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Thread: Language

  1. #41
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by AzJon View Post
    .

    The irony of mentioning Shakespeare is apparently lost on this group.
    Um, no. Not the entire group. Some of us have just been chuckling and having fun. Several of us don't take these things very seriously, even some of us pedants. The serious ones have left the conversation, don't you see?



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  3. #42
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Zounds!
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Senior Member Lady Onogaro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by TSherbs View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    In another venue on our shared topic, there are many threads that start "Recommend me a pen!".
    Or "Recommend me a blue ink."

    or

    "Majority of people think...."

    On the other hand, I truly believe that language evolves, and we'll all be okay. I'm sure folks in the 1950s thought that language was going to hell in a hand basket then.
    Well, some freaks in the 1950s burned records in the streets and sued Ferlinghetti for publishing Howl. So, yeah, some people were worried about Hell. My guess is, though, that there are more zealots there than purveyors of lazy language. Gadzooks.

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    My point exactly. And they lived through it.

    Thank goodness MLA and APA now accept "they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun. It's been a useless endeavor trying to teach students that you can't say "A student/they..." because the pronoun "they" doesn't agree in number with "student."
    Lady Onogaro

    "Be yourself--everybody else is already taken." --Oscar Wilde

  6. #44
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post

    Thank goodness MLA and APA now accept "they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun. It's been a useless endeavor trying to teach students that you can't say "A student/they..." because the pronoun "they" doesn't agree in number with "student."
    Now "your" talking blasphemy!



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    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post
    ..."they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun....
    That's not an evolution; that's an invention.

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  9. #46
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post
    ..."they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun....
    That's not an evolution; that's an invention.
    But an old one.

    http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langu...es/002748.html

    https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-...singular-they/

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  11. #47
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    That's not an evolution; that's an invention.
    All language change is a human invention, even the accidental.

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    AzJon (February 19th, 2020)

  13. #48
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by catbert View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by FredRydr View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post
    ..."they" as a non-gendered singular pronoun....
    That's not an evolution; that's an invention.
    But an old one.

    http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/langu...es/002748.html

    https://public.oed.com/blog/a-brief-...singular-they/
    Oh look! Our old friend Willy Shakes back with more counter arguments for language pedants.

  14. #49
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by AzJon View Post

    Oh look! Our old friend Willy Shakes back with more counter arguments for language pedants.
    The article calls them "particularly puristic pusillanimous pontificators."





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  15. #50
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    “Mug up” is woke.
    "Woke" is a joke!
    Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
    (What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)

  16. #51
    Senior Member calamus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by TSherbs View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    In another venue on our shared topic, there are many threads that start "Recommend me a pen!".
    Or "Recommend me a blue ink."

    or

    "Majority of people think...."

    On the other hand, I truly believe that language evolves, and we'll all be okay. I'm sure folks in the 1950s thought that language was going to hell in a hand basket then.
    Well, some freaks in the 1950s burned records in the streets and sued Ferlinghetti for publishing Howl. So, yeah, some people were worried about Hell. My guess is, though, that there are more zealots there than purveyors of lazy language. Gadzooks.

    Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk
    Pshaw. It was never about language.
    Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
    (What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)

  17. #52
    Senior Member calamus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
    (What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)

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  19. #53
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    Default Re: Language

    Thank Heaven I think in Latin. So I always know what I mean. (I just don't always know what you mean).....Long live "dead" languages!
    "Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine

  20. #54
    Senior Member FredRydr's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by VertOlive View Post
    Thank Heaven I think in Latin. So I always know what I mean. (I just don't always know what you mean).....Long live "dead" languages!
    I suffered through enough years to empathize.


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  22. #55
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    Default Re: Language

    Fred— So. Dang. Funny.
    "Nolo esse salus sine vobis ...” —St. Augustine

  23. #56
    Senior Member Jon Szanto's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    I just came across the following article tonight and found it a fascinating riff on many of the discussion points in the thread:

    Garbage Language
    "When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
    and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."

    ~ Benjamin Franklin

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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    I just came across the following article tonight and found it a fascinating riff on many of the discussion points in the thread:

    Garbage Language
    When reading that article, the neologisms made my brain hurt.

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    Default Re: Language

    We've been using "gift" as a verb for nigh on 400 years. The Oxford English Dictionary identifies this usage from 1608.

    To gift someone a pen, as opposed to giving someone a pen has a more precise meaning, I guess.

    If I gift a Montblanc to my nephew (yeah, right), I do not expect him to return it.

    If I give him my Montblanc, I might expect its return, once he's finished writing me a large cheque (yeah, right) with it.
    Last edited by Sandy; February 23rd, 2020 at 11:02 AM.

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  29. #59
    Senior Member calamus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Language

    Quote Originally Posted by Jon Szanto View Post
    I just came across the following article tonight and found it a fascinating riff on many of the discussion points in the thread:

    Garbage Language
    I had to stop a third of the way through -- I was about to start screaming in agony as memories of actually working in a toxic environment like that came flooding back...
    Quid rides? Mutato nomine de te fabula narratur. — Horace
    (What are you laughing at? Just change the name and the joke’s on you.)

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    Default Re: Language

    I once saw a corporate clown stand up in front of an auditorium of electrical engineers and say, "We must leverage our synergies to maximize the margin on our deliverables." People turned and looked at each other with interobangs appearing over their heads.
    "Nothing is enough for the man to whom enough is too little." -Epicurus-

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