English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

KitFox

15:05

In the back row.

I feel like i have an itch I can't scratch.

Cerberus

Perhaps you should touch a couple of object three times. Or wash your hands three times.

(That is exactly how people describe OCD.)

Robusto

Playing Bach is like some kind of self-induced schizophrenia: you really have to pay attention to all those voices in your head.

3

Cerberus

Hmm.

Cerberus

15:28

By the way, I am the proud owner of 2 bitcoins.

Robusto

Congratulations. Are they twins?

RegDwighт

More like clones. Them were only one just yesterday.

Robusto

Do they multiply by themselves?

RegDwighт

No, that wouldn't work, because 1×1≠2.

Mitch

it works for large values of 1

also..

RegDwighт

15:43

Large values of 1 get you 2.141421356239.

Mitch

This just doesn't sound good...

0

A: What's the female equivalent of "suitor"?

Would "supplicant" be even remotely synonymous with "female suitor"?

Cerberus

@Robusto That's the idea, yes.

Robusto

@RegDwighт And yet they did multiply, only with disappointing results.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт I'm OK with larger values.

Mitch

despite all the difficulties with that non-answer... it just shows that pretty much everything is a made-up word.

Cerberus

15:44

I'm already looking at a 20 % profit, I think.

I bought them around $ 100.

Mitch

I didn't mean it that way but there it is.

did you pay cash?

Robusto

Anyway, he has 2 bitcoins, so left to themselves, 2x2=4. The only question is whether they have to use lube or not.

Mitch

stack friction

RegDwighт

I thought Bitcoins recently lost like 1000% in value.

Cerberus

@Mitch No, through my bank. But the site in between took 10 % or so.

Mitch

15:45

the whole thing sounds like science fiction.

Cerberus

@Robusto What if they turn out to be gay? There goes my multiplication!

Mitch

also ripe for exploitation that would backfire and ruin everybody

RegDwighт

I must say I have no fucking idea what a bitcoin even is. I'm not even talking about putting down 100 bucks for it.

Mitch

I'd put down a dollar for it.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Yeah, but they regained 500 % of that. And I jumped in afterwards.

Mitch

15:46

I wouldn't put down a cat for it. THat's just wrong.

RegDwighт

@Mitch but you could get a full dollar for that dollar!

Cerberus

They were over $ 200.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus read: you were too late.

Cerberus

@Mitch No so much exploitation as random speculation, to the same effect.

Mitch

@RegDwighт No, that's not a good deal. Im waiting til it goes up to a dollar.

Cerberus

15:46

@RegDwighт Well, yes, but then I would have had to sell in time as well.

Mitch

@Cerberus right. it's all a psychological game.

RegDwighт

@Mitch you're one clever little clerk.

Robusto

@Cerberus They could always adopt.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт But it's shiny! In a digital way.

RegDwighт

I still have no idea what a bitcoin is.

Cerberus

15:47

@Robusto If they adopt dollars, everyone can tell those aren't their bio kids.

Mitch

By the way, I really want a google app that will tell me the path that the fugitive led from bombing to the boat he was found in.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт It's like a voucher.

RegDwighт

@Mitch why'd you need an app for that? It's called a PNG.

Cerberus

You pay money for it, and you get exchange it back for money with various parties.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus a voucher for what? It vouches to lose all your money for you?

Cerberus

15:48

Or buy stuff on some sites.

@RegDwighт That, too. No, it vouches to enable you to buy stuff on certain sites.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus I am sorry, but I can simply exchange money with various parties. With more parties, in fact.

@Cerberus I can use money on all sites.

Cerberus

But you would need some party to make the transfer for you, unless you pay cash. Not so with bitcoins.

RegDwighт

In short, color me unimpressed. I'd rather stay invested in ENRON.

Mitch

@RegDwighт I am! I will get my bosses trust until they give me the keys to the vault. then working late one weekend I'll walk off with thousands of bitcoins. on a thumbdrive. Which I will then get thousands of donuts. and give to the little. and then invest in diabetes control medication. and wait for the big bucks.

Robusto

Still feels like a Ponzi scheme to me. Or a bubble like the, ahem, tulip bubble that happened a few hundred years ago in, ahem, your country?

Cerberus

15:50

I give you a very long number, and I have paid you.

Mitch

@RegDwighт link please

Robusto

@RegDwighт I thought you were invested in Elrond Hubbard.

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Not all sites. You often need a credit card, or Paypal blocks them, or whatever.

RegDwighт

Portable Network Graphics

Portable Network Graphics (PNG ) is a raster graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was created as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), and is the most used lossless image compression format on the World Wide Web. --> PNG supports palette-based images (with palettes of 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA colors), grayscale images (with or without alpha channel), and full-color non-palette-based RGB[A] images (with or without alpha channel). PNG was designed for transferring images on the Internet, not for professional-quality p...

Cerberus

However, if all banks in the world go down, and Paypal too, you can still pay in bitcoins.

Mitch

15:51

@Robusto I just bought some tulip bulbs. I want to see bubbles when they grow.

RegDwighт

@Cerberus well guess what's more likely, Bitcoin going down or all banks in the world.

Cerberus

Bitcoin can't really go "down".

RegDwighт

@Cerberus it just did.

Cerberus

Except that the price can crash or inflate.

RegDwighт

Seriously, are you on drugs?

Mitch

15:52

@RegDwighт the link for the png of the path that the fugitive took.

RegDwighт

Jasper, let Cerberus out of the basement again.

@Mitch where would I have that one from?

Cerberus

Sure, it can crash, like any other currency, except that it is far more volatile, because the market of real goods behind it is very small.

Robusto

►

Cerberus

By "down" I meant their servers shut down.

Mitch

@RegDwighт Probably the same place that you bought your bitcoins from.

yeah what if the power goes out?

Cerberus

15:53

Yes, it is a bit of a Ponzi scheme, like any kind of speculation.

RegDwighт

@Robusto 690 up, 685 down. QED.

Cerberus

Like stocks.

Robusto

Even Apple had to come down in value. Haha, you should enjoy that, @Cerb.

Cerberus

enjoys

Has Apple crashed?

RegDwighт

Yes. Not far from the tree.

Cerberus

15:54

Haha.

Stuid.

Robusto

Interestingly, Apple has fallen after the Newton died.

RegDwighт

I must visit the showermobile, then the grocerymobile. I hope I can remember the order.

Cerberus

The newt died?

That's sad.

Oh, you're all mobile now?

How very 80s of you.

RegDwighт

17 hours ago, by RegDwighт

17 hours ago, by RegDwighт

Every time someone mentions Newt I can't resist.

Cerberus

Who's that?

RegDwighт

15:55

Every times are coming thick and fast now.

@Cerberus you have three guesses.

I'm out.

Cerberus

spends three guesses

Oops.

Should have bought three more bitcoins instead.

RegDwighт

BTW today is Adolf's birthday.

Cerberus

Thanks for coming back to tell us that.

RegDwighт

yesterday, by RegDwighт

Cerberus

Most interesting thing I learned this second.

Yuck.

Robusto

15:58

Reductio ad Reynolds Wrap.

Only I couldn't draw the Hitler mustache on the box.

Anyway, I gotta go run errands as well. Lateurs.

RegDwighт

British man sues gym over "sexist women-only hours"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think British man is a frigging idiot who doesn't understand the first thing about laws.

The gym can be as sexist as it pleases. It's not run by the government. It's a private company, and the facilities are private property. They can tell anyone to go fck himself any time they please. And if he doesn't comply, they should be suing him.

tchrist

@RegDwighт What’s next, outlawing Ladies’ Night?

RegDwighт

This is like suing magazines targeted at women because they are not targeted at men.

@tchrist or that.

tchrist

Did you know that the Boy Scouts are about to start letting in boys who are gay, but they still refuse entry to girls who are gay?

Why shouldn’t gay girls be allowed to join the Boy Scouts?

RegDwighт

Boy Scouts is serious business, not gay business.

tchrist

16:10

Then again, they don’t let straight girls into the Boy Scouts, either.

Definite sexual discrimination there.

I’ve known quite a few Boy Scouts who would have welcomed girls into their ranks.

At least to assuage their embarrassment over using boys for the same purposes. :)

RegDwighт

Harharhar.

Well I should be showering.

BRB

KitFox

I was a Boy Scout.

tchrist

Good idea. Me three.

KitFox

Boy Scouts do allow girls.

tchrist

@KitFox Really?

KitFox

16:12

Yes, really.

tchrist

Not when I was one.

RegDwighт

You were a girl?

tchrist

Is this new? How did that work? I am honestly curious!

@RegDwighт Didn’t you know I spent my junior year abroad?

RegDwighт

I never really read your wiki. It was too long.

KitFox

There was a discrimination lawsuit many decades ago.

RegDwighт

16:13

And I am not here.

tchrist

I decided I preferred being a boy instead.

KitFox

They argued to allow boys into Girl Scouts too, but they are only allowed as Daisies. Not many boys protesting there though.

tchrist

@KitFox Wow.

I was trying to be ironic.

Reality is stranger than comedy.

KitFox

Anyway, I had to be a Boy Scout to join the Explorers and I had to join the Explorers to join the search and rescue team.

Since I was a minor.

tchrist

Ah, that makes some sense.

Mitch

16:18

so how was the Boy Scouts? learn knots? any pot smoking?

Also porn? I went to one Boy Scout outing, and those were the three things that I remember.

So for an n of 1, it sorta sets a trend.

tchrist

It isn’t nice to out Boy Scouts.

KitFox

Anyway, I didn't get through the whole article. It is really annoying to hear the privileged whine about having their privilege infringed.

And he has no idea what a prick it is making him look like.

Boy Scouts were OK. More interesting than Girl Scouts, but that could be because I was on a search and rescue team, which was only tangentially related to the Scouts.

Mitch

is search and rescue like orienteering but with an actual goal?

Matt Эллен

@RegDwighт sorry, it's the UK's allotted day of sun for the year. I was outside

what was I needed for?

KitFox

@Mitch Yes. Also, camping and outdoor survival. Winter skills, wilderness first aid, etc.

Hiya @Matt.

Matt Эллен

16:25

Hiya @Kit :D

tchrist

@MattЭллен There was an assertion that “everyone in England” pronounces student as though it where shchudent.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist that is a more Londony twang

Cerberus

Haha.

tchrist

2

Q: Palatalization of the initial "s" in words starting with "st-"

Sometimes I hear native speakers pronounce the s at the beginning of a word as [ʃ]. For example, straight as [ʃtreɪt], or struggle as [ʃtrʌɡl]. It sounds like German words. Is it a certain English dialect, a specific accent, or just an idiolect?

Cerberus

There's also student and schudent.

Matt Эллен

16:27

oh well, maybe a bit shch-y

but only when I really relax

tchrist

Peter Shor, I am English, so I am not asking you - I'm telling you: most English people say shchoodent. I am one of the readers on forvo.com, but there is a reader there who attempts to pronounce with Received Pronuncation. Please note that RP is hard to find in England. Surveys show 3% of English people use RP. Forvo is not a statistically representative sample. Do you think most working-class people on council estates are on forvo? — David 4 hours ago

Is that statement true or false?

KitFox

@MattЭллен Hahaha

Cerberus

stays out of it, counts bitcoins again: 1, 2!

tchrist

I do not myself believe that “most English people say shchoodent”, but thought to ask an Englander for confirmation.

Cerberus

I don't know.

I don't say it.

Matt Эллен

16:29

@Cerberus you're a rich man!

Cerberus

I know!!

tchrist

There is the stereotypical shtoopid pronunciation, but that is something else.

Mitch

"I am English, so I am not asking you - I'm telling you"

tchrist

Nice fella.

Cerberus

Insular politesse.

Mitch

16:29

@Cerberus s/bitcoins/bitcoin

Cerberus

What?

tchrist

@Cerberus Haha.

@Mitch bitcoins--

Mitch

@Cerberus noblesse objerk

Cerberus

Does ty even sound different from ch at all?

tchrist

In what word?

Cerberus

16:30

I supppose it does.

Mitch

the russians do it all the time, and only a subset move on from 'ty-' to 'ch-'

tchrist

In but you, it can palatalize, yes.

Cerberus

Yeah, it does sound different in Tudor, but, in student, sty- is just impossible, it sounds unnatural.

tchrist

But who pronounces tune as though it were choon?

Mitch

right..the English rule can be cross word boundaries.

Matt Эллен

16:32

me saying student judge for yourself

Cerberus

I think we can rule out ty in student: it's always ch. The question is, what happens to the s?

Mitch

@Cerberus we make fun because we're jealous

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Haha nice!

Mitch

I think shch is a pretty difficult consonant clustter. again I blame the Russians for trying to introduce it.

tchrist

@MattЭллен Sounds normal. And no ch.

But you do talk fast!

Cerberus

16:33

I can't really tell. The quality is not very high, and you're saying it fast.

Mitch

I mean, 'Mstislav'? stop it already

tchrist

@Cerberus Um no, I think it is never ch in student.

Matt Эллен

I figured if I was talking fast I'd be less able to fix how I was talking

KitFox

@MattЭллен I forgot I had loop switched on. Very funny.

tchrist

You have to talk fast to get the sloppiness of palatalization.

Cerberus

16:34

@tchrist Umm then what is it?

Matt Эллен

@KitFox lol

tchrist

@Cerberus /stju/

Cerberus

/stʃu/ is what I hear.

tchrist

Matt didn’t say that. He said /stju/.

Cerberus

Or possibly /ʃtʃu/.

tchrist

16:35

Nor that.

Mitch

@StoneyB ha ha. music-hall Scots. They let them in? — Mitch 21 secs ago

Cerberus

I couldn't really tell in Matt's sample, it was too fast.

KitFox

listens to posh British accent some more

Matt Эллен

I can try again. but more slowly.

KitFox

I like the sound of that.

Cerberus

16:37

I don't know any more.

Mitch

19

Q: Are Kinder Surprise eggs banned in the US?

I just came across this info-graphic: Is it true that Kinder Surprise eggs are currently, or previously, banned in the US?

nutrition united-states confectionery

Cerberus

Even in the archetypical accent I'm trying to pronounce it in now, I can't decide what I hear.

Mitch

I know where I can get some.

tchrist

Nice guy:

I'm not going to look at meaningless links about miscellaneous people. Thanks, anyway! — David 2 hours ago

Mitch

in the US.

Cerberus

16:37

@Mitch Hahaha.

Wtf.

Mitch

If you want some just email me.

tchrist

@Mitch Don’t be unKind on 4/20.

Matt Эллен

slower, inside proper sentences

Mitch

@tchrist ha ha...that makes me want to visit the link. Augh! I've been trolled!

tchrist

@MattЭллен No sh there at all. Sounds completely normal.

Cerberus

16:40

@MattЭллен Haha, poor Matt!

RegDwighт

3

Mitch

@tchrist I had a birthday only last year. I'm already old enough.

Cerberus

Still a bit hard to tell...

@RegDwighт Haaaaahaaaaaa.

That is fucking brilliant.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist excellent

Cerberus

Why didn't I think of that?

tchrist

16:41

@RegDwighт Damned lawn gnomes!

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus yes! they've no common courtesy.

Mitch

@MattЭллен OK I'm not going to visit that, I've learned my lesson.

KitFox

@tchrist It's not even an answer to the question. I should delete the whole thing, but I was trying to decide where to put it as a comment.

Mitch

on the OP

Cerberus

@MattЭллен Boy, are you glad you're not living here...we will cycle everywhere.

RegDwighт

16:42

@Cerberus found it on this rather interesting page: Real Life Photos Mixed With 16-Bit Video Games

Mitch

also, save the entire comment thread!

tchrist

@Matt Did you go to one of those for-pay uniformed pre-university “schools”?

Cerberus

@RegDwighт Nice. The gif wins.

Mitch

is that a 'public school' or a 'comprehensive'?

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus oh, cycles are everywhere in Oxford, but in University Parks it is forbidden to even push a bike, let alone ride one.

RegDwighт

16:43

@Cerberus I know, right.

Mitch

@MattЭллен what if the bike pushes you?

Matt Эллен

@tchrist no no. state schools all the way for me :)

Cerberus

@MattЭллен We cycle where it is forbidden, and then some.

Matt Эллен

@Cerberus how do you not all descend into chaos and start taking mice as wives I don't know.

Mitch

"Officer, the sign said 'Don't step on the grass' so I rode my bike over it."

@MattЭллен Mice don't make good wives. They did a study.

Matt Эллен

16:45

@Mitch see, chaos!

Johan Larsson

Is there such a thing as a non-metric ton?

tchrist

@JohanLarsson A ton is 2,000 pounds.

Johan Larsson

ok pretty close to a metric then, probably close enough for most purposes where ton is used

tchrist

Well, a short ton. A long ton is 2,240 pounds.

And please don’t ask about why hundredweights don’t weigh in at a hundred pounds. :)

Johan Larsson

ty sir

Cerberus

16:47

See that alley?

Matt Эллен

yes?

Cerberus

I always cycle through that alley, and fast.

KitFox

That your house?

Matt Эллен

:O

KitFox

Oh.

Cerberus

16:48

It's nearby.

Matt Эллен

such a daredevil

tchrist

@MattЭллен Naw, it’s not sporting if it’s too narrow to fall down in.

Cerberus

There are no doors, so I can see people, if any should dare walk there.

Matt Эллен

@tchrist I suppose :D

Cerberus

@tchrist Well, you could fall down. It is about 1.8 bicycles wide.

tchrist

16:49

I’m not sure we would call that an alley, but I have no better suggestion either.

Cerberus

Why not call it an alley?

tchrist

Oh, well then maybe we would. I thought it was narrower.

Cerberus

As long as you can walk in it, it's an alley, right?

The narrower, the allier.

Johan Larsson

more like a crack in the houses (plural)

tchrist

I don’t know about that. I think it has to be car-drive-through-able to be an alley.

Cerberus

16:50

What?

Drive a car through an alley?

tchrist

You drive cars down alleys.

Yes, of course. What do you think they are there for?

Cerberus

I think we have very few alleys that you could fit a car in, let alone any where it would be allowed.

tchrist

You put an alley down the middle of a block so that people can get to their garages.

Johan Larsson

an alley can never be light right?

Cerberus

I don't think I would call a narrow street an alley if you can drive through it.

Just a narrow street.

@JohanLarsson Exactly.

tchrist

16:52

Um, no. If it is a street, it gets a name.

Cerberus

All alleys and streets have names.

That one is I think the Enge Kapelsteeg, the Narrow Chapel Alley.

Perhaps there are things I would call alleys but without a name in the country?

Yes, I think we have those.

Although I would sooner call it ehh something else, a path? A way?

I don't know, alleys just make me think of towns.

tchrist

I think you have confused alleys with paths.

Mitch

@Cerberus you could call it a cream puff but that might be misleading.

tchrist

Alleys don’t get names, or they wouldn’t be alleys anymore.

“The alley between 28th and 29th streets.”

KitFox

A lane maybe.

Mitch

16:56

@tchrist What would you call it then? A lane? A Gasse?

tchrist

Alleys are often for deliveries.

Mitch

jinx

tchrist

So trucks can get there.

Mitch

alleys where you come from

maybe it is an 'allee'?

Cerberus

Mitch

16:57

or 'gangweg'

Cerberus

@tchrist See, it has a name plate.

Mitch

or 'strada'

Cerberus

I just can't make out the name.

tchrist

@Mitch Yes, gangs are often found hanging out in alleys.

I think we have a few named lanes here that are essentially alleys.

Cerberus

One always get mugged in alleys in fantasy novels.

In games, when you see an area marked "alley", you know you should probably stock up on health potions.

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English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…