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#5634 - 08/26/00 04:19 PM Re: Virii - why not?
enthusiast
Registered: 07/12/00
Posts: 200
of course i never doubted the authenticity of your sources, tsuwm.
i just think "octopodes" becoming the plural of octopus is about as likely as imelda marcos leaving a shoe shop empty handed.
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#5635 - 08/26/00 11:35 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
an... interesting... choice of words, to which I will merely reply by quoting the OED:
octopus Pl. octopodes (ok TOP oh des), anglicized octopuses.
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#5636 - 08/27/00 06:58 AM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/15/00
Posts: 6511
Loc: lower upstate New York
This being the Southern corollary to what us Northern Hemisphere philologist types, in referring to developments causing the differences among the members of the Finno-Ugric family, call The Great Vowel Movement.
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#5637 - 08/27/00 10:55 AM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
US Plans to Deploy Over 75,000 Vowels:
Cities of Sjlbvdnzv, Grzny to Be First Recipients.
Before an emergency joint session of Congress yesterday, President Clinton announced US plans to deploy over 75,000 vowels to the war-torn region of Bosnia. The deployment, the largest of its kind in American history, will provide the region with the critically needed letters A,E,I,O and U, and is hoped to render countless Bosnian names more pronounceable.
"For six years, we have stood by while names like Ygrjvslhv and Tzlynhr and Glrm have been horribly butchered by millions around the world," Clinton said. "Today, the United States must finally stand up and say 'Enough.' It is time the people of Bosnia finally had some vowels in their incomprehensible words.
The US is proud to lead the crusade in this noble endeavour." The deployment, dubbed Operation Vowel Movement by the State Department, is set for early next week, with the Adriatic port cities of Sjlbvdnzv and Grzny slated to be the first recipients. Two C-130 transport planes, each carrying over 500 24-count boxes of "E's," will fly from Andrews Air Force Base across the Atlantic and airdrop the letters over the cities. Citizens of Grzny and Sjlbvdnzv eagerly await the arrival of the vowels.
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#5638 - 08/27/00 02:59 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/12/00
Posts: 3409
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#5639 - 08/27/00 04:24 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
an 'a' must have inadvertently found its way into that case of 'e's (or I cribbed it from an anglican [or a ponce]).
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#5640 - 08/28/00 01:15 AM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/09/00
Posts: 3065
Loc: Jakarta>a tentative first step toward the re-anglicisation of American orthography?
an 'a' must have inadvertently found its way into that case of 'e's (or I cribbed it from an anglicanWhat are the orthographical differences between Anglicans and other religious groups?
Bingley_________________________
Bingley
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#5641 - 08/28/00 01:52 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 07/17/00
Posts: 3467
Loc: Marion NC
http://lysy2.archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/WORDS.EXE?vira
I must respectfully disagree. Regardless of what this on-line dictionary says, virus is by Latin definition a masculine noun, unless Rosa Parva (Rose Little, my esteemed latin teacher) was WAY wrong. Words in the nominative case that end in -um are neuter, those that end in -a are feminine in construction. But they are not necessarily neuter or feminine in reality. Agricola is the word for farmer, and it is most definitely feminine in construction. Nauta, sailor, is another one I remember. I am sure there are other words like vir and virus that could have similar spellings in some of their cases and I am sure the Romans had no trouble determining from context the difference between several men and several poisons (notwithstanding what some modern-day ultra-femininists might believe).
Now this brings up one of my favorite topics of conversation about language and one of my pet peeves as well. I took two years of Latin in high school, mainly because my parents thought French would be better for me (GRIN). I contend that these two years of Latin were the most important overall in my education, giving me good basics in sentence construction as well as in the art of vocabulary.
My pet peeve is that it is impossible to find Latin being taught at the high school level.
Anyone have any thoughts on this?_________________________
TEd
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#5642 - 08/28/00 02:41 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 04/03/00
Posts: 10464
Loc: this too shall pass
<sigh> I refer you to the second sense below....
anglican
1 : of or relating to the established episcopal Church of England and churches of similar faith and order in communion with it
2 : of or relating to England or the English nation
[Merriam-Webster]
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#5643 - 08/28/00 03:05 PM
Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 08/12/00
Posts: 3409
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