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OP
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hey faldage! thanks a bunch. try to post something world serious and this is what I get. 
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and i, who was chastized today for carelessness in some of my post, had gone of to a word processor, to use a spell check, and took way to long!
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while my gaffe would prolly have passed through all of the spellcheckers in the Known Universe.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes-- and i hate the idea of censorship-- but i could see the use for a dictionary of proscribed words..
I was "protected" from exposure to some words as a child-- and did my best to protect my children (but alas, their paternal grandfather used them.) My parent didn't object to much to the "classic bad words" and for Dr Bill, i'll write them as the NYTimes and other publications do, f***, s***, and such ilk. Rather it was words that were hurtful-- ethic slurs are one major category of such words.. I would gladly see such words added to a proscribed word list..
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Anonymous
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Out of curiousity, I looked up the etymology of "proscribe" and found this: Middle English proscriben, from Latin prôscrîbere, to put up someone's name as outlawed : prô-, in front; see pro–1 + scrîbere, to write.]I'm not sure I understand the connection between "front writing" and placing criminal status upon someone's name. Am I missing something?? I got even more confused when I looked up "prescribe" and saw the legal definition: " Law
To assert a right or title to something on the grounds of prescription.
To become invalidated or unenforceable by the process of prescription." So, in prescribing something you effectively make it invalid? I don't get it  . Perhaps sparteye or one of the other legal eagles can give us an example.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I think dictionaries should be descriptive to a point. Likewise, the rules of grammar should be descriptive within some reasonable bounds. For example, the vast majority of people have found that it is easier to use "they" as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun rather than say "he or she," yet this is not incorporated (yet) into our official grammar. It' silly.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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What official grammar? There isn't an official grammar. No-one has the power to make artificial rules, or to decide when a "rule" changes. The language is the language, that's all.
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old hand
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old hand
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What official grammar? There isn't an official grammar.Clearly you have not been in a high school English class recently! The teachers there still attempt to teach something, and with they way they carry on about mistakes, they obviously feel there is an official grammar! 
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tsuwm pretests: my gaffe would prolly have passed through all of the spellcheckers in the Known Universe.
As would have ledasdottir's way to long! unless she really did mean manner in which to yearn.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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In reply to:
What official grammar? There isn't an official grammar. No-one has the power to make artificial rules, or to decide when a "rule" changes. The language is the language, that's all.
Well that's how I feel about language, too, but there's definitely an official language in terms of what is acceptable in a formal publication. If you turn in your doctoral dissertation using "they" to mean "he or she," or if it contains the word "ain't," or if it contains the sentence "Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were back at the crib kickin' it old-school," well you're going to get laughed out of the university.
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