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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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"Many years ago I showed a silverware pattern I admired to a friend" has another clear meaning
Let's say my hobby is colleting silverware. I participate in an annual show in which I display my collection, especially some sets having interesting patterns. Looking back, I recall one such show in which I had entered a pattern which I myself had not considered unique
The reason I did so that was that earlier during a visit to my home by a dear friend also interested in my hobby, I had showed it to him, telling him that in spite of its plain pattern I nevertheless admired it for some of its other qualities; whereupon he remarked, "But you're wrong about that, it has one of the most interesting patterns I have ever seen"
Over the next few days as I ruminated upon his comment, I began to agree, and so I determined to enter it in the very next show
I will readily agree with the prescriptivist who will immediately object, "To have that exact meaning you would have had to say, "...I had admired..."
Many pre-'s are like that, they find a fault and they drag you through the mud. Still, I woud wager that if the pertinent sentence had been spoken by one silverware collector to another, the wrong meaning might well have been inferred
The phenom I describe is very common and is responsible for misunderstandings arising in Internet boards such as this one, causing much friction and unnecessary squabbling; eg, another tempest in a teapot. Such disputes are sometimes so virulent as to cause the most savage conflict
Nonetheless upon first reading, the unintended meaning was the one which first impressed itself upon me. I have encounterd hundreds if not tens of thousands of such cases, which meaning could becalled ambiguous in spite of the pre-'s immediate reaction
Am I alone
Note to Admin: I submitted this in Weekly Themes because it was pertinent to the foregoing thread. However, if you judge it out of place please feel free to move it elsewhere, eg, Misc--Thanks--dalehileman
Last edited by dalehileman; 12/18/06 04:01 PM.
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I would only say "... I had admired ..." if somewhere along the line I had stopped admiring it.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dale, I wish I could give some sensible answer to this, but these little puzzling grammar things are exactly those I am trying to learn more about on this board. I do like the saying though: 'Tempest in a teapot'. New to me.
Parallel saying in my foreign language is 'Storm in a glass of water'.
I like the English saying better : more fun.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Fal: "I had admired" places the admiring before the show and at the same time clarifies the idea that it was the friend to whom the admiration had been expressed
Bran: Your follwup much appreciated, as God knows I can use from time to time a bit of encouragement
Last edited by dalehileman; 12/16/06 04:08 PM.
dalehileman
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The pre- will be interested to learn that on another board that I'm not sure protocol permits me to name, two or three additional interpretations of the sentence have been uncovered, the most interesting of which shows that in spite of your first, second, or even fourth understanding, it can be thought to mean that I at no time actually showed him the silverware
dalehileman
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stranger
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stranger
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dalehileman, what does "pre-'s" mean? (I'm new to the forum, so I don't have many clues......) Thanks,
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> pre- abbreviationesce for prescriptivist. (cross-threading)  welcome, redryder! or is that re-dryder? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, it's dale's own special way of denoting prescriptivist.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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dalehileman
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Saves keystrokes
You could've saved sixteen keystrokes ...
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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