The title cannot be null
bodawei
May 24, 2010, 10:34 AM posted in General DiscussionI wanted to post a PM and the system won't work. So I came to Conversations to make a new post and it defaults to Elementary Group. Then I have to search for General Discussion - it is no longer at the bottom of the list. Why wouldn't this be the default? Boy did I get out of the wrong side of the bed this morning?
My post - I can't remember .. oh yes, how do we find the new Grammar Group in future? I have written fruitlessly on this topic for the past several weeks. Rome wasn't built in a day. Let's not gild the lily, there are two sides to every coin. I spent the morning at a cheap Chinese hospital and (except for the toilets) that hospital is working better than this site at present. :)
bodawei
Hi Zhenlijiang
The PM system would not work because it sent me a message 'The title cannot be null' even though I had provided a title. So the PM would not go. I don't use PMs a lot but in this case I was trying to make my 'complaint' about the Group system less public.
I went with a friend to the hospital for a minor procedure - I was merely providing support (and sticky-beaking.) It's one aspect of life here that I can't resist poking my nose into.
zhenlijiang
是我第一次听到 sticky-beaking 这个说法——是南半球英语吗？
bababardwan
well bodawei may well know the answer to this,but I'll just make an observation. Some expressions one is well aware it is Aussie.For others you presume it is just a standard part of the English language...you think it is universal [as I would have thought this one was ] until you encounter English speakers from other parts and they pull you up,laugh,whatever,hehe. So where it's not obvious it's almost easier to ask someone from another part of the English speaking world,like an American. If it is a southern hemisphere thing it makes me think of emus and ostriches. Actually I'm sure I have heard the origin of this expression but it eludes me presently [I think it'll be one of those "doh" moments when I hear...jeepers ,early senility here we come,hehe].Speaking of universal it also reminds me of a bear [we don't have them here..only koalas...not bears] sticking his nose in a beehive to get the honey.
bodawei
Hi Zhenlijiang
It did not occur to me that 'stickybeaking' was anything other than universal. A few Google returns would suggest that maybe it is modern Australian, although sometimes if you go back far enough you find either an English or an aboriginal Australian origin. Now if I had used sticky-wicket (meaning a difficult situation) I would have guessed Australian, but according to Wikipaedia the early examples are English. Albeit about Australians being 'on a sticky wicket'. :)
zhenlijiang
Ah thanks to the both of you. FWIW the Concise Oxford Dictionary says the term is "Austral./NZ" and "informal". In any case I learned a little English here again!
zhenlijiang
May 24, 2010, 04:25 PMBodawei I agree, and hope the Groups situation sees improvement too.
What do you mean by "the system won't work" when you wanted PM someone?
I trust, since you say it's a cheap hospital you spent the morning in, that it's nothing serious you were there for.