It`s about language

[Keith]

I know people here are nice and like helping others.
I am Chinese, and sometimes I have problems in English. I hope you can help me.
what`s the difference of "grumpy","sulky",and "breadth","width"?
and what`s the meaning of rp\erp\CYMUS? I guess they are short for something.

[megumidesu]

what`s the difference of "grumpy","sulky",and "breadth","width"?

i think grumpy just means a general bad mood.
sulky is when something has annoyed you and that's put you in a bad mood


i'm actually not sure what the difference between breadth and width is ...

[findingmyway]

If I understand correctly, breadth and width are basically interchangeable.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

I know people here are nice and like helping others.
I am Chinese, and sometimes I have problems in English. I hope you can help me.
what`s the difference of "grumpy","sulky",and "breadth","width"?
and what`s the meaning of rp\erp\CYMUS? I guess they are short for something.

Hmm. I confess its been a few decades since I taught English as a second language to Chinese kids.... But if I recall correctly Chinese is a much more direct language than English, meaning that you all have specific words that mean specific things, English on the other hand has different words that mean that same thing.

Grumpy and sulky are the same thing, so little difference in the final meaning that it doesn't count as a different emotion. Breadth and width are both EXACTLY the same thing, just from different era's of the english language.

Which is a point to consider here.. English is a relatively 'new' language. Unlike Mandarin, being a wholly complete and nearly isolate language with thousands of years of virtually no change, English is a victim of being composed of various European languages and was at one time considered the language of vulgar swine (the poor) not worth learning.

English tries to earn its 'right to exist' by reinventing itself and utilizing other words stolen from other, predominately 'civilized' European cultures to validate itself.

Spelling itself is a nightmare of contrast and contradiction because English tries so hard to link itself to the more posh civilizations, like Rome and France...

Over all English is what it is because its a bastard child born of many older (better?) cultures and it has a terrible self image of itself which makes it rely on the classical languages such as Latin to validate its existence thus scientific terminology is based on Latin and Greek to give credence to English. Therfore a 'brain-stabbing' is a lobotomy... Or vis a versa - oh look we just threw in a foreign language because english isn't good enough to say ' or the other way around'.


In short, English is the poor white trailer trash that strives to validate itself by adopting a lot of other words from the classier cultures. We is poor, we can't help it


rp\erp\CYMUS I would have to see those in context.

Understand Deary, English is a living language and living through the Technological Error, I mean Era it is currently experiencing a major adaptation, thus LOL, OMG, WTF? and various other new 'words' are being invented to express many things. I suspect that these letters are just that, new 'words' which are subject to the Technology Error we are experiencing. :biggrin:

[Lilitu]

From experience, I'd say width is used more when you're talking about a smaller object sort of thing. Like a car or a small swimming pool or the width of your stomach

Breadth is used for bigger things, and often for abstract ideas. Like the breadth of his love for the world was staggering or something like that...

This is all totally subjective though.... so you can pretty much ignore what i just explained lol

不用担心小事情。只要说话人家听懂就行了！<3

[driftwood]

English is a living language

I'm not so sure what terms like 'trailer trash', 'bastard' and 'right to 'exist' have to do with language, but the part about English being a living evolving thing is certainly accurate.

Having had english as my primary language, I used to think I was fairly proficient in it. In this technological error though, I seem to be having newfound difficulties. After some struggle, I decoded imo, btw, wtf. And I think I also understand omg, but I've heard conflicting translations of lol, so I just ignore it most of the time - it doesn't usually seem to be important to the point being made. The ones I'm having trouble with now though are the colons. Specifically :3 I have no clue what any of those are intended to mean.

[Chris]

But if I recall correctly Chinese is a much more direct language than English, meaning that you all have specific words that mean specific things, English on the other hand has different words that mean that same thing.

Actually, it makes English more difficult for me. In my native language, Polish, there is the same thing as probably in Chinese: one word to describe one thing and one thing is described by one word while in English I have to remember all the words anyway because they are all in use. Also, one word can have a lot of meanings and it's very confusing.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

I'm not so sure what terms like 'trailer trash', 'bastard' and 'right to 'exist' have to do with language, but the part about English being a living evolving thing is certainly accurate.

Having had english as my primary language, I used to think I was fairly proficient in it. In this technological error though, I seem to be having newfound difficulties. After some struggle, I decoded imo, btw, wtf. And I think I also understand omg, but I've heard conflicting translations of lol, so I just ignore it most of the time - it doesn't usually seem to be important to the point being made. The ones I'm having trouble with now though are the colons. Specifically :3 I have no clue what any of those are intended to mean.

Trailer trash - poor person who lives typically in a trailer park. This is a derogatory term, often used to bring about heavy stereotypes of behaviors, such as lack of intelligence, animalistic behaviors, etc.

Bastard has been around for a long time, used to men the illegitimate off spring of an unwed couple. Today it means a 'not so nice' individual, typically male. Someone who you don't like can be a bastard, an ill-tempered male can be a bastard.

Colon use after a letter is often an emoticon or smilie.

A wink is a semicolon ; followed by close parenthesis ), a smile is a full colon : followed by close parenthesis )

:p usually translates to the tongue sticking out smilie: :tongue:
:B I think is one that is wearing sun glasses.
is a big grinning smilie :biggrin:

A long list of the keys and their combinations and what they mean are found here: http://www.netlingo.com/smileys.php

[Woollyhats]

Grumpy and sulky are basically the same thing... in common usage grumpy might be applied to someone who is habitually unpleasant and abrasive to talk with, while sulky is more commonly applied to someone who is being unpleasant in a given moment. For example, someone might say, "That child is being sulky" in regards to a child that is being ill tempered for attention, rather than grumpy. Neither of these are rules, just observations.

Width and breadth are also the same... but width is probably preferable. In math, width is used as the official term for measuring from side to side. For example, when I learned how to measure area in school we had to multiply the length and width, the term breadth was never used. Again, both are interchangeable and this is just observation.

rp sometimes means role-play, which is where someone takes on the personna of a character.

I have no idea about the other two. I'd have to see all three in context to know.

Hopefully we all helped a bit.

[MisterTinkles]

Grumpy and sulky are not the same thing, although the reactions and emotions do look similar.

Grumpy = bad tempered AND sulky. Having a short temper, ill tempered, crotchety, and in a constant bad mood.
Example---someone who is always yelling at you for no good reason, never smiles, never acknowledges good things.

Sulky = more broodish and disgruntled.
Example---someone who does not get their way and acts childish because of it, sitting in the corner or refusing to join in or do anything.



I do not know if this link will work where you are at, but I use this online dictionary and thesaurus a lot...
http://www.merriam-webster.com/