If it was just calculators.

At 1st i though it was a difference between the US and here, but i've asked someone younger then 30, and apparently they also recall that -5 at power is to be read as -(5)^power, which is crazy to me.

And i've looked around, and apparently there is a known convention to calculate it like that. There was even an youtube video about it. WTF. That's inane considering ℤ.
 
0-5^2
0-25
-25

Order of operations, if you put in the implied zero it makes a lot more sense.
No, because if -5 = 0-5, then -5^2 is (0-5)^2. Just like -5 = (-1)(5) and then you do -1(5^2) etc.

The problem is that it implies -5 isn't it's own number.

Sure, 0+5^2 works. But what about (-1)(-5)^2 ? If you just square the (-5) it no longer works.
 
IIRC, there is a distinction between -5 (which is not “(implied zero) minus five,” but rather an unary operator meaning “take the opposite of five”) and ⁻5 (“negative five”), where the first is considered an immediate function (“take the opposite of this value and proceed) but the second is an inherent quality (“this constant is negative.”)

—Patrick
 
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I wished I took a photo of the chef salad I had for dinner tonight. Again, it was one of the largest meals I ever had... It was a fully loaded chef salad with fried chicken. It came on a 10x5 inch plate stuffed with all good veggies, two boiled eggs and bacon, with a second heaping plate of chicken fried chicken sliced up. I think I may have hurt myself...
 
A friend of mine asked me to proofread the English website for her new business, a restaurant/takeaway place. She's used the word "service" as a verb repeatedly.

"Orders can be customized, we will service you based on your needs."

"Our friendly staff is always ready to service all customers."

"Our philosophy is to always service you with a smile."

It's not just me, right? This shit sounds wierd, right?
 
A friend of mine asked me to proofread the English website for her new business, a restaurant/takeaway place. She's used the word "service" as a verb repeatedly.

"Orders can be customized, we will service you based on your needs."

"Our friendly staff is always ready to service all customers."

"Our philosophy is to always service you with a smile."

It's not just me, right? This shit sounds wierd, right?
Sounds like an ad for a whorehouse.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
A friend of mine asked me to proofread the English website for her new business, a restaurant/takeaway place. She's used the word "service" as a verb repeatedly.

"Orders can be customized, we will service you based on your needs."

"Our friendly staff is always ready to service all customers."

"Our philosophy is to always service you with a smile."

It's not just me, right? This shit sounds wierd, right?
Yyyyyeah. Noun only for that.

Orders can be customized to whatever service you need.

Our friendly staff is always ready to provide service to all customers. <--- this one's still a little ehhhhhh

Our philosophy is "Service with a smile."
 
So... I expressed to my friend that the verb "service" can have certain connotations. She basically went, "Oh okay, good, let's keep using it like that then."

Either she misunderstood what I meant or her restaurant is actually a front for another type of business. I suspect it's the former but I kinda want it to be the latter.
 
So... I expressed to my friend that the verb "service" can have certain connotations. She basically went, "Oh okay, good, let's keep using it like that then."

Either she misunderstood what I meant or her restaurant is actually a front for another type of business. I suspect it's the former but I kinda want it to be the latter.
Because she's hot?
 
One finger nails is still blue from where the last dog bit me. One was grown in and inflamed. I got a third finger stuck in the folding part of a folding lawn chair, and while treating that and cutting a band aid, I cut a fourth finger.
My all-typing-all-the-time job is AWESOME right now.
 
I have an uncle (well, I'm gonna refer to him as an uncle because that's what I call him in Chinese, he's the son of my paternal grandfather's younger brother, so I believe in the western world he'd be considered a first cousin once-removed) who got divorced a few years ago. The thing is, though, my grandfather's generation tends to be very conservative, and divorce is considered something to be kept hush-hush, so our family members almost never talk about his divorce. I actually didn't find out about his divorce until around six months after it'd been finalized.

This has resulted in a rather odd situation. You see, because the divorce ostensibly has to be kept under wraps, my uncle is actually still living with his ex-wife. They live in the same apartment with their two sons, though as far as I'm aware they sleep in separate rooms. What's more, they both now have active dating lives. I've met some of my uncle's girlfriends, though I've never really talked to them much. And while I've never seen my ex-aunt out with other guys or met any of her boyfriends, she's actually very pretty so I'm told she has no shortage of suitors.

This culminated in a situation a few days ago where I exited an elevator at the ground floor of their building, and when I did I saw my uncle, ex-aunt, and my uncle's current girlfriend all there together waiting for the elevator, and we exchanged awkward greetings, and then they got in the elevator, and I watched the floor number rise as they all rode up to their floor together, and I was all like, "Man..."
 
(I'm gonna refer to him as an uncle because that's what I call him in Chinese)
It's perfectly acceptable in English to give someone what amounts to an honorary title of "uncle" even when they are not a blood relative, assuming they are still an integral part of your family.

--Patrick
 
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