SamBC

@userr2684291 There seem to be odd little trends happening inexplicably around here 😉

In my experience, into is the most common in British English.

@userr2684291 Oh, it works. It's not a familiar phrase, but it follows the pattern of common metaphor and idiom enough that people would get the gist - but you'd have to say more for them to understand precisely what you meant.

@CowperKettle "are widely quoted" or "have given rise to common expressions", with different in nuance.

@ColleenV I always called them tally marks, and have also heard them called scratch marks.

@CowperKettle No, not even when limited to that sense of manual. Manuals often contain a lot more than instructions - reference guides, specifications, that sort of thing. I've had products that had separate "instruction" leaflets and thicker "manuals".

Agreed

@ColleenV Yeah, I get that, I just find it a little sad - as in prompting that emotion - that people feel that way or have that experience. Ah well.

@ColleenV I guess that's kind of sad...

@CowperKettle Lovely.

Wow, that's the most rep I've lost at once for a user being removed...

@CowperKettle Okay, now I'm worried about the medical profession... "endorse" does have some other meanings, close to that and rather more distant, but none of them work in that situation.

@userr2684291 I think police may be a slightly unusual case. Can't imagine why they would be, though.

@userr2684291 The whole "organisations plural/singular" thing is, I think, a matter of tendency on both sides of the Atlantic, rather than clear blue water between the dialects.

@userr2684291 Definitely non-standard to me.

@ColleenV I'm sure you're right, but couldn't explain why, either...

@userr2684291 What about cows with guns? youtube.com/watch?v=aPhWfSeMYHA

@userr2684291 thx

@userr2684291 Thanks for fixing my brainfart.

@CowperKettle Or it's missing a question mark.

@Jeef 👍

Ah, there's an English word to introduce people to... hazing

@ColleenV Presumably belated happy birthday!

One of my many hats is as an educationalist of sorts, and I'm a big fan of the idea that engaging as many modes of thinking when you learn makes the learning work better.

I immediately thought that we use hand gestures when teaching little kids stuff... but I think secondary school kids would feel right tits if they were being told to make hand gestures. Though we did use gestures when learning gauche, droit and droite in French. Can't remember any other time we did, though.

@userr2684291 Personally, I usually remembered things like that better if I understood the why, not just the what.

@snailboat Yeah, I sometimes get just aura, sometimes just pain, and sometimes both. Rarely, because if I notice the aura I can take tablets and they mostly let me skip the pain. Still get the postdrome, though. Other tablets allow it to be skipped much more thoroughly, but I don't fancy stomach ulcers so don't use them unless I really need to.

Tablet taken, it'll resolve sooner or later, and hopefully won't get full-blown.

Bah... no more answers for a while, migraine aura coming on. How is everone?

I sometimes think how odd dialectal idioms must sound to people not familiar with them. I just said "that's the bunny" to someone on FB, and I know they'll understand it, but it must sound weird to anyone who doesn't know it. You can work it out from context, but it must still be weird.

Absolutely, it's something we need to consciously work against.

The use of a handle with "captain" probably triggers more deeply ingrained gender assumptions. Very hard to train oneself out of.

@CaptainBohemian I was just making a flippant response to the actual text, no comment on grammar :)

@CaptainBohemian Except when they're your boss...

I've had the occasional reply to a warning that was like "yeah, you're right, my bad. Thanks for keeping things in line here." It's rare, though.

People do dislike the rules being enforced, sometimes.

I do sometimes worry I'll run into someone elsewhere on the internet with a grudge against me for moderating 2K's forums (their own ones, and the Steam forums for some 2K Games).

@M.A.R.ಠ_ಠ Thanks. Wasn't sure what I should flag to get attention - would rather not have been talking about it publicly like this.

Okay, the vast majority of my downvotes really seem to coincide with the time of activity of one user... not that I'm bothered by the downvotes themselves. If I did care about rep (which at this point I don't, particularly - I've got enough to have access to what I want access to, and then some), it wouldn't matter because a handful of downvotes doesn't stop me hitting the cap each day. It's the idea that someone would do that that bothers me.

So there are APPGs on serious policy areas, like climate change or the middle east or whatever, and then there's an APPG that's a male voice choir, and I think there's one for real ale appreciation.

The nearest businesses or foreign governments usually get to paying money into anything to do with politicians is them funding junkets for All-Party Parliamentary Groups. And APPGs have no real influence at all - they're like student societies at university, but for MPs (and peers, possibly, not sure about that).

Well, we heavily limit (though not always as effectively as one might hope) the involvement of business in politics here.

I don't know enough to know what's going on, I just know what's possible (regulations can cause that sort of problem), and what people claim. I don't judge whether they're right, because I don't know enough about the specifics. We don't have that problem so much here in the UK.

@userr2684291 They also have significant regulations if someone wants to be a new producer of a generic drug, I understand.

The overregulation that people claim isn't on prices - it's on the production of the medicines. I don't know enough to know whether there's a valid argument there, just that there is the potential for overregulation in that sphere.

(nb: I'm about as far from laissez-faire as you can get, but I still know there's such a thing as too much regulation)

If it's too difficult for a new entry to join the market to offer a drug - because of the necessary inspections, certifications, etc - then you end up with effective monopolies without any need for patent protection or anything. You want exactly the right level of regulation to ensure quality and safety and no more.

But I certainly agree with that feeling.

I always felt like that was because of the moral dimension to being wrong, while incorrect could just mean mistaken.

@DavidSiegel I notice you missed Cambridge from your list... their online help page shows that they use sb and sth in the way many learners seem to experience.