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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
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To be a true pedant, you need decades of knowledge to fall back on. And then you're still gonna be obnoxious.
An erudite former member of this board, one NicholasW, described himself in his profile as "a precisian". When I asked him why, he said that it was because "pedant" carried an implicit suggestion of one who was a stickler for details but who was often incorrect. Such a definition certainly did not fit NicholasW.
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
That's why the English we spoke 1000 years ago didn't sound anything at all like the language we speak now. Who's the "we", kemosabe? And how in Knut's name have you managed to hang around speaking English for the last 1000 years? 
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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To be a true pedant, you need decades of knowledge to fall back on. And then you're still gonna be obnoxious. [thread jack] Anna your above comment reminds me of a behind-the-scenes thing I saw once about the show "Seinfeld." There was a line that Jerry had to speak that was "Are you gonna do it?" He kept saying it and it wasn't funny. He tried stressing different words. " Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna do it?" But it still wasn't funny. But when he said "Are you gonna do it?" it was funny. Not sure what hell that has to do with anything, but... [/thread jack]
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 270 |
To the smartass up above with the unpronounceable nickname, the answer is "humans".
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 13
stranger
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stranger
Joined: May 2007
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I have had patients who, because of a stroke, have damage to the language areas of the brain. Note the plural - areas. The receptive and expressive language centers are separate although closely linked. Not only that, but single features of language ability are distributed over two or more areas, are they not? Part of relearning language for some people, requires (or results in) using parts of the brain not previously used for language. Alas, I have no longer my fine books on speech pathology, but you can tell us, Zed?
First, what about prelinguistic children?
...
Second, what of deaf persons, . . . . There are a few such folks around who have grown to adulthood with no language at all (neither sign language nor spoken langauge). . . .
Third, what of polysemy? . . .
Clearly, language can assist thougth, but it is not thought's equal, nor is it even a necessary condition for the acquisition of thought.
Excellent points, ChrisMcA. Isn't Helen Keller the example par excellence of a Languageless Thinker? What came first. What came really, really first? First feelings (emotions), then thoughts, then language. "Heart, mind and body." 
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
You guys should read The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks.
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
or any book by Oliver Sacks! (he's one of my favorite authors.. i've even met him (ok it was a reading/book signing.. but.. it was a small close group (Mus of Nat. History))
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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The evolution of our language now seems to be a decay. Why should "gonna" remain in our language? It is lazy! Damn, I am not afraid of being called a stickler, gonna is utterly stupid. It changes a sentence too much:
Is he leaving tomorrow?
Is he gonna leave tomorrow? you're not gonna wanna know this, but here it is, as a matter of donkamentation, if nothing else. 'gonna' (as well as 'wanna') can be found in several mainstream dictionaries such as AHD4, Compact OED, Cambridge, Encarta, etc. (per onelook.com) - joe (I'm jus sayin) friday
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
no doubt curmudgeons in the past railed against "god be with you" being shortened into good bye
and where convinced that english was going to hell in a hand basket it that sort of stuff was going to be allowed.
do think there was a time when chitterlings were call chitterlings, and not chit'lins?
was there once a name Saint John, (before it became Syngen?)
i remember in my lifetime, telephone--who says telephone any more? its phone( both noun and verb!) and cel phone.
i still speak of dialing, but its been 20 years since i owned a phone with a dial. (my cel has touch screen, not even a (numeric) pad)(no its not an i-phone)
language is imprecise.. it carry relics, and it sprouts new words for new idea, new situations. i'm gunna, (like gonna but more gutteral,--closer i think to how most say the word) sign off now!
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
no doubt curmudgeons in the past railed against
was there once a name Saint John, (before it became Syngen?)
What do you mean "was there once"? There still is. Not only is the surname still spelled "Saint John", there are still people with that name who pronounce it "Saint John". I have yet to see the surname spelled as "Syngen".
Last edited by sjmaxq; 06/30/07 11:01 PM.
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