy!

@Robusto I. Um. Er. You need help?

@KitFox waht does Wowza mean

@MattЭллен yes, Chaos.

@MattЭллен no, i mean Adam Sandlers dad

12:27 PM

@RegDwightАΑA Oh, well, just that I would stick the test database on the back of the demo site. Save me hours of updating the demo database.

@Noah Again, Chaos.

@Noah Adam Sandler's dad is responsible for what God created?

@KitFox gum or glue?

sucks to be him

Q: Can you "walk around" an event rather than a location?

@RegDwightАΑA duct tape should work.

simchona

12:28 PM

0

Is it wrong to write: to walk around a meeting/party/event I would think that one can only walk around a physical location — a room, a street, a ship, a forest. But meeting, party, and event are activities, not places.

grammaticality verbs nouns prepositions

NS. Just waiting.

►

@MattЭллен To some extent... but not for everything...

@Noah urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wowza

@RegDwightАΑA Maybe they were smart before the started looking at PHP, which is known to inflict brainrot in small children.

Giving PHP to children is abuse.

12:29 PM

@KitFox Tanx

Ohh, forgot the h

guys I suck at spelling.... any advice?

@Noah Read books.

practice spelling. type more slowly. read what you've typed before you hit enter.

wonders whether spelling is practiceable

it is

I'm with tchrist. You can only get an idea of how stuff is supposed to be spolen by actually looking at how stuff is spolen and observing how it is spolen.

12:31 PM

I'm with me, and I know if you practice writing things, you get better at writing them

More spiel.

mussel mammaries are real

@MattЭллен not if you practice writing them wrong.

Which is what the entire planet is doing right now.

People should write less and read more.

Boys, boys, he should do both those things.

@RegDwightАΑA but noticing you are wrong is part of practice

12:33 PM

@MattЭллен not to humans, not on the Internet.

How would you notice you were wrong?

@RegDwightАΑA you've misdefined practice

Speaking of writing, @Reg, (Kit blinks sweetly) would you look over my draft for me again?

@MattЭллен Well, you never defined it.

@tchrist Noah did just now.

12:33 PM

Everyone who is ever wrong about anything has thought they were right.

Typos are not systemic errors.

4 mins ago, by Noah

Ohh, forgot the h

@KitFox later this evening I guess.

Typos are still not systemic errors.

@MattЭллен practice won't help you prevent typos.

@RegDwightАΑA You are kind.

12:34 PM

Er.

reading

One can practice typing. This is a different thing.

@RegDwightАΑA practice will help you prevent typos. muscle memory will see to it. This is a real thing

@MattЭллен I still produce typos every day. And I have been practicing typing and playing musical instruments for years.

I never said reading isn't part of practice.

@RegDwightАΑA but you produce fewer than when you started

12:35 PM

I'm not really quarreling with you, I just have nothing else to do.

glowers

Well yes, reading Kit's story I guess.

:D

But I already procrastinated that one.

Haha. I meant to glower about the bickering.

I must have missed.

12:36 PM

You must practice, Kit.

did you ever glower at Cerberus and Mr Shiny and New?

Start by reading books.

glowers

Okay...

See, very much better.

12:37 PM

Well, now that's starting to feel kind of weird.

@RegDwightАΑA I am reading the grapes of wraths....

seems to be an old book

So, Noah, have we ignored your dilemma to your heart's content?

facepalm

@RegDwightАΑA ?

@Noah I take that to be a yes.

12:38 PM

@Noah You are too young and illiterate to appreciate that book. You should read some Lloyd Alexander books.

@RegDwightАΑA I didnt get what you said

That was my intention.

Nevermind.

@KitFox can you send me a link

Kids these days.

@Noah amazon.com/The-Chronicles-Prydain-Boxed-Set/dp/1250000939/…

12:40 PM

@KitFox thanks.

nods

Do you like Harry Potter?

@KitFox I just read the first two of Harry Potters

Just now, or only?

well, only

just a few days ago

Reading Harry Potter novels is hardly apt to expand your command of English. What are you expecting, Tolkien or something?

12:42 PM

@tchrist He must walk before he can run.

Well, FumbleFIngers said they were fine...

I don’t know his age or nativespeakerality.

He's 15.

1 out of 2.

He's NNS.

12:43 PM

k

So he shouldn't be reading Steinbeck or Tolkien yet.

Alice in Wonderland. Can't repeat that often enough.

Jul 27 at 14:41, by RegDwight АΑA

Whatever you do, start by reading Alice in Wonderland. Otherwise you'll never understand English, native speaker or not.

So can you guys agree on a list

I will go with Kit's suggestion...

What do you think?

Yes, the question is open-ended, but I would precise that this unhelpful distinction persist in some exemplar of thoughtful conservatism informed by an acute literary sensibility. However I feel a sense of intellectual kinship when meet people that are able to think on this issue! — Xavier Vidal Hernández 24 hours ago

@Xavier Vidal Hernández: Your command of English is inadequate to both the tone and level of discourse you attempt. I am disheartened that ELU of all sites should upvote such garbled text. — FumbleFingers 11 hours ago

Yes, well.

Ahahaha. At last, the two have met themselves.

12:45 PM

All this precising is making me hot and bothered.

All this bothering is making me hot and precise.

Will you two please precise what you are saying?

I will!

Thanks, guys... gotta run

Thanks @KitFox

When should I start?

12:46 PM

C U...

C U @Noah

Auruguai !

@RegDwightАΑA with impunity

@Noah Depending on your level of English reading comprehension, which I am guessing is around the 5th or 6th grade level, try reading Newbery books. They should be interesting reads and about the right level for you.

And bye!

@tchrist I should add that it was FF of all people who advocated upvoting downvote-worthy stuff, insisting on his right to vote any way he pleased.

12:48 PM

So @Reg, did you see the new meta post by our friend?

Only just now.

Looking for that FF comment first.

Querido Haveabeer: Es preciso que digas lo que quieres decir in buen inglés, lo cual en este caso sería sin traducir preciso a precise, pues que no existe esa palabra en tal sentido.

Unless you deleted it, that is.

@tchrist Es cierto.

@RegDwightАΑA Quien? Moi?

No.

Well I wish I remembered which question it was on.

Looking for it is a major PITA now that the flag is gone.

Ah, there it is.

I've actually upvoted a few manifestly wrong answers that have one or two delete votes against them, simply to try and stop them being deleted. As you say, sometimes an "incorrect" answer serves a purpose, so long as it's obvious most people disagree with it. — FumbleFingers Aug 10 at 21:37

12:51 PM

Oh. I thought you meant the one that tchrist posted just now.

I'm extrapolating from there, yes.

Egads, I'd forgotten about that.

@KitFox first rule of Mod club: never forget.

Why did I think I would make a good mod again?