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Rhub said: Whatever else, the French are inexorably logical.
Stupid, but logical. Yup.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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In reply to:
fortnight = quinze jours
I occurs to me that a simpler explanation is that the French were using the ancient counting method (the Greek & Roman method, among others) whereby you counted both ends of a series. I always had a problem in Sunday School with the assertion that Christ rose from the dead on the third day [after he died]; couldn't figure how you got 3 days from p.m. Friday to early a.m. Sunday. The answer is that in ancient times they counted Friday (1), Saturday (2), Sunday (3). Hence Monday Jan 1 to Mon. Jan 15 is Jan 1 (1), Jan 2 (2) ... Jan 15 (15). Tout simple, n'est-ce pas?
While I'm at it, I trust everyone is aware that fortnight is pronounced fortnit. Also, for those of you who have never seen sennight in print, it's found is one of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe stories (I forget offhand which one). Stout, and his creation, Wolfe, would have been ecstatic over this site.
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>While I'm at it, I trust everyone is aware that fortnight is pronounced fortnit.
Just a clarification/question to ensure that we don't lead anyone astray here, Bob. I imagine you were concentrating on the syllable emphasis and let the phonetic spelling slip. Do you really pronounce it 'fortnit' or did you mean with a long i -'fortnite' - which is how most people say it here?
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Bobyoungbalt explains: with the assertion that Christ rose from the dead on the third day [after he died]; couldn't figure how you got 3 days from p.m. Friday to early a.m. Sunday. The answer is that in ancient times they counted Friday (1), Saturday (2), Sunday (3).
Yeah, I had to work that one through when I was a kid, and decided they just couldn't count ... they certainly liked to keep you hanging around back in ancient times, didn't they?
Still, I'd like Dr Who's Tardis myself on this one, given someone else's assertion in another thread that all history is myth until proven ...
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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No no, Rhu. The term used is quinze jours not quinze nuits/soirs and no matter how you calculate it, it doesn't add up.
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At the risk of being overly pious, if you went back and substituted 'the English' or 'the Americans' or 'the Kiwis' for 'the French' in posts in this thread, AWAD would by now be in civil war.
We're all here because we're wordies. We happen to be wordies who are (mostly) native speaker of the world's dominant language. We complain (loads of us, including me!) about misuse of our language. Why are we being so mean about French people who care about their language?
BTW I do not agree with the way the Academie go about things and I think they are misguided, but I sympathise with the simple fact that they care about language.
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I agree Bridget. I am very interested in the fact that some people, in many different cultures, try to alter langauge by decree whilst other accept it as a living creature. I am not comfortable about generalised insults being offered to any people(s!). My interest is probably sharpened in that, like some others on this board I live in a bilingual, indeed bicultural, corner of the globe.
Participating in this forum has underlined for me that what we share is infinitely more important that what divides us; but that divisions can highlight fascinating differences of formative experience and just plain differences of taste.
Let's try and avoid generalised insults.
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Okay, I'll be specific. (1) The homme manning the "information" desk at the railway station near Charles de Gaulle airport. (2) The ticket collector on the train from there to the Gare du Nord. (3) The gendarme who I asked for directions. (4) NOT the couple in the tavern, neither of whom spoke English (unlike the first three), but who tried to be helpful. But they weren't French, so that probably doesn't count ... and that was just the first hour in Paris in 1998. Now, going back to 1974, ...
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fortnight qua fortnit
No, Marty, I really did mean short vowel in last (unstressed) syllable. To be accurate, it's not really pronounced as short 'i'; being in the unstressed final syllable, it's actually pronouced more like schwa.
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No, Marty, I really did mean short vowel in last (unstressed) syllable. To be accurate, it's not really pronounced as short 'i'; being in the unstressed final syllable, it's actually pronouced more like schwa.
Sez hu? NZ standard pronunciation is definitely "fortnite", and I have never yet heard anyone pronounce the word in the manner you describe. The pronunciation you describe screams "Sloane Ranger" to me, or perhaps the sort of person who still thinks "u" and "non-u"
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