English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

RegDwight

09:20

We've been there before:

1

Q: Why is god, a common noun, capitalized?

I thought god is a common noun, but many people capitalize it when it is not the first letter of a sentence or a title.

10

Q: When should the word "God" be capitalized?

Aside from proper noun usage, like "We're on a mission from God", when should "God" be capitalized? A few examples: That's a god awful question. Oh my god! No god-damn way. He played the part of the cannibal god It occurs to me that whenever used for decisive emphasis, by referencing deity, i...

capitalization

@Palimondo You only have two minutes to edit your posts. But that's usually more than enough to fix typos.

RegDwight

09:36

@Robusto Once again, I have no idea what your Russian co-worker has been smoking. 3 is all over the place in fairy tales, sayings, winged words and superstitions. So are 7, 12, and 40. The latter used to mean many back in the day. Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Forty days and nights in the desert. Seriously, how can one not know such basic stuff? I am appalled.

40 (number)

40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41. Notwithstanding being related to the word "four" (4), 40 is spelled "forty", and not "fourty". The reason is that etymologically (also in accents without the horse-hoarse merger), the words have different vowels, "forty" containing a contraction in the same way that "fifty" contains a contraction of "five". The letters of the word "forty" are in alphabetical order; this is the only number that has this linguistic property in English. In mathematics Forty is an octagonal number, and as the sum of the first four pentagonal...

Robusto

13:33

@RegDwight — Well, in that sense "3" is magical in more than just Russian culture. A billion Roman Catholics believe in the Trinity, the Roman triplet is a rhetorical cadence, workers heave sacks into trucks "on the count of three" and so on. "Forty" is a Biblical number: ("it rained for 40 days and 40 nights", and the number crops up everywhere there. Similarly 7 is a "lucky" number in many cultures (it combines 3, the "masculine" number, with 4, the "feminine" number) and so on.

RegDwight

Err, THAT WAS MY ENTIRE POINT.

Robusto

Similarly, 12 is featured in a lot of ways. We buy eggs by the "dozen" in America, and us metrically challenged folk still measure things in feet, which consist of 12 inches, etc.

RegDwight

Still my entire point.

Robusto

Your point seemed to be that these things were Russian concepts.

RegDwight

Whoooosh.

Robusto

13:35

19 hours ago, by RegDwight

Hey @Robusto, I dunno if you know any Russian, so I'll let you in on a secret. In Russian, the number 7 stays for luck. 3, 12 and 40 have special meaning, too. I know I'm blowing your mind too hard, so I'll pause for a second.

Did you just throw that Russian mention in there as a red herring?

RegDwight

That was in response to your "whoa, baby".

Robusto

Excuse me, a Red herring?

RegDwight

You linked to a question by he-who-must-not-be-named, where he said "For example, in Russian, the number 7 symbolises luck, if anyone knows any Russian."

I was making fun of that. Jeez.

Feb 23 at 15:14, by RegDwight

The real sophisticated jokes are when people don't even get the explanation.

Robusto

True dat.

Sorry, sometimes a post's referent gets mixed up. And when one is trying to do actual "work" it gets hard to maintain all the chat threads at the top of one's mind. But I apologize for not immediately grasping your truly inspired humor.

I will note, however, that your response was not a "linked" response, so I hope I may be forgiven for any confusion or obtuseness.

You know, in about 8 or 9 hours you're going to have to start being nicer to me.

RegDwight

You better get to rolling on the floor laughing now, then and only then are you going to be forgiven.

Robusto

13:40

Otherwise I'll report you for abuse of power.

ROFLMAO.

Feel better now?

RegDwight

Why not cut to the chase? What's the waiting good for?

Robusto

You're not officially a commissar yet. You're still part of the proletariat.

RegDwight

You're not allowed to complain about the proletariat in America? What a backwards country.

Robusto

I saw that Russian omission of article. You changed it in time, but you did reveal yourself as a Commie.

RegDwight

In Soviet Russia, complains complain complains.

Robusto

13:45

Oh, and actually I didn't read more than a sentence or two of the post of He Who Must Not Be Named. I never do with any of them. I find it's better for my mental health if I don't.

RegDwight

@Robusto That has nothing to do with Russian. Articles are sometimes omitted in other Germanic languages where they are present in English, and vice versa.

Chris S

Hello, sorry to hi-jack this room, but the SE login isn't working right. Just wanted you guys to be aware that the user vgv8, who is being discussed in the following meta question:

9

Q: How should we handle users who generate consistently low-quality and off-topic questions?

I agree so much with Dori's answer in this thread that I thought it was worth making it into a thread of its own. There has been a string of off-topic and low-quality questions (and, to a lower extent, answers) from user vgv8, that many users have expressed annoyance (whether in comments, on meta...

discussion

Has been around the Stack Overflow and Server Fault sites long enough to earn him lifetime bans.

16

Q: Can we just get rid of vgv8?

It's been clear for a while that he/she is posting solely for the purpose of trolling, so instead of just a suspension, why not delete the account altogether?

support troll

4

Q: Should suspensions on parent sites follow through to meta sites?

If a user is suspended on the main site, should that suspension carry over to the meta site? For example, vgv8 is here asking about their suspension on SF and SU. These questions should be asked on the MSF/MSU but they can't, because they're also suspended from there. Surely a suspension should...

discussion account-suspension per-site-meta

RegDwight

Thanks @Chris. We're actually aware of the MSF question thanks to Dori.

Robusto

@RegDwight — Russians are who I consistently hear to omit article in sentence.

Chris, if we could help you, we would. @RegDwight is likely to be able to help by the end of this day. I, however, will remain unburdened by such tasks.

Also, Russians apparently don't like to copulate.

RegDwight

@Chris: also, this:

18 hours ago, by FX_

http://twitter.com/#!/vgv8

Chris S

13:52

Yeah, it was quite the to do when he was around, I'm surprised he wasn't simply banned from all SE sites honestly.

It became apparently after a while that he's just trolling sites. We found a long trail of forums around the net that have banned him. Actually we're pretty sure it's more than one person, the differences in writing seem to suggest at least two, probably three people.

Robusto

@ChrisS — Can there really be more than one person in the world who is able to write in perfect non sequiturs while simultaneously annoying the hell out of everyone on a site?

@RegDwight: Ahem!

4 mins ago, by Robusto

Also, Russians apparently don't like to copulate.

RegDwight

@Robusto Working as a Wiktionary bureaucrat, I've seen quite a few.

Robusto

Get it? From copula?

RegDwight

@Robusto Yeah, yeah, sorry, THWACK, etc.

Robusto

18 mins ago, by RegDwight

Feb 23 at 15:14, by RegDwight

The real sophisticated jokes are when people don't even get the explanation.

RegDwight

13:56

So your joke is not sophisticated in the least.

Robusto

So you should have picked up on it right away.

RegDwight

I can't be answering to Chris and thwacking you at the same time.

Robusto

Well, you should have told me that before I voted for you.

Feet of clay, Gospodin RegDwight, feet of clay.

RegDwight

That's @Martha's job description. It's been there for like two weeks. You've written it yourself, FFS.

Robusto

Stop swearing in chat, or I will flag you.

RegDwight

13:58

In Soviet Russia, you flag I! No wait...

Robusto

Speaking of Russians => chess => wonder why we refer to Alekhine's Defense and not to a closer transliteration, e.g., Alyokhin's Defense.

RegDwight

Alekhine looks like the so-called French transliteration.

Robusto

Ah, that would explain it.

RegDwight

0

Q: J.A. Gagarin's flight vs J.A. Gagarin flight

1) Is it Ok to leave the initials or would you drop them? Writing his name in full seems odd since it isn't Gagarin who is the point of discussion. 2) Is it Gagarin's or Gagarin? Is there any difference between the use of the possessive case in titles and not, with well-known names and not?

writing possessive names

Robusto

Dupe?

RegDwight

14:03

No. Yuri vs Iouri. See the comments.

Robusto

Juri sounds like maybe Scandinavian transliteration?

RegDwight

Well, how about German?

Juri Alexejewitsch Gagarin

Juri Alexejewitsch Gagarin (, wiss. Transliteration '; * 9. März 1934 in Kluschino bei Gschatsk, Russische SFSR; † 27. März 1968 bei Nowosjolowo im Rajon Kirschatsch, Oblast Wladimir, Russische SFSR) war ein sowjetischer Kosmonaut und der erste Mensch im Weltraum. Leben Juri Gagarin wurde am 9. März 1934 im Dorf Kluschino geboren, sein Vater war Zimmermann, die Mutter Kolchosbäuerin; er hatte zwei Brüder und eine Schwester. 1941 wurde er in die Dorfschule von Kluschino eingeschult, der Schulbesuch wurde aber durch den Zweiten Weltkrieg und die Besetzung des Dorfes durch deutsche ...

Robusto

I was going to mention Jerman.

But I figured you would have already covered that if you were interested in making the distinction.

Still, how is that germane to the discussion?

RegDwight

Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, bassist, composer, a member of The Jackson 5, older brother of American pop stars Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson and occasional film director. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist. Biography Early life Jackson is the fourth child of Joseph and Katherine Jackson, born in Gary, Indiana after his brother Tito Jackson. His brothers and sisters are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Marlon, La Toya, Michael, Randy and Janet. He was raised as a Jehovah'...

Robusto

Also not germane.

RegDwight

14:07

Germane

::For other uses see | Section2 = | Section3 = | Section7 = | Section8 = }} Germane is the chemical compound with the formula GeH4, and the germanium analogue of methane. It is the simplest germanium hydride and one of the most useful compounds of germanium. Like the related compounds silane and methane, germane is tetrahedral. It burns in air to produce GeO2 and water. Occurrence Germane has been detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Synthesis Many methods are known for the industrial manufacture of germane. These processes can be categorized as (a) chemical reduction method, (b) ...

That jermaine enough?

Robusto

A hexane on you.

RegDwight

Um, retort!

Robusto

I'm cudgeling my brains to find a way to use jour and main together ...

RegDwight

Journeyman!

Robusto

Hmm ... nice try, but no cigar.

RegDwight

14:09

Journeymain!

Robusto

It's times like these when a knowledge of French would come in handy.

Un jour demain?

RegDwight

La main du jour?

Robusto

Except the anastrophe ruins the pun.

RegDwight

La Manche de jure?

Robusto

Why does the porridge bird lay its egg in the air?

RegDwight

14:11

Feb 25 at 14:57, by Robusto

Why not?

Robusto

The doctor is unhappy.

RegDwight

Your IE doctor?

23 hours ago, by Robusto

I'd rather see a doctor about IE. Maybe get some kind of pills I could take.

Robusto

See, this is how I can tell you're a non-native speaker. You don't get all the cultural references.

doctechnical.com/fst/notes/itwa-cd.htm

RegDwight

I have no idea why you're so freaking proud of being able to tell I'm not a native speaker, when I'm saying just that right on my user profile.

Robusto

"See, Mandrake, that's how your hard-core Commie works."

It would be just like you to try to fool us like that.

You and your matryushka dolls.

RegDwight

14:16

Meh, can't be bothered. But just for the record, I'm not sure I agree that not getting a particular cultural reference is telling enough.

Robusto

It is when the telling refers to joke-telling.

Actually, few Americans would have gotten that reference anyway. Hmm, maybe they're all Commies too.

RegDwight

My point precisely. Not everybody's a fan of the same stuff you're a fan of.

Robusto

I can't believe you ever take me seriously. But you do.

RegDwight

I wonder how many cultural references Arnold Schwarzenegger would be missing in German, of which he's a native speaker.

Robusto

He is? I thought he was Austrian.

RegDwight

14:18

Good point.

Robusto

I distinctly recall some Germans making fun of the way Austrians talk.

RegDwight

@Robusto Well, it's not just the way. It's a completely different vocabulary.

Robusto

But Austrians can speak Hochdeutsch when they want to, no?

RegDwight

They can try. But it's extremely hard for them to completely get rid of their accent.

@Robusto But anyhow, I only take you seriously when you take me seriously, to repay the insult.

Robusto

Would you say it's more than a regional variation, the way Southerners speak with a somewhat different vocabulary from what you would hear in, say, Boston?

See, you are taking me seriously. You think I meant to insult you.

Anyway, a native speaker would have said, "But anyhow, I only take you seriously when you take me seriously ..."

RegDwight

14:25

I remember taking a quiz on Spiegel Online, where they were basically asking, "what do these Austrian words mean?" They might just as well have been asking about third-century Mongolian.

Robusto

One German told me "Austria is the Mexico of Germany." He was not making a joke, either. People at the table didn't laugh, only nodded.

RegDwight

See, a native speaker would have said, "People at the table didn't laugh".

Robusto

hahaha.

I covered that in the typo section of my dissertation.

RegDwight

Which reminds me of zu Guttenberg...

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg

Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg (full name: Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg; born 5 December 1971) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU), who served as the Minister of Defence of Germany in the second Merkel cabinet from 28 October 2009 to 1 March 2011. A Member of Parliament since 2002, Guttenberg briefly held the post of Secretary General of his party before he was appointed as Federal Minister for Economics and Technology in the first Merkel cabinet on 10 February 2009. After taking office...

Robusto

What? I thought Gutenberg wrote the Bible. Now I'm all confused.

RegDwight

14:31

Yeah, and this other Guttenberg copy-pasted from him. And a dozen other people.

spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,748383,00.html

Robusto

I guess we can't call him Herr Doktor anymore. This is so sad.

RegDwight

Well, you can still call him Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu.

Ain't that, like, enough?

Robusto

Wow.

And I thought only kings and queens and Romans had laundry lists for names.

Does the zu mean the same thing as von in a name?

RegDwight

The funny thing is, the day he became Defense Minister, some joker sneaked in an additional name into that Wikipedia article, and Der Spiegel just copied it verbatim, and then everybody copied Der Spiegel, yada-yada, and when it all came out it was a huge scandal.

Robusto

See? Jokes have their purpose.

I treat joking as a serious business and a sacred duty.

RegDwight

14:36

What's even more funny, I know that poor Spiegel journalist with whom it all started. The one who copy-pasted from Wikipedia...

He's actually a good friend of Guttenberg, and has been for a long time.

Needless to say, he was devastated...

Robusto

C&P gets a lot of people in trouble. I thought the damage was limited to coding, but I see it has far wider ramifications.

RegDwight

Remember that picture of mine with the balloons? It's from that journalist's wedding.

Robusto

haha.

So ... zu and von ... equivalent in a surname?

RegDwight

The six degrees of Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg!

Hmmm... that's catchy!

Robusto

All you need is a tune.

Martha

14:39

@Robusto That would be an @JPmiaou question. Juli?

RegDwight

@Robusto I would have to look it up. When it comes to those Adelstitel, I have no idea, and I'm not sure anyone has.

Robusto

Juni, Juli, August ...

Martha

Thwack.

Robusto

Hey, why did I get thwacked? I was just speaking German with my Heimatsbruder here.

Martha

You know why.

Robusto

14:40

[Hangs head in shame.]

RegDwight

Recht so.

Robusto

Ich furchte mich, dass ich hier nicht langer bleiben kann.

JPmiaou

"von und zu" is one of those well-post-medieval stylings that I know nothing about.

RegDwight

Oh. Schade.

(BTW, mich is superfluous. And in fact quite funny.)

Robusto

Thanks for the tip.

I thought furchten was one of those reflexive verbs.

RegDwight

14:44

Sure it is. You can say that you are afraid of something, then it would be Ich fürchte mich vor...

But I'm afraid that is Ich fürchte daß.

Robusto

Well, you see how shabby my German has become.

I doubt if I remember 10% of what I once knew.

RegDwight

Ich habe mehr vergessen, als Du jemals wußtest.

Robusto

Vielleicht.

RegDwight

Hm, interesting, I thought that was a famous quote, but Google returns nothing...

Martha

@Robusto That's still better than me. I can understand some of what y'all write here, but I couldn't begin to write a German sentence.

RegDwight

14:48

Ich, Martha,..

Robusto

I'd be curious to hear you speak English orally sometime, Alex. Specifically, to wake you up at 3:00 a.m. and ask you your opinion of strong drink (while successfully dodging your fist).

Martha

@RegDwight I think the famous quote might be phrased in the third person: he has forgotten more than the rest of us ever knew, or something like that.

RegDwight

Yeah, I'm actually looking for it in a number of languages now.

Robusto

"I've forgotten more than you'll ever know" is how one hears it in English.

RegDwight

Well, that's more rude, IMHO.

Finally, another AFOL!

Hello @MrShinyandNew!

Martha

14:55

Adult Fan Of Lego??

Mr. Shiny and New

Good morning. First time chatter. long time ... well, non-chatter.

yes! Lego. There is a Lego stegosaurus on my desk right now.

RegDwight

@Robusto I don't think I would be able to speak at all if I were to be woken up by you at 3:00. Don't give me the shivers.

@MrShinyandNew There are ~11kg of Lego under my desk right now.

Mr. Shiny and New

@RegDwight: most of my Lego is in storage. It doesn't mix well with a toddler and an infant. I am counting down the days until I can pour it all out on the carpet and tell my kids "Play!"

RegDwight

Right now I'm waiting for my wife to go on a trip, so I can finally take these 11kg home and play with them. Adding to the ~90kg I already have there...

@MrShinyandNew Which stegosaurus is it? I have quite a few. Or is it a MOC?

Mr. Shiny and New

@RegDwight: out of curiosity what kind of work do you do?

Martha

15:00

I kept waiting for Lego to come out with a Theed Palace set, but they never did.

Mr. Shiny and New

@RegDwight: It is 4998: eternalephemeron.blogspot.com/2010/01/…

RegDwight

@MrShinyandNew Webmaster, for the most part. I do a lot of customer support, too. But no product development, except for some GUI design.

@MrShinyandNew See, I've had that one for two years now, but never got around to assembling it.

Mr. Shiny and New

@Martha: Lego neglected The Phantom Menace. But that film was neglected by its own director... so...?

2

Martha

@MrShinyandNew - yeah, I can just picture my niece picking up a Lego piece and sticking it straight in her mouth. (That's her current philosophy of life: "Hmm, that looks interesting, how much of it can I stuff in my mouth?")

Mr. Shiny and New

@RegDwight: It's a decent set. Very solid. Maybe one of the best "animal" sets Lego made, for this kind of animal.

Martha

15:04

@MrShinyandNew But it wasn't neglected by its costume designer, and that's my main criterion for movies. :)

RegDwight

@MrShinyandNew Here's the stegosaurus I've been playing with most recently: brickset.com/detail/?Set=7798-1

Mr. Shiny and New

@Martha: yes, exactly. That is my son's philosophy right now too. And my daughter, who is nearly 3, loves Lego but is very ... undisciplined about picking up the pieces. So she has to make do with duplo.

@RegDwight: that set is cute :)

RegDwight

@MrShinyandNew I'll have to give it a look. I liked the Wild Hunters set, too. brickset.com/detail/?set=4884-1 The picture is actually quite crappy, you have to see it in real life. Even my wife liked it!

Mr. Shiny and New

@RegDwight: that is a great set. I wish I'd gotten one.

RegDwight

@MrShinyandNew IIRC, I've got it off eBay, MISB.

Mr. Shiny and New

15:06

Anyway I must get going. Nice chatting with you all!

RegDwight

TTYL! Do come back!

RegDwight

15:55

6

Q: Good books for English speakers learning the language

I recently hosted a French exchange student whose English was conversational but not yet fluent. He usually only has problems with the language when trying to find an appropriate word, and occasionally has trouble with conjugations and indefinite article genders, etc. Is there a good novel, mag...

learning esl teaching-aid

Robusto

16:06

@RegDwight: My older son had the Lego collection from hell. An entire closet full. After he went out on his own I asked him if he still wanted them, but he couldn't be bothered with it, so I finally just sold them. Fetched a good price, though.

FX_

hi all

Robusto

Howdy.

RegDwight

Sup

FX_

I am wondering how this wasn't closed as a duplicate:

1

Q: Why are some English nouns referred by "she" but never by "he"?

What is the origin of referring to some nouns by "she" but never by "he"? Can I refer to Internet as "she"?

usage writing-style

Martha

@RegDwight - That would unquestionably be closed if it was asked now.

RegDwight

16:07

@FX_ It's got 4 votes already.

FX_

@RegDwight but it's got 4 votes for some time already, and it's moving no more

Robusto

And now it is closed.

RegDwight

Robusto with his hammer.

Martha

The "can I refer to the internet as 'she'" part is new/not duplicate.

RegDwight

@Martha It still can, and hopefully will.

FX_

16:10

@Martha: it's not an exact duplicate, but still

RegDwight

@Martha english.stackexchange.com/posts/14461/revisions

Robusto

@RegDwight — Hey, I waited till there were four votes.

And I don't have a hammer. I'm too passive-aggressive for that.

RegDwight

First version: 'What is the origin of referring to some nouns by "she" but never by "he"?' Fifth version: 'What is the origin of referring to some nouns by "she" but never by "he"?

Update:

* It applies (optionally) to most inanimate forms of transportation
Can I refer to internet Internet as "she"?

Update:
Well, I cannot comment, so it is my lucky day to put all eggs in one basket.

@Moshe & @psmears,
Why is ship referred to as woman though the latter brings misfortunes to it?'

FX_

so, 3 questions closed out of 3 asked since vgv8 came back

RegDwight

@FX_ A quick update here:

2 hours ago, by Chris S

Hello, sorry to hi-jack this room, but the SE login isn't working right. Just wanted you guys to be aware that the user vgv8, who is being discussed in the following meta question:

Click on the link to read on.

The bottom line was this:

2 hours ago, by Chris S

It became apparently after a while that he's just trolling sites. We found a long trail of forums around the net that have banned him. Actually we're pretty sure it's more than one person, the differences in writing seem to suggest at least two, probably three people.

FX_

16:17

ok

Martha

I'm a bit concerned that we're ganging up on him - that if these questions were posted by anyone else, we'd edit them into shape instead of knee-jerk closing them.

FX_

@Martha: the question is not "if these N questions were asked by N strangers, would we edit them?"

RegDwight

@Martha That's a valid concern, and you're not the first one to voice it.

FX_

it is (at least to me): "if these N questions were all asked by the same person, who were not him, would we act the same?"

the volume of questions to edit/improve is part of the concern

Martha

@FX_ - Is it, though? Each question on the site needs to stand on its own, so perhaps each question ought to be allowed to stand on its own. Or something like that.

RegDwight

16:20

Well, it's not like he doesn't have his fair share of highly upvoted questions.

FX_

@Martha: when you correct people, it has to be in the hope that they improve, and can later contribute

if you think there's no chance they will improve, does it still make sense to correct most things they write?

RegDwight

@FX_ Seconded. This site is not only about questions, it is also about the community. If someone is poisoning the well, something needs to be done.

3

Feb 20 at 2:12, by nohat

we are a Q&A site for civilized people, not a babysitting service

FX_

his open/closed ratio is alarming, though, and it is actually decreasing over time :(

Martha

@RegDwight And this is why he was suspended - so that there wouldn't be the constant stream of garbage for others to clean up. But if we're gonna let him post, then we need to treat his posts the same way we would anyone else's.

Robusto

I will note that my rep score ends in 666 again. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

RegDwight

16:25

Feb 25 at 2:06, by Martha

...And now it's 16691. The reign of the Beast was short.

Martha

Even shorter this time. ]:-p

Robusto

Dammit.

I like being The Beast. The ladies dig it.

RegDwight

Next time, try harder. By hitting the rep cap at exactly 18666.

Then people can upvote the Beast all they want.

Robusto

That may never happen.

It's hard work keeping the last digit on 6.

RegDwight

Well, it's not like you'll be running out of opportunities any time soon. I am told that there's a 666 after every thousand points or so.

Robusto

16:28

Hmm, it was an old post that put me over 666. I suspect foul play. This has @RegDwight written all over it.

RegDwight

2 mins ago, by Martha

Even shorter this time. ]:-p

Robusto

@Martha only thwacks me. She doesn't tamper with the scores.

Martha

But you got another "Nice Answer" badge out of it, so don't complain.

Robusto

Meh, nice answer schmice answer.

RegDwight

Did you know that 666 has a special meaning in Russian?

Robusto

16:30

Who needs another bronze badge?

Martha

@Robusto Oh ye of little... not faith, something... what's that word I'm trying to think of?

Robusto

@RegDwight — Now cut that out!

RegDwight

Lulz.

Robusto

@Martha — Patience?

Martha

Hey, it's my fellow candidate-with-no-hope-of-being-elected! Hi, @drachenstern!

Robusto

16:33

I'm still pulling for you, @Martha.

@Martha — It's not the meat, it's the emotion.

drachenstern

@Martha haha, hello!

RegDwight

@Martha Never say never, Martha. Besides, they could go for four mods, actually. I'm looking for that question right now...

drachenstern

I'm trying to be quiet and all that, I really need to focus on work today ;)

but I just hope to not be the first one eliminated ;)

I realize with 7 of us, someone has to be the first one eliminated, it would just be nice to not be that person ;)

@RegDwight they could but they won't. They've already started the proceedings.

Martha

@drachenstern I don't know if they'll tell us the vote results in such detail.

And my sister still doesn't quite have enough rep to vote.

drachenstern

@Martha you ... haven't followed the other elections have you?

Rhodri

16:36

By the way, when did the "logout" link disappear? It's been quite disconcerting, and I only remember when I'm in a hurry to leave the office.

RegDwight

Geez, I'm looking on meta.Photography, but it was on meta.Math.

7

A: Continuity of Moderation

One approach I was considering is to officially designate the 4th place winner as an alternate. That would cover two cases: a moderator no longer able to serve, and having someone who can fill in for a temporary absence due to work or family obligations. The entire nomination-campaign-primary-ele...

@Rhodri Just a week ago or so. It moved to your user profile.

drachenstern

in The Bridge, Feb 15 at 20:01, by badp

OpenSTV version 1.6.1 (http://www.OpenSTV.org/)

Suggested donation for using OpenSTV for an election is $50.  Please go to
http://www.OpenSTV.org/donate to donate via PayPal, Google Checkout, or
Amazon Payments.

Certified election reports are also available.  Please go to
http://www.openstv.org/certified-reports for more information.

Loading ballots from file gaming.blt.
Ballot file contains 10 candidates and 118 ballots.
No candidates have withdrawn.
Ballot file contains 118 non-empty ballots.

that exact post on the transcript (you have to click the full text link) shows what an election result looks like

someone will run the results and post them

Rhodri

@RegDwight Ah, thanks. I'll look harder next time.

RegDwight

@Rhodri I had to look quite hard myself.

drachenstern

18

Q: Logout link now missing

The logout link is now missing for Stack Overflow as well as meta. Haven't check out the other sites. Any particular issue here?

bug status-bydesign logout

Martha

16:44

@drachenstern I poked my head in on Cooking, and all I saw was the list of three winners.

drachenstern

@Martha what after the election in their chat?

Yeah, you gotta get with the ones who run the results ;) ... I'll find out when it closes in ~3 hours and let you know

RegDwight

@Martha cooking.stackexchange.com/election/1

"Download the election data".

Martha

@RegDwight Yeah, well, I wasn't that interested, was I?

RegDwight

Hehe.

Anyhow, gotta go. True Grit. Really, really crappy cinema.

drachenstern

@RegDwight then you gotta run it yourself :p

RegDwight

16:47

Could be fun, actually.

drachenstern

@Martha that's how I feel about it too ;)

Robusto

@RegDwight — Not crappy, just not up to Coen Bros. standards.

RegDwight

Well, thanks for the warning.

It's a remake anyhow.

Feb 8 at 13:18, by RegDwight

The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty were better than expected. But I'm glad that I haven't paid for seeing the former.

Martha

I've never understood the urge to remake good movies.

Robusto

I think The Ladykillers was possibly the worst Coen Bros. film ever.

Martha

16:51

Remaking crappy movies is totally to be encouraged (Ocean's Eleven, anyone?); but if the original was good, why remake it?

RegDwight

Anyhow, I guess 2 Euro seems like a reasonable price for True Grit. I'll let you know if it wasn't.

I'm out!

Robusto

Feb 8 at 13:17, by Robusto

The Coen brothers have produced some head-scratchers. I thought The Ladykillers sucked, and Burn After Reading left me puzzled.

But Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Miller's Crossing, and No Country for Old Men are among the best films ever made.

By anybody.

Martha

The Users list formatting changed sometime between this morning and now. Creepy.

And my sister still doesn't have enough rep to vote in the election.

Rhodri

@Martha Hear, hear. Occasionally a remake goes off and does something different and interesting, but mostly they aren't.

Robusto

Oh, so that's why your sis suddenly shows up? Vote rigging! Vote rigging!

Martha

16:55

I swear I had nothing to do with her timing.

Rhodri

@Robusto A long and honorable tradition

Robusto

Hey, I'm from Chicago. I know all about vote rigging.

drachenstern

@Robusto so you're going to get me voted in then right? right?

Martha

My mother just took my car to get the tires replaced, and they only had three of the tires we ordered. They sold one of them last night. Who the hell buys a single tire?

drachenstern

@Martha somebody with a flat

happens a lot

the fact that they ordered them for your vehicle and then sold one is nearly criminal.

or did I misunderstand the storyarc?

Martha

17:01

Nope, that's exactly what happened.

Robusto

@drachenstern — Umm, we're not supposed to reveal who we're voting for. It's a secret ballot.

drachenstern

@Robusto I didn't say tell me who you were voting for, I said rig the election ;)

Martha

And they got another shipment of tires in today, but when they sold the one tire last night, they didn't put in an order for a replacement. So we have to go back tomorrow.

Robusto

@drachenstern — That's even more secret.

drachenstern

@Martha oh lovely

@Robusto again, I didn't ask anyone to tell me, I just said make it so ;)

Robusto

17:05

@drachenstern — Well, this sort of thing usually involves "money under the table."

drachenstern

@Robusto so you're saying you want some reps ... I can arrange that, after I'm a mod :p

Robusto

Sometimes it's less secret than others:

Rod Blagojevich

Rod R. "Milorad" Blagojevich (; born December 10, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery December 9, 2008. The Justice Department complaint alleged that the governor conspired to commit several "pay to play" schemes, incl...

And screw the rep. Money talks, B.S. walks.

drachenstern

@Robusto but ... but ... the economy on SE2.0 is in reps...

I mean, consider inflation even!

I do not spend as much time on these sites as it may appear I do >.>

does anyone in here use any of the userscripts for either the chat or the site?

Rhodri

0

Q: Is there a term for the transformation of nouns into verbs?

Phil Spector/Spector Sound;Polaroid/a polaroid;Xerox/a xerox?

syntax

I am so tempted to reply, "Verbing."

drachenstern

17:21

0

A: Is there a term for the transformation of nouns into verbs?

I'm gonna go with Conversion http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_(linguistics) In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form. Conversion is mo...

Conversion (linguistics)

In linguistics, conversion, also called zero derivation, is a kind of word formation; specifically, it is the creation of a word from an existing word without any change in form. Conversion is more productive in some languages than in others; in English it is a fairly productive process. Often a word of one lexical category (part of speech) is converted to a word of another lexical category; for example, the noun green in golf (referring to a putting-green) is derived ultimately from the adjective green. Conversions from adjectives to nouns and vice versa are both very common and unnotabl...

> Verbification, or verbing, is the creation of a verb from a noun, adjective or other word. Verbification is a type of functional shift. It is also a form of derivation, and may involve any of the various derivational processes.

@Rhodri quit thinking about answering and answer ;)

Rhodri

@drachenstern Yes, suh!

drachenstern

@Rhodri :p

Rhodri

Actually I'm too busy trying to figure out why this software stack doesn't work to go and do the research.

drachenstern

@Rhodri which stack?

Rhodri

And the point was to give an unhelpfully minimalist answer anyway :-p

This one here I'm writing (part of) at work. Bluetooth LE

drachenstern

17:32

@Rhodri yeah I know, you'll notice most of my answer is a quote.

Martha

I'm not sure what he's asking. His title points toward "verbing", but his examples are of genericized trademarks.

drachenstern

@Martha Yeah, I answered the title, not the examples. I figure the examples are bad and we can replace them, but I'm not entirely motivated to do so.

and of course now that I've read the WP article I want to use their examples, such as "salt" or "pepper", etc

Martha

Gotta go. TTYL.

drachenstern

18:03

> Election closes in 1 hour.

That doesn't seem right if the server thinks it's 6:03PM and the election closes at 8:pm

oh that's right, it rounds down doesn't it ... stupid rounding algos

Michael Myers

I'm trying to think of something devious to do in the two hours until I lose the diamond.

Rhodri

18:19

So what am I bid for my third-place vote, then?

drachenstern

lol, you shall vote for me and give me 50 rep! That sounds like an excellent starting point to begin negotiations. It's a win-win (for me)

FX_

18:45

@drachenstern: rounding down time is the only logical sense, as it follows the principle of least surprise

drachenstern

@FX_ oh I know why it's the case, and we've hashed it out on meta more than once.

Rhodri

18:57

0

Q: How does one pronounce the plural of Mr?

I know that the plural form of Mr is spelled messrs, but how is it pronounced?

grammatical-number salutation

Tis a duplicate, I do say.

FX_

@Rhodri voted on

Rhodri

@FX_ One day that power shall be mine, mine you hear? Bwahahahaha

3

Martha

Ooh, @JPmiaou now has enough rep to vote!

Rhodri

19:22

All the best to the proto-mods

I'll see who has power tomorrow :-)

Michael Myers

19:35

There's still time to bribe me.

Only 20 minutes left! Get 'em in while you can!

drachenstern

@Rhodri indeed

Robusto

@Rhodri — Power erupts, and absolute power erupts absolutely.

Michael Myers

19:54

Now offering 5 to 4 odds on Kosmonaut. Any takers?

drachenstern

what, that he's going to win one of 3?

I can't imagine he and Reg not getting one each

Michael Myers

Well, we could make it Kosmonaut to win, RegDwight to place, and nohat to show. That'll get you 10 for 1. Get 'em right here!

drachenstern

lol, I think your selection is accurate overall ;)

Michael Myers

That's not how I voted, though.

drachenstern

not how I voted either (or is it)

2 minutes and then we can run STV

Michael Myers

20:00

"Ended 45 seconds ago"

Total turnout 101/654. Not bad at all.

Compared to some of the others which had less than 10% turnout.

drachenstern

I calculated it to be:

OpenSTV version 1.7 (OpenSTV.org)

Suggested donation for using OpenSTV for an election is $50.  Please go to
OpenSTV.org/donate to donate via PayPal, Google Checkout, or
Amazon Payments.

Certified election reports are also available.  Please go to
openstv.org/certified-reports for more information.

Loading ballots from file election-results (1).blt.
Ballot file contains 7 candidates and 101 ballots.
No candidates have withdrawn.
Ballot file contains 101 non-empty ballots.

I may have done that wrong, I hope not

> Winners are nohat, RegDwight, and Kosmonaut.

5

Michael Myers

Ah, it's RegDwight with the win and Kosmonaut the show. No payouts.

Congratulations to the winners!

nohat

Thanks to everyone who voted for me. I hope you enjoy your copies of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

Michael Myers

Golly. My candidate didn't offer nearly as generous a present.

Robusto

20:15

@nohat — Hey, I only got the online version!

Seriously, congratulations to the winners.

When is the investiture? I don't see a diamond on @RegDwight's name yet.

Martha

Ok, so if I'm interpreting things correctly, I came in a distant fourth?

Michael Myers

@Robusto Whenever the community coordinators get around to certifying the results, I guess.

@Martha Yes, so it seems.

Martha

@MichaelMyers These multiple-vote elections are always a bit confusing.

Michael Myers

I know. I finished fifth in the first STV election on SO, but after the top vote-getter withdrew, I jumped up to third.

Transcript for

English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…