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Accepting that others are different from you in this and other ways is more about learning to be a social creature than being grammatically correct. Expecting that everyone place the same value on a well turned statement is unrealistic, and not only will it result in you being constantly annoyed, you will alienate a number of fine people in the process.
tempus edax rerum
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Agreed, Maven. As my husband says, it's like trying to teach a pig to sing: it's going to frustrate you and irritate the pig.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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You're married to Mark Twain?!
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addict
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addict
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With all due respect, Cur, this is not pedantic, it's pathetic.
In the dictionary, if you look up the word (and I suggest you do) you will read: "the annual anniversary of the day on which a person was born, typically treated as an occasion for celebration and present-giving."
Birthday means precisely what you reject it for failing to accurately confer. All you are doing is insisting on a literal-minded interpretation of orthographical cognates over the accepted meaning of words—a prodigiously silly practice which runs into a wall whatever way you turn. Consider, for example, that consider means to examine stars.
You are adolescent all right. All too adolescent.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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Hey,Hydra
Cur thinks and cares about words, cut him some slack. I agreed with your statement about word use but the insult was gratuitous and, ironically, rather adolescent.
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stranger
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Defending a logical approach to language (which is what I see it to be) is not adolescent. I assume that you find nothing wrong with the term "look up", because we know it to mean find? Doh, Homer Simpson's exclamation, is in dictionaries; but remember dictionaries are for reference. Because the majority uses "birthday" to mean one's yearly anniversary of birth does not mean it is smart to follow.
Last edited by Bohemian_Cur; 06/29/07 12:57 AM.
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stranger
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stranger
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Here is a message I received from BranShea:
You are no pedant in this anniversary matter but simply right: We all have only one birthday i.e. the day we were born.
Only the English and the German language give: Birthday and Geburtstag (mentioning birth).
Dutch-verjaardag
French-anniversaire
Spanish-Cumpleaños
Italian-anniversario
These four languages at least just give : the adding or passing of another year. Like what anniversary means.
So it is more correct to use anniversary than birthday.
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veteran
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Here is a message I received from BranShea:
You are no pedant in this anniversary matter but simply right: We all have only one birthday i.e. the day we were born.
Only the English and the German language give: Birthday and Geburtstag (mentioning birth).
Dutch-verjaardag
French-anniversaire
Spanish-Cumpleaños
Italian-anniversario
These four languages at least just give : the adding or passing of another year. Like what anniversary means.
So it is more correct to use anniversary than birthday. Listen, you Bohemian Cur; listen and think: BranShea is excetionally bright and exceptionally kind (did you remember to thank her for her permission to post her personal message to you on this open board?) but she is not fully culturated in Americanisms. The current term "birthday" was coined by two ladies who composed a song called "Happy Anniversary of your Birthday to You" but the song didn't sale so they changed the lyrics to "Happy Birthday to you" and the rest is history. I accept your thanks for this information in advance as I do not wish you to grow up to be like Faldage who was 50 years old at the time of his birth.
Last edited by themilum; 06/29/07 09:00 AM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Defending a logical approach to language (which is what I see it to be) is not adolescent. You're right, it is not adolescent, but it does show a lack of understanding about how language works. Ignorance, if you will. You're an intelligent young person but you need better instruction in language. Certainly some logic is needed to construct a coherent argument but when you get down to the level of the word logic goes out the window. Take, for example, the word 'vouchsafe'. You used it at the begining of this thread to mean, essentially, 'give'. Logically, 'vouchsafe' means ' warrant as safe'. Its present meaning is more like 'deign to grant'. Words are doing this sort of thing all the time. Two other examples that I have alluded to in this thread are 'nice' and 'silly'. Both have changed drastically in meaning over the years in the English language. To limit the meaning of anniversary to the year-mark of one's birth is no more logical than simply referring to the day as one's birthday. If you want to complain about usages involving the word 'anniversary' complain about using it to indicate celebrations on other than year markers, e.g., "today is the three month anniversary of my last hair cut." Or you could stand at the seashore at low tide and demand that the water not come lapping up around your ankles. At least King Canute knew what he was doing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Here is a message I received from BranShea:
Only the English and the German language give: Birthday and Geburtstag (mentioning birth). This is factually incorrect, even within the Indo-European family of languages. The most common word in Hindi for "birthday" is made up of two words, the first meaning "birth" and the second meaning "day". Put together they translate, quite literally, as "birthday". As for the rest of it, I'm with Faldage, you're extemely nice, possibly the nicest person it has been my profound lack of pleasure not to be able to avoid reading, to paraphrase a role model of mine.
Last edited by sjmaxq; 06/29/07 02:11 PM.
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