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Carpal Tunnel
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Re: I thought that I had found yet another potentially enjoyable chat forum ruined by ...nitpicking ...
we have some nitpicker's extrordinare here.. but they are not vicious. just pendantic!
so, if nitpicking is pet peeve.. well expect to get petted (or peeved!)
(i am glad you came back!)
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Good.
In that case, I would like to point out the following:
The word 'hazard' is a transitive verb and must take a direct object. For example, 'wear' -- another transitive verb -- is never used without an object, as in "I like to wear."
Transitive verbs without objects leave one asking "what?"
Take, for example, the recent riposte:
"I would like to hazard a more pointless exercise for anyone who has anything better to do with their idle time."
In this sentence, the object of 'hazard' is a more pointless exercise. One is left wondering what more pointless exercise the poster is going to hazard. None is given, and, in such cases, the statement itself must stand in, by default, for the missing object.
This is unintentionally and disastrously ironic: the more pointless exercise the poster hazards is his own criticism of that exercise.
I appreciate that this is a forum about lexicon, and not syntax, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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" . . . appreciate that this is a forum about lexicon, and not syntax, but I thought it was worth mentioning.'
lol.
Syntax is good! I, Hazard.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Good.
In that case, I would like to point out the following: Hey--now don't be takin' too many daggoned liberties, Bub!  So glad you're back! [hug] That guy has cost us several members, and I just got enraged when I saw he'd managed it yet again.
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Carpal Tunnel
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"I would like to hazard a more pointless exercise for anyone who has anything better to do with their idle time."
<mutter>
must have dropped inexplicably out of self-editing/effacing loop...</mutter>
-ron (lending an ear) obvious
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I appreciate that this is a forum about lexicon, and not syntax, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
Just a nit to pick, but the sentence is syntactically correct, as you pointed out. The fault lies in the pragmatics of moss's posting.
[Edited typo.]
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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> The fault lies in the pragamatics of moss's posting.
one must assume you meant pragmatics and not pangrammatics, as I don't spot a q in moss's post.
-joe (nitwit) friday
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pragamatics / presto chango / perigrammaticists
'umble zmjezhd as in PIE
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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'umble zmjezhd as in PIE 
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Yes. The syntax is correct, but only if the poster meant to say: "Here is a more pointless exercise." I am sure he did not mean to say that, so I would maintain that it is in fact a question of synax : a case of syntatical malapropism.
When correct syntax in the wrong context conveys the wrong meaning then it is not "corrrect" syntax, no more than "defecation" is the right word in the sentence "I am suing her for defecation" although the word "defecation" itself is "correct" the intended word is "defamation" (unless of course... but no, let's no go there).
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