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stranger
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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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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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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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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member
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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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old hand
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old hand
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>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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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...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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stranger
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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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Carpal Tunnel
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If used as an adjective to describe a type of surgery in which a portion is removed, however, a semicolon is preferred.
But seriously, folks. When used in that context, the prefix used is "hemi-", and the full term is hemicolectomy, often done when a scary-looking polyp is found.
So, now - is there any reason (rhyme there is, aplenty) why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-, when it wants to indicate half?
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Carpal Tunnel
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is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
I quaver to think how the musicians answer this question.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'd like to say I used demi more than the others, but 'tain't true.
TEd
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stranger
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old hand
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>is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
To use hemi for half here could leave one in a bit of a jam - it's a not uncommon given name, thought of as the Maaori version of James.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Q: is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
A: I quaver to think how the musicians answer this question.
Noted...
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Carpal Tunnel
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'Hemi' is used to describe an internal combustion engine wherein the top of each piston (not Walter) are convex shaped to focus/distribute more of the available power to the drive shaft. 'Semi' has become *our word for any truck with a removable cargo box. 'Demi' is the lady assistant to that guy who couldn't " Handel the truth". It seems as if some tranference is involved in each yet nothing near a "half" and they clearly have nothing to do with music, Faldage. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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and they clearly have nothing to do with music, Faldage.ooh, you're going to get drawn and quartered for that one, or at least get kicked in the crotchet...
formerly known as etaoin...
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't know about the intricacies of convex pistoned internal combustion engines and demi- and Demi are another non-example of words that change pronunciation when they are capitalized, and for the same reason the as the other non-example. The meaning from which semi, meaning the whole vehicle, transfered is that of the trailer being half supported on its own wheels and half on the wheels under the massive trailer hitch.
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Carpal Tunnel
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But 'Demi' and 'demi' are pronounced the same sfars® I know, as are 'Hemi and hemi'. Yet 'Semi' and 'semi' fall into that *other category, no?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Demi I'd always heard [duhMEE], demi [DEHmee]. [SEHmy] for the truck, half I've heard [SEHmy] and [SEHmee] both, depending.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Now be kind. Musick may have no truck with the lovely Demi (Deh-ME) Moore but I bet he fairly Bubbles with joy for musical celebrities.
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