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3:00 PM
@Martha I know. It always reminds me of chem lab, too. Fake banana ester and all that.
@Martha Usually the ones I encounter are light enough that you don't really notice it. Which, to some extent, makes you wonder if it's really having any impact.
@JasperLoy Hm. And thus RegDwight suddenly became very anxious about liking cheese.
I mean, not the actual Reg Dwight, of course.
@RegDwight maybe there needs to be a campaign to make you the actual Reg Dwight
@RegDwight I don't get it. ?
Q: Comma usage for multiple words

FaizIs it correct to write a,b, or c a,b, and c ? Is the comma used after b correct ?

Get it!
(I'm in a meeting.)
3:04 PM
While on the subject of naturality, I think makeup products should be abolished too. But many girls will disagree.
@Kit (a meeting of EL&U?)
shh No.
@Kit Seems to be a duplicate.
Q: Comma before last item in a list

Chris DwyerShould I put a comma before last item in list? I would like crackers, cheese and some soda. I would like crackers, cheese, and some soda.

Vote away ♪
3:06 PM
@Matt It is an on-topic question though.
Really? OK. It seems more like something you'd get on writers.se, but without anything interesting in it.
@z7sg You said you were working on becoming an object. I pointed out that that would make you subject to being treated like a woman by Jackie Treehorn.
Voted as duplicate according to Grace's suggestion.
Yay 5 votes ♪
3:10 PM
@Mana Lalala!
wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ♪
No week without an Oxford comma question.
I can't see them anymore.
@RegDwight Aha! Maybe I was confused because coincidentally I am wearing a Jackie Treehorn Productions tshirt today ♪
Mostly they come at night, mostly
Or a Harvard comma, to be fair to the Americans.
3:11 PM
But you couldn't possibly know that....
I mean, us having 40+ dupes of it means that we also have 40+ different wordings of it, and people still can't find any of them.
@JasperLoy they're not fair to us! Ruining my language with their freedom.
@JasperLoy That implies that Harvard is remotely as good as Oxford
@GraceNote I like neither. I like Cambridge. Maybe I'll go there in my next life...
@GraceNote In international ranking Harvard is higher. Oxford is still better in my heart
3:13 PM
@MattEllen I have a blood feud with Harvard so it's kinda in my heritage to consider it lower no matter what statistics say.
@GraceNote Excellent!
@MattEllen But Cambridge is the best in my heart! And the British are freer than the Americans!
(It's what happens when you are descended from an MIT graduate. You inherit a distaste for Harvard)
@JasperLoy Boo to Cambridge! ;-)
@JasperLoy The other place. I prefer it though I actually live in Oxford.
3:16 PM
@z7sg Really? Me too (well, Cowley)
@MattEllen That ranking is suspect if Harvard is capable of being that high on the list
@GraceNote indubitably
Hey, rankings are done by people who know nothing, since those who know something are too busy doing other more important things.
Rank #223. Score of 44.81. I'm totally rocking it there.
My toilet msg has been starred. Yay!
3:22 PM
@MattEllen Number one. Naturally :-)
@Rhodri I really wished I could have done math in Cambridge, but that did not happen due to various factors.
Q: What’s the meaning of “ ‘Bye, ‘bye “ (apostrophized bye)?

totoroI sometimes see apostrophized words which omit some letters, like C’mon or ‘Course, but I found a little different one. "Will you come and visit me in my bathroom again sometime?" Moaning Myrtle asked mournfully as Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak. "Er … I’ll try," Harry said, thou...

What shall we do with this one?
Gen ref? Dupe?
@Rhodri My alma mata isn't even on the list!
It's ultimately a question of what a contracted 'bye means.
That's actually not really covered in the other question, so duplicate doesn't seem accurate.
@GraceNote and if they can't figure that out, well then I have little hope for them
3:27 PM
@GraceNote That's why I'm asking. Both close votes so far are as dupe.
@MattEllen It's OK, like I said, them knows nothing!
I tend to lean towards gen-ref.
@MattEllen Well, it's a bit of a marsh, though. I mean, the short form of "Good bye/Goodbye" is just "Bye", not needing an apostrophe.
He actually says, "I see this all the time, and I know what it means, but!"
Yeah. It's not an easy mark at all.
3:30 PM
Well, I gotta commute.
I think it is asking what the apostrophe is eliding
The author knows what a contraction is, but the issue is that "bye" on its own doesn't usually need the apostrophe. So it seems almost extraneous, how does 'bye differ from bye?
That's why the author is stumpted despite knowing what an apostrophe usually indicates.
@GraceNote My standard snarky response to that is "Different question is different".
totoro knows what a contraction is but not what this contraction expands to
3:32 PM
But anyhoo, I gotta run.
@RegDwight Well, I don't think it's a duplicate. At worst, general reference.
Later, Dwig
to be honest I don't either
but I also don't care
because that knowledge is superfluous to using it
maybe it's a false contraction
It certainly seems that way.
oh actually that's all a irrelevant since I misread
I thought totoro asked "What does the apostrophy in 'bye, 'bye mean?" but the question actually was "What does apostrophized bye, bye mean"
which is just stupid
3:35 PM
@MattEllen How will we know the difference? It doesn't get stronger and more painful with time?
it means bye bye
Perhaps it's just meant to imply that 'bye is simply even curter and swifter than bye when spoken.
(Which, if I were writing, I'd cut out the e)
it's gen ref, without a shadow of a doubt
You'll need 3 such votes, or 2 with no additional duplicate votes, to win that reason.
@aedia you have to ask the midwife, and they can tell if there is dilation
@GraceNote I can cast 0 votes :D
3:38 PM
Should work on that ♪
@aedia: p.s. I made that up and it's probably poppycock
@MattEllen We should organize a SE users group meet up.
In the pub.
@MattEllen Time dilation for sure. This morning is lasting forever.
@aedia You should tab complete it, then.
@z7sg And only the Brits can go.
3:40 PM
@z7sg I went to the SO meet up, there were 3 others there. I guess Oxford SO users are shy!
not a bad idea though. do youknow any other users?
@aedia just remember: somewhere in the world it's 16:42
@MattEllen It is 2342 here.
@MattEllen I never heard about it... I don't know if I would have gone anyway though. First I need to admit I have a problem. It would be like Procrastinators Anonymous.
@z7sg I've always put off going to that
@JasperLoy time for bed?
@MattEllen No, I am nocturnal nowadays.
ah! like a badger
3:45 PM
I usually sleep when reg goes to bed, which is like 0800 here.
@MattEllen Yes, always find something less important to do!
That seems like a troublesome schedule
I think Cerberus is nocturnal too.
But not as much.
3:55 PM
@MattEllen 'Bye, 'bye ;)
@JasperLoy hi all
so I did try to write a meaningful answer on a question that I think is going to be quite contentious; at least it's not a boobs thingy
Q: How did Shakespeare pronounce "hautboys"?

Pete WilsonShakespeare calls for hautboys. How did he pronounce the word, more than 500 years after Hastings (think of it!)? ohBWHA? ohBOYZ? Or what?

I've never even heard of a hautboy
@GraceNote oboe
in modern French, it's hautbois
@Fx Ah. So, duck.
4:08 PM
I think Shakespeare questions tend to attract a lot of views/comments
maybe we should think of something like “how would Shakespeare pronounce dick?” or “how would Shakespeare talk about boobs?”
And hullo!
Currently your multicollider consists of: "Eleventy", "Warranty/Guarantee", "Passive Present Perfect Continuous", and "Long Live The King!"
Your main competition is this one calling someone an idiot, which has been in the multicollider for 5 days and was at the top for over half that time.
@Fx "I have the bowdlerized Shakespeare, but I think there are still some innuendos in it. How can I find them?"
@Cerberus Middag!
4:19 PM
@GraceNote The Long Live The King! one only got 68 votes in a day, no biggie.
@aedia Middag!
@Cerberus I don't have too much of an issue to that (or any of them).
I actually like the 3rd one, if only because I didn't know that there was a Passive-voice Present Perfect Continuous
4:36 PM
@GraceNote Hmm yeah... I like the question, but not the tense!
4:46 PM
I had to downvote that answer. Some guy telling me and the rest of the English speaking world that we don't know how to speak English. I bet he's a Communist.
5:15 PM
@z7sg Oh, Rimmer's? Yes.
So did I. And I've added a comment.
i upvoted him and think he's essentially correct. but i can see that the rest of the english-speaking world disagrees with my and my crypto-communist sympathies
@JSBangs That is indeed what must be behind it...
By the way, I don't think anyone's saying that his construction is "ungrammatical".
hi all
@Cerberus No not at all, it's grammatical and totally fine if he wants to use that. The problem is that native speakers simply don't bother with the construction and he wants to say that the whole world is wrong. I found one solitary example of that form on classic books.
5:27 PM
@Cerberus I disagree with "the second sentence doesn't make sense" simply because it does.
@MattEllen I just posted a comment to that effect.
@z7sg Yeah I agree. It sounds informal at best. But I have heard native speakers defend it too...
@MattEllen Is that what Rimmer said?
Which question is up for discussion?
> Compare the following:

> I've been being shot at.
> I've been shot at.

> The second sentence doesn't really make any sense
to quote^^^
Hah, that is nonsense indeed. Rimmer's statement, not the example sentence, of course.
5:30 PM
Ok, now I see. The second example makes sense most definitely
Incidentally, I can't open any question (error). You?
I wish people would search the corpora for their examples. I first saw this being done in the Collins cobuild grammar books. It stops you from contriving.
me neither
@Cerberus how do you mean?
oh yes! I'm getting something like a 500
@MattEllen Oh, it's only some questions. The one about "comparing with/and" and several others give errors.
5:31 PM
I can't open any question either.
Same here
it seems to be stack exchange wide
what does that picture mean in the error message anyway? with the puppet of a king
Me neither.
I'm getting the same on P.SE
5:32 PM
well, I guess we have to pull out the candles and tell ghost stories
and bicylces
and JLU
i think the king symbolizes us who are annoyed
Is it an Idiom? Or a Metaphor? Because nobody knows the difference :)
(points for knowing the comment ref)
@simchona As long as I don't have to walk the stairs up to the 8th floor...
Correction: I can open closed questions. Open questions give the "something bad happened" page.
5:33 PM
i'm pretty sure the img is something from alice in wonderland
@Martha don't open the closed questions! then we'll have to vote to close them again, and we won't be able to because they're open!
@JSBangs Yeah, yeah. Thwack.
quick question: am I the only one who cannot see any question without having error pages?
second quick question: who is “Lauren Ψ♦”?
@Martha Huh, I thought it was just that I had those cached, but you're right.
5:35 PM
Errors are being worked on; sit tight
@F'x: read the previous 50 lines of chat :D
@Fx yup, we've just discovered the error
@Fx Stack Exchange employee
I hope my rep is safe. Maybe I should cash out before the whole damn ship goes down?
@JSBangs That was my first thought too.
5:35 PM
@Fx You can see closed ones if you search "closed:1"
@z7sg You're going to cash out on all of your reps? That must net you thousands of €...
can you see good questions if you search for good:1?
Only if you close your eyes.
that sounds like a good trick :D
@MattEllen how do you think I gathered such sweet rep? “low-hanging-fruit:1”
5:37 PM
i can still see my user page, so my precious reps are safe
looks like it works again
@Cerberus I'm not interested in € but in rainbows, stars, magic oats, glitter, things like that.
Lucky Charms?
As in some American trashy foodstuffs or rabbits' feet and four-leaf clover and whatnot?
If the former, the answer is a resounding no.
trashy american foodstuffs = yum
5:40 PM
@z7sg: Yes.
Your errors should now be fixed.
@z7sg You can exchange them at the bank and buy glitter at your local shop?
@JSBangs yum=Fedora Linux package manager
@waiwai933 did you fixed it?
Hearts Stars Horseshoes, Clovers and Blue Moons ♪ Pots of Gold and Rainbows, and the Red Balloon ♪
5:41 PM
@JSBangs Nope—I'm only a mod, not a developer.
local shop!
@waiwai933 i knew that, but you came in here announcing it was fixed and all ...
@JSBangs I said it was fixed already...
3 mins ago, by simchona
looks like it works again
@JSBangs Just passing news along to those concerned
5:42 PM
don't mods have a big red button labeled DON'T TOUCH (will break site) ?
@JSBangs We used to, actually.
@simchona Sorry, didn't see that
Not exactly in those words, but there pretty much was a "break site" button.
@waiwai933 Yours sounds more official
@GraceNote did Jeff take it away?
5:43 PM
@JSBangs I think Gravell did.
@simchona Yours was too tentative. Be more assured. Also quote.
Quote...a lack of an error message?
"Hey guys! The dumb questions are up again!"
I don't think any of the mods who was around at the time knows what it does, because we were all afraid of pushing it, y'know, for obvious reasons.
We used to have the ability to rifle through your inboxes, too, but we lost that in the span of weeks.
@GraceNote i'm curious about what it was, actually. what did the button actually say?
@JSBangs I'll try to find it again...
As it were, "break" is not exactly the easiest thing to search for in a year-old chat room.
5:50 PM
@z7sg Love that sketch.
@kit Have you found that elusive bug yet?
Still working on it.
Not a bug. Feature.
"Doesn't send effin' message when it's supposed to" isn't a feature.
No it's sth she mentioned earlier.
5:55 PM
@JasperLoy She's making a joke.
@Kit What you need is some pesticide...
What I need is to nuke the whole thing.
Q: Who is Lauren Ψ and why is she changing posts? (Introducing myself)

Lauren ΨI just wanted to let you all know that I'm a StackExchange employee and I'm working on improving the English Language site. Basically, that means I'll be correcting things like grammar, spelling, punctuation, and trying to make titles clearer (and represent the actual question better). Of course,...

She is hot, I must say.
I don't trust redheads, nor women with pitchforks next to their names.
5:58 PM
Ow. I haven't coughed that hard in a while.
@GraceNote You disagree with me?
Err what? She gets paid to do what I do for free?
@Kit i'm surprised. women with pitchforks seem like the sort of thing that would be right up your alley
@z7sg There's a whole team of interns doing this, actually.
Is this some sort of a joke?
5:58 PM
@z7sg i admit, i'm also a little confused about this
@JasperLoy I don't disagree (or agree, for that matter), it's more the... priority, let's call it that.
@simchona Not being poked with a stick would be a nice perk...
