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Does this include issues of punctuation? – Robert Cartaino♦ Jun 1 '10 at 20:28

Could somebody with power fix the "for for linguists" in the description? – Dan Dumitru Jun 1 '10 at 21:23

I'm signed up to this proposal, but I don't like the direction it is headed. There's a tendency for people who make many categorical assertions about English usage to be ignorant of relevant linguistic knowledge, such as about register, the relationship between spoken and written English, how standard English came to be, and the actual facts about what constitutes standard English. Is the core of this site meant to be experts or pontificators? How should our preference be reflected in the example questions we choose? – Charles Stewart Jun 10 '10 at 11:14

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64 Example Questions (8 closed)

active oldest votes

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added by Edward Tanguay Jun 17 '10 at 21:22

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added by Charlie Jun 17 '10 at 21:47

IMHO this would go better on Linguistics (area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/6673/…). – JSBᾶngs Jun 18 '10 at 0:50

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added by Dan Dumitru Jun 18 '10 at 10:30

...just because I thought I could come up with a better off-topic example :) – Dan Dumitru Jun 18 '10 at 10:31

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added by Stephen Furlani Jun 18 '10 at 15:14

I'd like to add something about the dynamic quality of language, or how to communicate this to modern High School students but the question has a limited characters. – Stephen Furlani Jun 18 '10 at 15:15

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added by JohnFx Jun 18 '10 at 15:15

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added by JohnFx Jun 18 '10 at 15:17

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added by JohnFx Jun 18 '10 at 15:17

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added by JohnFx Jun 18 '10 at 15:24

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added by JohnFx Jun 18 '10 at 15:26

up vote -1 down vote

added by cindi Jun 17 '10 at 10:18

up vote -2 down vote

added by gnovice Jun 4 '10 at 4:35

In case anyone is interested: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma – gnovice Jun 4 '10 at 4:36

The question has to be dealt with even though there's not an authoritative answer. – moioci Jun 4 '10 at 7:51

This question was intended as a test case for whether highly subjective questions are considered on- or off-topic. – gnovice Jun 5 '10 at 14:13

gnovice, thanks - this question highlights an issue raised here: meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/52614/… Your clarification helps - this is a perfect proposal to test the boundary, but I don't want to vote off-topic for it because I think it should be askable - In this case, "it's subjective" is a great, definitive answer, since it tells me that both are permissible. +1 for on-topic. – Jaydles Jun 5 '10 at 15:28

Too subjective. A better question might be, "What common style guides advocate/mandate the serial comma?" – Jesse Beder Jun 17 '10 at 2:09

up vote -2 down vote

added by Sujee Jun 6 '10 at 16:44

closed as off topic by sth, Rob Hyndman, Konrad Rudolph, michal.gajdos, alexanderpas Jun 16 '10 at 22:01

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote -2 down vote

added by sth Jun 8 '10 at 3:09

closed as off topic by Jared Updike, JSBᾶngs, David Thornley, Andrew Aylett, mafutrct Jun 17 '10 at 11:22

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote -3 down vote

added by herzmeister Jun 1 '10 at 19:58

closed as off topic by fmark, gnovice, Maxim Zaslavsky, Ward, Rob Hyndman Jun 11 '10 at 1:00

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	This question is vague. Are you asking for a real world place or physical course that teaches this, or for a book, or a website, or what? If a physical course, then I think this is too localised. – ire_and_curses Jun 1 '10 at 23:06
	This is a bit localized but the question seems on topic. – Good Person Jun 2 '10 at 7:03
	The question of "what was the pronunciation of English in Shakespeare's time?" seems to me to be on topic. – Master Of Disaster Jun 9 '10 at 2:31
	@kinopiko: i agree, but that's not what this question asks. – quack quixote Jun 15 '10 at 12:12

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added by Lazer Jun 5 '10 at 17:58

That's not English, that's typesetting. – Zombie Praeclarum Jun 8 '10 at 0:02

I think the answer might be don't use '/' with multi-word cases, but I think it's a reasonable question. – cindi Jun 17 '10 at 15:33

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added by Sujee Jun 6 '10 at 16:59

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added by sth Jun 8 '10 at 3:02

	Better example would be: what are the pros and cons of various online thesauri? – Jared Updike Jun 10 '10 at 6:31
	Another better example: "What is your favorite online thesaurus"? Link: area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1269/… – Ed Brannin Jun 17 '10 at 18:55

up vote -4 down vote

added by CrazyJugglerDrummer Jun 16 '10 at 3:21

closed as off topic by Mark Pim, JohnFx, Scott Morrison, Dan Dumitru, Daniel LeCheminant Jun 17 '10 at 21:37

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote -5 down vote

added by Arlen Beiler Jun 1 '10 at 20:05

While this is on topic I already posted a general version of this question. – Good Person Jun 2 '10 at 13:31

I believe you mean the root of "immortality", or else this belongs in mythology. – moioci Jun 8 '10 at 5:58

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added by Arlen Beiler Jun 1 '10 at 20:28

	While this is on topic I already posted a general version of this question. – Good Person Jun 2 '10 at 13:32
	I'm voting "not a good example" because there are other examples of etymological queries that are identical to this one – Joel Spolsky♦ Jun 5 '10 at 1:20

up vote -6 down vote

added by moioci Jun 8 '10 at 6:00

A good off-topic question is one that would be a good question if it was on topic. So this, being "subjective and argumentative" is Not A Good Example. – Charles Stewart Jun 8 '10 at 7:37

up vote -7 down vote

added by Sujee Jun 6 '10 at 16:49

closed as off topic by WikiSpeedia hang-around, Zombie Praeclarum, Maxim Zaslavsky, Helen, Ward Jun 10 '10 at 22:45

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

This is kind of similar to your other question, "I have composed following email. Please help to check grammer or other issues." - area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1269/…. Some diversity always helps. – Dan Dumitru Jun 16 '10 at 21:22

I have to follow-up on that comment. This question is actually too similar with the other one, it should be "not a good example"-voted into oblivion. We shouldn't have 2 questions that similar in our top 5. – Dan Dumitru Jun 18 '10 at 11:22

+1 to what @Dan said. It would be embarrassing and unfortunate if both of these questions got into our top 5. I urge everyone who reads this to take their votes off of this question if possible. – JSBᾶngs Jun 18 '10 at 13:23

up vote -7 down vote

added by Charles Stewart Jun 7 '10 at 13:01

Currently, this qn is in the top 5 of examples for off-topic votes —admittedly not terribly meaningful when the range is 3 to 7 votes— but has received 3 NaGE votes. What might be provoking them? Is the question maybe seen as too divisive or speculative? It's certainly very much a live qn in belles-lettres. – Charles Stewart Jun 11 '10 at 0:18

Is there actually some debate over this? Without any prior knowledge about it, it looks like a troll. – Blorgbeard Jun 15 '10 at 18:32

I don't see what the authorship of the plays has to do with English language. – ire_and_curses Jun 16 '10 at 16:39

@ire - That's why it's a good off-topic question, IMO. – Dan Dumitru Jun 16 '10 at 21:05

@Dan Dumitry: It really isn't. It's one of those "why is the sky blue" questions that, while off-topic, doesn't really tell you anything about the site. Off-topic questions should be informative about what someone might think the site is about, but is not, nonetheless. For example, a good off-topic for Super User (a site about computers and software) might be a video game question (which is expressly prohibited). – Robert Cartaino♦ Jun 17 '10 at 0:36

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up vote -8 down vote

added by Joel Spolsky♦ Jun 1 '10 at 19:15

not sure about this one: it seems a bit basic/homeworky. – Good Person Jun 1 '10 at 19:45

If the questioner ask about orange, this would not be basic as I can't think of one off the top of my head. – Arlen Beiler Jun 1 '10 at 20:02

Unless you count the Yiddish "shmorange," there's no answer, other than, "None." ("Sporange" is some kind of botany term of questionable legitimacy, but neither of its pronunciations quite rhyme, IMHO. Maybe the organic gardeners' SE site can help us out!) – Jaydles Jun 1 '10 at 20:29

@Arlen Beiler: oranage and agnst and a few others have no rhymes ;) – Good Person Jun 2 '10 at 7:08

Shouldn't it be "Which" words rhyme with "orange"? Since there is a fixed number of english words and all... – Zombie Praeclarum Jun 8 '10 at 0:01

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