English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

10:02 AM

Oh, someone's been serially downvoting me. I wonder which toes I stepped on yesterday. I don't even remember doing anything particulary awful.

user19161

I have decided to stop by and answer a few questions here today.

David Wallace

@RegDwighт Haha. I can!

Disappointingly, though, it's not in my nature.

@JasperLoy Would you like me and Reg to ask you some then?

user19161

@DavidWallace Nope, unless I get reputation points for it.

David Wallace

I can enhance your REAL reputation, instead of your magic unicorn points.

RegDwighт

@Robusto sorry I wasn't clear. I'll crop the relevant bit.

user19161

10:08 AM

I love answering those questions nobody wants to answer.

user19161

Then the askers will find some solace that someone finally took note of their question.

RegDwighт

As you can see, he was rated in five categories, or by five criteria. He got a max score in four of them, but lost two points in one. I wonder what the criteria are. I can't even begin to type the characters into Google Translate; I recognize like three and a half.

user19161

@RegDwighт That looks Chinese and not Japanese.

David Wallace

@JasperLoy All Cretans are liars?

RegDwighт

@JasperLoy It says "Japan" right there at the very beginning.

Also, the full image is full of Hiragana and Katakana.

user19161

10:13 AM

@RegDwighт Yes, but I would be surprised if it is Japanese, not that I know anything about Japanese.

RegDwighт

If it's Chinese, they surely you can translate it for me?

user19161

Let me attempt.

David Wallace

You won't get any rep for it.

user19161

Well, first of all my Chinese is not very good.

user19161

Second, that looks more like traditional characters than the simplified one.

RegDwighт

10:17 AM

@tchrist I don't text at all. Or really anyone I know. On the rare occasion that I (or them) do, we dot our Ts and cross our Is. But from what I gather here and there, on TV and in real life alike, if you don't capitalize nouns, you also don't use punctuation. If you're lazy, you're lazy all the way. If you're dumb, you're dumb all the way. Really like anywhere else. People are people.

user19161

I give up on the top line, but I will translate the five points as: technicality, creativity, aesthetics and completeness, dramatisation, expressivity.

David Wallace

I have a German friend who sends me incomprehensible texts. One day, when he sent me one I didn't understand, I got really upset and asked him to text it again in English. Then immediately regretted it.

RegDwighт

@JasperLoy oh I see. Thanks.

David Wallace

My phone needs an "unsend" button.

user19161

@RegDwighт 98/100! Such high marks!

RegDwighт

10:19 AM

Now I do wonder what they mean by "dramatisation". A less static scene? A more scary one? Or that things actually move and whistle?

@DavidWallace Hahaha.

Be careful what you wish for, fürwahr.

user19161

@RegDwighт Actually, literally it means the properties/nature of a story, but I don't really know what that means.

David Wallace

He once invited my wife around for F+Cs. She and I spent the rest of the day wondering what he wanted.

Some of my ideas of what it might stand for were politer than others.

RegDwighт

Fry and Chickens?

user19161

@MετάEd Beautiful picture!

David Wallace

@RegDwighт Actually, that's awfully close for a first guess.

I was thinking things like "food and cocktails" or "friendship and cuddles"; but your guess is closer than both of these.

RegDwighт

10:23 AM

So you did figure it out (or beat it out of him).

David Wallace

We thought about just showing up and seeing what we were given.

RegDwighт

Famous last words.

David Wallace

Oct 13 at 5:09, by David Wallace

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/81713462/fish-and-chips.wav

RegDwighт

Oh. But of course!

David Wallace

Yes. So obvious now. But it perplexed me for hours.

RegDwighт

10:25 AM

It's just that I didn't realize they had that outside of England.

So I went down the KFC road.

We actually do have a KFC on the outskirts here. Never once been there.

David Wallace

Is it popular?

RegDwighт

No idea. But I've been driving or cycling past it for twenty years now, and it's still there.

David Wallace

You're not missing much, for what it's worth. KFC is disgustingly greasy. Every time I eat it, I feel ill for days.

user19161

I have an announcement to make regarding KFC.

user19161

The spicy version here makes me poo, so I will stick to the original flavour.

RegDwighт

10:29 AM

Actually I am not quite sure it's even there, or where exactly it's supposed to be. I only keep seeing that giant billboard that says like "50 m first turn left" or some such.

user19161

@DavidWallace Can I ask why you deleted your ELU account?

David Wallace

Maybe the billboard is just put there to fool you. Like if it closed down one day, would they ever bother to remove the billboard? People could go on believing in the existence of KFC forever.

@JasperLoy You may ask, but you're unlikely to get a coherent answer.

RegDwighт

@DavidWallace That's what I'm wondering, yes.

user19161

@DavidWallace OK, so why did you delete your account?

RegDwighт

It's just that the billboard is in a location where I'd expect quite some competition for being featured on it.

user19161

10:31 AM

Is a billboard a board for putting bills?

David Wallace

@JasperLoy Umm, if you give me your email address, I will tell you. I can't really answer that question here in this chat room (or any other SE chat room)

RegDwighт

@JasperLoy It's a huge metal case with the Colonel on the front that is lit at night. Right next to an Autobahn exit.

user19161

@DavidWallace Hmm OK, never mind then.

David Wallace

@RegDwighт So somebody is paying for the electricity to light it. That likely points to the existence of an actual KFC.

RegDwighт

I know, right...

Anyway. Breakfast. AFK.

David Wallace

10:33 AM

Of course, the same could be said about Santa.

Matt Эллен

Bonjour mes amis

user19161

@MattЭллен Boo!

Matt Эллен

hello @JasperLoy

user19161

@MattЭллен I just answered three very weird questions with three very weird answers...

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy were your answers also weird?

ambiguity ftw

user19161

10:41 AM

@MattЭллен Oh shit, did I just answer Nortonn S?

Matt Эллен

I don't know

user19161

@MattЭллен Yes, that's what I mean, my answers are weird.

David Wallace

We should set aside one day per month where everyone answers Nortonn's questions instead of trying to get them deleted. Like, say the 15th of every month, we treat him really nicely. Then see if he catches on.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy I know I was being silly :D

user19161

Also, I still think Kris is Thursagen.

David Wallace

10:42 AM

If he does, he may decide only to post on that day, which would make the moderators' jobs easier on every other day.

Matt Эллен

@JasperLoy feffer is possibly Nortonn S

David Wallace

Feter Fifer ficked a feck of fickled feffers.

user19161

Another weird question!

Matt Эллен

good, he needs a good ficking.

David Wallace

It certainly looks like Nortonn.

"Comments should be used for constructive criticism and clarification of an existing post. Site policy is better discussed (and defined) in meta, not via comments."

That was a comment on somebody's answer.

It seems to be discussing (and defining) site policy, thus shooting itself in the foot.

Matt Эллен

11:18 AM

I out of close/leave open votes already!

RegDwighт

Cool. Then I'll just delete the rest.

What's next on the agenda?

Matt Эллен

lol

merging everyone into Thursagen

RegDwighт

I have a cron job for that.

It is scheduled to run on December 21st, 2012, every ten thousand years.

Matt Эллен

then I guess it just remains for you go and play with LEGO

or read Kit's book

RegDwighт

Right. I will need quite some time for that. Perhaps on the next vacation?

David Wallace

11:22 AM

That's what I should have done!

Instead of asking TPTB to delete half my SE accounts, I should have emailed them and confessed to being either Nortonn or Thursagen. Or both.

Matt Эллен

lol

David Wallace

Then they wouldn't have left all my votes intact, like they did.

Matt Эллен

they might have. old votes stay, probably regardless of your behaviour

RegDwighт

Here's an idea for April 1st: reverse the direction of all votes, incoming and existing alike.

Matt Эллен

O_O

RegDwighт

11:26 AM

@MattЭллен at last, we would have some linguisticky questions at the very top.

And the "what do I call your mother when I don't like her" questions at the bottom.

Just for a day.

Matt Эллен

such a dream it would be

-4

Q: Top 10 countries in which English is used

What are the top 10 countries that use English?

north-american-english

David Wallace

We've had "what do I call your mother when I don't like her" questions?

Matt Эллен

that made me chuckle this morning

David Wallace

How about "when do I call your mother if I liked her" questions?

RegDwighт

@MattЭллен why, Russia and Brobdingnag. That counts for eleven. Keep the change.

Matt Эллен

11:30 AM

lol

RegDwighт

@DavidWallace english.stackexchange.com/questions/7469/…

Oh right, you can't see that anymore, can you.

Sorry.

Anyway. I'll forward your question to Erik.

David Wallace

I saw a question about pluralising names. Was that not what you intended?

Matt Эллен

there's a deleted answer

RegDwighт

The link is to a deleted answer.

Jinx.

David Wallace

2 days ago, by David Wallace

Toronto Maple Leafs?

RegDwighт

11:33 AM

Toronto Ms Marple Leafs.

Matt Эллен

RegDwighт

Parko? Is that where you meet your friendo?

Matt Эллен

oft

David Wallace

That is designed to keep you staring at the Coca Cola logo for longer than it's healthy to do so.

And why is the bottle only 2 1/2 " high? That's not very big!

RegDwighт

There's a Coca Cola logo in that picture? I spent all my time reading the crosswords.

Matt Эллен

11:38 AM

What's the difference between a rooster raffle and a fizzy soft drink made from vegetable extract?
One's coca cola
The other's a cock tombola

hmmm. I still have 15 close votes... the review queue works differently to how I expected

Robusto

1:04 PM

I will give it a look as soon add I can. I tried blowing it up on my phone, but of course it's a JPG and so has crummy artifacts all over the place gumming up the works. Alas I am away on biz so my time is not my own. Are you in a hurry?

Stupid phone: so, not do.

I mean as not add.

RegDwighт

Nah, not in a hurry at all. I didn't mean to generate actual work for you anyway.

It's the highest resolution that I have, too.

Robusto

The new mistakes of Swype word completion. Haha, it initially offered me "weird" completion.

RegDwighт

That sort of completion you can generate yourself, thanks but no thanks Swype.

Robusto

Won't be any work once I can see it on a real screen. I think SE drops image resolution way down on mobile.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwighт Did you see that I replied to your question?

RegDwighт

1:08 PM

Oh?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

The line where the mark was 13/15 was "story quality"

故事性

RegDwighт

What the heck does that even mean.

And thank you.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I assume that it means the same thing in Japanese. I'm reading it in Chinese.

RegDwighт

I think Jasper translated it as "dramatisation" earlier today.

Not that that helped.

So much ado about just one stupid MOC. Who'd have thunk.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

What moc was it?

RegDwighт

1:12 PM

Oh it was lovely, actually.

I immediately regretted calling it stupid.

It was Totoro.

Hold on a sec.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

BTW Google translate says "故事性" is "narrative"

RegDwighт

Here's the Brickshelf: brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=477956

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 yeah I couldn't make heads or tails of the characters, so I couldn't type them.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwighт Yeah the middle one was hard to make out, but I eventually muddled through until I managed to draw it into pleco

(a chinese-english dictionary app that has draw-to-lookup)

I've been away from it for 3 months and already my chinese is super rusty

and wouldn't you know it, my chinese teacher just emailed me while I was typing that. It's like he knows.

RegDwighт

Zen.

Matt Эллен

and Qarbie

KitFox

1:29 PM

What's this Hanyu you're talking about?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5133831

KitFox

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Wow, that's hard for you to see the characters?

Robusto

@Reg: I can read it in Mrs. Hiny's text. 故事性 probably means something like "historical accuracy" ... does that make sense?

故事 refers to historical things, and 性 refers to the specific nature of something.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@KitFox No, it was hard for me to figure out the middle character of the line where the grade is 13/15.

Matt Эллен

it looks like a scene from "my neighbour totoro"

KitFox

1:33 PM

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Oh. Well, I agree with your interpretation, if that helps.

Cerberus

Hello.

Matt Эллен

Hello.

Cerberus

Ah, still Reg's puzzle?

KitFox

Is it me you're looking for...damn.

RegDwighт

@Robusto can it also mean "story"? That would make more sense. It's a LEGO diorama of a Gimli cartoon, with several scenes from the movie.

Robusto

1:33 PM

The middle character is the easiest. It's the word for "thing" ... koto or ji.

Cerberus

@KitFox Always! Oh...

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

If I put 故事性 into Google translate and say it's Japanese GT says "story of"; in Chinese it says "Narrative". 故事 by itself is "story" and my dictonary says 性 means "quality" or "characteristic"

Robusto

@Reg: Yes, it could mean that. Adherence to the story, perhaps.

RegDwighт

I guess it would make the most sense.

Cerberus

Funny languages.

KitFox

1:34 PM

So how accurate the representation of the story...damn.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto isn't ji 子

RegDwighт

@KitFox "trueness to the original" is what I'd call it.

Robusto

ji is lots of things.

KitFox

@RegDwighт Yeah.

RegDwighт

I thought it was one thing?

Matt Эллен

1:35 PM

both one and many

RegDwighт

Why is that by English grammar?

Matt Эллен

like an umbrella

Robusto

The character 子 can be shi, su, tsu, ko, or ne at least, and means "child" (or the female suffix marker in aname).

Also ki, netsu, and I forget the rest.

RegDwighт

They have 500000 characters and they still have to reuse the same one for several things? Those people got it all wrong.

Matt Эллен

yeah, they need to start using a language that was invented by nerds or something.

RegDwighт

1:37 PM

FORTRAN.

Robusto

This is where tchrist puts in a word for Perl.

tchrist

Cut that out.

I was sleeping.

RegDwighт

I wonder what that word would be. Frigging?

Robusto

Sorry. This is where tchrist puts in a series of code points for Perl.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@Robusto Oh, I'm confusing 子and 字. In Chinese the former is the "noun" suffix that's part of lots of words, but it's pronounced the same as the latter which means "character" and which is "ji" in Japanese, I think.

tchrist

1:39 PM

Why, when you’ve already done so?

Robusto

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes. The hat makes a difference.

RegDwighт

⚝ 269D4711 FRIGGING

Matt Эллен

it's like ladies' day at the grand national

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@RegDwighт Not only that, but some of the characters are just different ways to write the same word, some are different words that mean the same thing; and also the spoken words have like a million possible meanings for the same sound.

RegDwighт

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 they should use some of those characters for QED.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

1:41 PM

@RegDwighт Sadly they have to use the actual Q, E, and D.

RegDwighт

Oh come on.

They have 500000 letters and they steals our 26?

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

In Taiwan there is strong evidence to suggest that Q is a Chinese character.

See here: languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2252

RegDwighт

Hold on while I tell Vladimir to invade them or something, lest they start stealing his Cyr lyrics.

Robusto

漢字 is Japanese for kanji (Chinese characters).

tchrist

In China there is “good evidence” that they are the original human beings. Or so they would have us believe.

KitFox

1:43 PM

@Robusto Hanzi. It's the same in Chinese.

Wow. That edit took about an hour too long.

It's like I'm moving through mud this morning.

Aww. The "bless you" was funny.

tchrist

Pics or it didn’t happen.

Matt Эллен

I blame the bug in my code

RegDwighт

このドキドキはなぜ止まらない
心にあなたいっぱい
恋してるこの感じ
今までにないこの感じ

There you have your 感じ.

tchrist

Who went through all the ancient questions and closevoted them this morning? There were 24 to review, most of which were a year or seven old.

RegDwighт

Matt would that be.

tchrist

1:45 PM

The dumb thing won’t even let me review more than 20, even though I have the votes. Silly widget.

I found another nose question.

Robusto

Don't you mean tokidoki instead of dokidoki in the first line, @Reg?

Matt Эллен

I only found the old questions once they were in the queue

Robusto

Wait, it's in katakana, so who would know?

Matt Эллен

someone else put them there

I did delete vote a bunch of old questions

RegDwighт

@Robusto dokki-doki love meru is the song.

►

tchrist

1:47 PM

No, these were closevotes.

Robusto

Oh.

RegDwighт

It's onomatopoetic of the heart sound.

Matt Эллен

Japanese people have clockwork hearts?

RegDwighт

Matsuura Aya does.

Matt Эллен

I see

Robusto

1:48 PM

She says that kind of love is trivial, and you should fill your heart.

Matt Эллен

with concrete

RegDwighт

\(^_^)/

Robusto

Fill it with this feeling she's feeling forever. Or words to that effect.

Maybe her love is concrete.

RegDwighт

Oh wow wow wow.

Aitakunnaatta.

That's almost Finnish, I just noticed.

tchrist

@MattЭллен I hate that the delete queue doesn’t tell me whether I can delete it until I try. It stipples out moderator-deleted posts from the delete-vote list because those are not eligible for me to delete; it should also grey out those I’ve already voted to delete so I don’t waste my time trying to do so again.

Matt Эллен

1:51 PM

@tchrist that would be useful.

tchrist

@RegDwighт Unholy terror of closed syllables.

Mahnax

@RegDwighт ears perk up

Robusto

Or at least "from now on" ... maybe that's not forever. Ima made is just "starting now" ... who knows how these Japanese think? Orientals are inscrutable, everyone knows that.

RegDwighт

@Mahnax don't worry. This is Finnish, but not the end.

Cerberus

Ima made apple pie.

Mahnax

1:52 PM

@RegDwighт Phew! You had me all Russian to get things done.

Robusto

Even when they're wearing their 心 on their sleeve.

RegDwighт