English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

tchrist

12:00 AM

Let the ducheros of the world take note.

And dushesses, of which I hope that is no example.

Cerberus

Is that what an American duchess looks like?

Very upper-class.

tchrist

Looks somewhat mejicana to me.

chatkillah

That's Charro.

tchrist

@chatkillah And he is . . . ?

A drag queen?

chatkillah

Ha!

tchrist

12:03 AM

Female impersonator?

chatkillah

Excuse me, Charo.

Charo

Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza (born January 15, 1951), better known as Charo, is a Spanish-American actress, comedienne, and flamenco guitarist, best known for her flamboyant stage presence, her provocative outfits, and her trademark phrase ("cuchi-cuchi"). Date of birth Official documents in Murcia, Spain (where she was born) state that she was born in 1931 while the United States indicated she was born in 1941, but Charo has insisted she was born in 1941 but she persuaded a United States court to decree 1951 birth year as official. The performer has said in past intervie...

tchrist

Male impersonatrix?

user19161

@chatkillah Wow, I come into chat and see this!

tchrist

Tolja (s)he looked somewhat mejicana.

chatkillah

@JacobBlack passes eye bleach

user19161

12:04 AM

@chatkillah I see you have changed your name.

chatkillah

@JacobBlack yeah. me no like.

I'm changing it to ಠ_ಠ next.

user19161

@chatkillah Haha, then nobody can ping you!

chatkillah

@JacobBlack nobody pings me now. sniff

tchrist

@chatkillah María Del Rosario Mercedes Laura Jennifer Pilar Martínez Molina Baeza De Rasten

user19161

@chatkillah I am here to ping you if nobody wants to some day.

chatkillah

12:07 AM

okay, kit does sometimes.

@JacobBlack all I ask is that you use protection.

tchrist

Pick a name, any name.

user19161

@chatkillah Noted.

tchrist

I dunno about these folks whose names are too long to be uttered without pausing for more air.

chatkillah

@tchrist that is a cultural thing.

user19161

What is the shortest first name?

chatkillah

12:09 AM

Al

user19161

Does anyone have a single letter first name?

tchrist

I

chatkillah

Q from James Bond

tchrist

M

user19161

I guess Ed would be two letters.

chatkillah

12:10 AM

I.P. Freely

tchrist

J

user19161

@tchrist I saw that there was a user antichrist who spoke against you in an answer, haha.

chatkillah

auntie christ

user19161

Yeah, Peter Parker says Ant May in Spiderman, lol.

tchrist

@JacobBlack Huh?

user19161

12:14 AM

@tchrist Well he was trying to say Aunt May.

tchrist

And why are you lolligagging?

@JacobBlack Are you on drugs?

user19161

I picked up loling from someone else.

tchrist

What are you talking about?

chatkillah

If you had a Saf-T-Pop, you wouldn't have to gag on that lolly.

tchrist

Were you reading a comic book and found it misspelled?

user19161

12:15 AM

@tchrist No, it's just the pronunciation.

tchrist

Don’t be a donkey.

user19161

Aunt sounds a little like Ant.

tchrist

No it doesn’t.

user19161

Not the same, but similar.

tchrist

It sounds perfectly identical.

They are homophones.

Believe me, after watching all the GIFs that @Cerb always posts in here, I know a homophone when I see one.

Or hear one.

/ænt/ is the same as /ænt/.

user19161

12:18 AM

Oh, even better.

tchrist

There are other pronunciations — four of them, in fact — but that is by far the most common one here.

Some mark you.

Remember Opie?

chatkillah

I've said 'ant' all my life.

I only say 'onty' for a laff.

tchrist

Opie and Andy had an /eɪnt/ Bea.

chatkillah

They was hillbillies.

Cerberus

What GIFs?

chatkillah

12:20 AM

That song has words.

Cerberus

And what homophones?

tchrist

The ones you always show off your phone sex with here.

Then there is the pɔːsh /ɔːnt/ pronunciation.

That one always sound pretentious. A bit less affected might be /ɒnt/.

Cerberus

?

tchrist

I’m making jokes.

Jasper didn’t know a homophone when he bumped into them.

Cerberus

@tchrist Who says this?

I have never heard that.

Aunt sounds like aren't.

tchrist

12:25 AM

There is a continuum extending through /eɪnt/ .. /ænt/ .. /ɑnt/ .. /ɒnt/ .. /ɔnt/, of which the second is the dominant form in America.

@Cerberus Silly.

chatkillah

Later, sirs

Cerberus

G'bye.

tchrist

1:38 AM

@simchona Your favorite frosted flake is trying to talk to you without a proper ping.

Robusto

@MετάEd Nice. I remember her from when she was a he.

simchona

1:58 AM

@tchrist I got pinged because I'm the comment above hers, but I'm not about to rethink my vote to her post :p

tchrist

Heh. :)

Didn’t we just have one of these, and wasn’t it a dupe then, too?

0

Q: Question regarding “Two kinds of”

Which of these two is correct, and why? two kinds of televisions two kinds of television

I’ll go look in the sort-by-faq list.

Szabolcs

2:19 AM

Good evening. I'm looking for some help to fix up an awkward sentence :-)

> there are many systems in nature for which one can’t define an associated periodic phase variable

Any suggestions on making it less awkward would be most welcome.

chatkillah

@Szabolcs Many systems in nature defy association with any periodic phase variable.

?

Szabolcs

defy is not really what I'd use in such a context :) it's a journal paper

chatkillah

> : to resist attempts at : withstand <the paintings defy classification>

@KitFox!

I summoned you with my . . . mind.

KitFox

Hi @chatkillah

Is that whatthatwas?

chatkillah

heh.

@Szabolcs okay . . . Many systems in nature lack association with any periodic phase variable.

sigh.

I'm having my own sentence woes.

Is this sentence terrible? "The brand has identified two major target markets: over-35s and under-25s."

KitFox

2:34 AM

Ick.

chatkillah

:{

KitFox

Sorry.

It's just the "over-35s" etc.

chatkillah

Why you hate?

Do I have to say people over, people under?

KitFox

Those over 35 and under 25? I dunno.

chatkillah

ok, I like

thank you.

KitFox

2:41 AM

No problem. I'm just sitting here with a chicken on a raft anyway.

Hiyo. Chicken on a raft.

Good night!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

good evening

chatkillah

Whoa, hey everyone.

I'm writing a paper.

user19161

@chatkillah What paper? Toilet paper?

chatkillah

:O

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@chatkillah wallpaper?

chatkillah

2:56 AM

It's a SWOT analysis.

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats

We have to come up with a brand in my advertising class and build it over the semester.

tchrist

@chatkillah You sound like my ex-KGB software test guy.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@chatkillah That sounds like fun

chatkillah

@tchrist kill moose and squirrel.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 it is!

I worked on the logo today.

Logo, tagline, trade character, and jingle are next.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

@chatkillah haha I misread that as "worked on the lego" and I was all pleased about the idea of working on lego

chatkillah

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 I'm sorry!

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

2:59 AM

@chatkillah it's okay I have enough lego in my life, no need to vicariously insert it into other people's lives. Except Kit.

chatkillah

[vicarious insertion joke]

She was just here.

I drover her away with my horrible sentence.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I noticed

Robusto

9

Q: Punctuating question tags: A question mark is always required, isn't it?

Consider the sentence: You didn't leave the dog in the car, did you? In oral English, this statement may be spoken with a rising intonation or a falling one. If the former, it suggests that leaving the dog in the car is a bad thing, and might even suggest incredulity and consternation on th...

punctuation question-tags

Think it's worth putting a bounty on this question? I mean, I don't care about the rep, I just want more thought put into answering it.

chatkillah

Oh yeah, RR! Forgot about RR.

I'll show myself out.

MετάEd

@Robusto Okay, I've put a bounty on it.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

3:19 AM

so I'm going to new york. what should I visit?

MετάEd

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 New Jersey.

Okay, seriously? See some shows.

Mr. Shiny and New 安宇

I can see shows in Toronto

but maybe that's not a bad idea

since we'll at least be kid-free during that time and thus not need to worry about babysitting

Cerberus

3:57 AM

Holla.

@MετάEd Theatre?

MετάEd

@Cerberus Yes, that.

Cerberus

OK.

So no strip teases.

MετάEd

Broadway. Blue Man Group. That sort of thing. Especially musical theater.

Far be it from me to say "no strip teases".

Cerberus

Musical?

As in, Mary Poppins?

MετάEd

Well, I was thinking more of contemporary shows. I don't know what's contemporary these day, though.

I suppose "Rent" is still showing, but surely everyone but me has seen that by now.

Cerberus

4:01 AM

Hmm.

I recommend a Greek tragedy. Or Shakespeare.

Or something modern.

If I were in NY, I would probably visit the local archaeological museum, and make sure to have lots of drinks in local pubs and such.

And possibly sniff some local culture, do something typically American or New Yorkish.

Gigili

4:23 AM

@MετάEd Hulliot, what exactly does "psychic hotline" mean?

Nice, thank you!

MετάEd

5:00 AM

@Gigili It means they answer before the phone rings.

Seriously, though. A psychic hotline is a way to separate you from your money by telling you lies that you believe. There are a lot of those in the world.

Cerberus

5:56 AM

The xkcd app:

If I click 'no', I've probably given up on everything, so don't bother taking me to the page I was trying to go to. Just drop me on the homepage. Thanks.

There are probably children out there holding down spacebar to stay warm in the winter! YOUR UPDATE MURDERS CHILDREN.

It's still pretty hilarious.

I totally recognise this.

I'm pretty sure I've logged more hours in Google Maps over the past decade than in any game.

@KitFox Does this sound familiar at all?

MετάEd

8:07 AM

'So, uh, we did the green study again and got no link. It was probably a--' 'RESEARCH CONFLICTED ON GREEN JELLY BEAN/ACNE LINK; MORE STUDY RECOMMENDED!'

David Wallace

9:01 AM

@Cerberus are you there? If so, can you ping me in gmail chat please?

Jon Hanna

11:29 AM

Anyone know why "down the slope" was deleted? Because "Necessity of And" is an exact duplicate.

KitFox

12:40 PM

40

Q: "My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner"

I just stumbled upon a Reddit post titled: My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner. How does it look? Sure enough, the top comment immediately points out that it should be "my wife's and my". However, a cross-post to the Grammar subreddit produced the following comment: It's fine a...

possessive personal-pronouns apostrophe noun-phrases

10

Q: How do you make the possessive form with "He and I"-style subjects?

Despite being a native speaker of American English, I cannot find a construction that sounds natural when trying to form a possessive from coordinated subjects including a first person pronoun, like "He and I" or "My brother and I." If it's "You and I," I can just use "our." But what is the prope...

grammar pronouns possessive conjunctions

Isn't the second a dupe?

Robusto

12:53 PM

@MετάEd Thanks. That was was very generous of you. It's already attracted some welcome new interest and answers.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…