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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5 |
Check http://www.mentalfloss.com/archives/archive015.htm. (link updated 12/23 to match archive on site) Whod've thunk that Noah Webster, someone revered by English teachers (when I grew up anyway) as having crafted the first American dictionary, had such radical changes in mind for our language? I give the whole thing "thums down."
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Simplification of spelling seems a good idea, until you think about the impossibility of
getting it accepted. It would be interesting to see how many of Webster's suggestions
for simplified spelling are still in use.
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Radical approaches to language change are doomed to failure in a free and democratic society. Webster is one of very many more or less influential people who have advocated change (cf G.B.Shaw, for instance.)The only way change has come about has been from the bottom up - people start to use different spellings (and ascribe different meanings, for that matter) which become accpeted, first in a small area - geographically or culturally - or even vocationally - and then spread to a wider public. You USns have dropped redundant second vowels, for instance, and it is spreading over here. We have two acceptable spellings of "Program/me" over here, depending on whether it is computer-speak or theatre-speak. It won't be long before the final "-me" is rarely seen in any context. So long as "sox" never becomes an acceptable alternative to "socks", I can live with the changes, myself! 
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I have always been amused by the pretentiousness of the French lawmakers who seem to really believe they can stop the tide of language change in the estuaries.
TEd
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
I give the whole thing "thums down."
Is that in the Siskel and Ebert to a movie cents or the Roman Emperor to a Gladiator sense?
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180
member
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member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180 |
Germans set about doing the same thing several years ago. Like you, I am amazed by the willingness of an entire population to go along with that kind of authority, or to establish such an authority to begin with. Not opposed to it, I guess, just surprised.
But I did like the word for the phenomenon: Rechtschreibereform.
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>Germans set about doing the same thing several years ago. Like you, I am amazed by the willingness of an entire population to go along with that kind of authority, or to establish such an authority to begin with. Not opposed to it, I guess, just surprised. Ah, but isn't that the famed, stereotypical German mindset?  Some cousins of mine have grandparents who run a pub in Denmark, close to the German border. They(the grandparents) remarked that when it comes to closing time, the general rule was, ask the Germans to leave, they wouldn't. Tell them to leave, they would. The reverse applied to the Danish clientele.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
As someone here said some time back, anal retentive does not have a hyphen, it has a colon. I consider the Germans to be right up there in anal:retentiveness.
TEd
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,546 Likes: 1
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,546 Likes: 1 |
...if it's anal and retentive it durn well better have a colon. Better get it scoped every five years, too.
Don't blame me, I'm only a cardiologist
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5 |
If used as an adjective to describe a type of surgery in which a portion is removed, however, a semicolon is preferred.
Sorry, someone had to say it.
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