English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

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user1271772

12:05 AM

I'm here!

Robusto

12:20 AM

Why Nobody is EVER Allowed to Move This Ladder

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sigh

Why do these religious disputes always remind me of a Monty Python sketch?

CowperKettle

1:08 AM

@Robusto Yes? What kind of accent? I found his speech very comfortable, very comprehensible

@Robusto Yes, I noticed on your Strava feed ))

Robusto

@CowperKettle Sounds like some kind of European, but I can't place it. My first thought was Spanish, but really it could be anything.

@CowperKettle ^_^

He does speak slowly and clearly, but the accent gives me pause on certain words. That's all I'm saying.

CowperKettle

Ladder in Spanish is escalera, thus moving the ladder can escalate tensions.

Robusto

In Italian it's scala, which is where the opera center La Scala gets its name. And at that place they sometimes perform La Scala di Sieta (The Silken Ladder).

La scala di seta

La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder or Die seidene Leiter) is an operatic farsa comica in one act by Gioachino Rossini to a libretto by Giuseppe Maria Foppa. It was first performed in Venice, Italy, at the Teatro San Moisè on 9 May 1812. The overture has been frequently recorded and continues to be featured in the modern concert repertoire. From 1810 to 1813, the young Rossini composed four Italian farse, beginning with La cambiale di matrimonio (The Bill of Marriage), his first opera, and ending with Il Signor Bruschino. These types of short pieces were popular in Venice at the end of the 18th...

1 hour later…

CowperKettle

2:36 AM

Word of the day: pilcrow

tchrist

3:22 AM

@Robusto In Spain setas are mushrooms like you'd get with Chinese food (but champiñones are the kind for pizza etc.). Silk is seda is Spanish and Portuguese. And sede is like the Holy See, so related to seats and other sedentary matters.

1 hour later…

CowperKettle

4:24 AM

Iranians lived in today's Ukraine, in the Donbass region

6 hours later…

CowperKettle

10:30 AM

> Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, 3 Brazilian soldiers were killed."
"OH NO!" the President exclaims. "That's terrible!"
His staff sits stunned at this display of emotion, nervously watching as the President sits, head in hands.
Finally, the President looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

2 hours later…

Robusto

12:41 PM

@CowperKettle For that joke to work, I think you have to specify that the president in question is George W. Bush.

@tchrist Interesting. And I see I fat-fingered Seta, adding an unwanted i.

SmokeDetector

1:24 PM

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Link at end of answer, potentially bad ip for hostname in answer, potentially bad ns for domain in answer (63): Is "stemmed to" ok, and what does it mean? by Raghav Mohta on english.SE

CowperKettle

1:40 PM

Whenever we learn, remember or forget something, a surprisingly active role is played by cannabis-like substances in the brain.

@M.A.R. Children usually play in special sandpits (sandboxes?)

1 hour later…

CowperKettle

2:59 PM