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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,852 Likes: 2 |
...as in, "I never met a YART I didn't like."
Which illustrates the issue quite nicely. Should we articleulate alert: neologism YART or not? It's an acronym, a phrase rather than a noun. It contains its own article; isn't calling it "a YART" like talking of "the hoi polloi"?
Is it appropriate for a bunch of word fans to be saying "This is a YART" or "Maybe it's just another YART but..."?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
When AWADtalk was new, and the number of participants small, resentment of repeat
of previously adequately discussed topics was understandable. But now it is unreasonable
to expect new members to search for previous discussions. There are too few posts to
warrant stigmatizing repetition. We need all the new talent we can get.
YART me no YARTS.
Incidentally, in looking up "dunce" the other day, I learned that the cliché about scholasticists
debating how many angels could dance on the point of a pin is a carnard coined by the father
of Disreali, and actually spoke of point of a needle.
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
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Too late, Knut. I suspect the articleulation of YART is an accomplished fate, in much the same way that almost everybody I know speaks of their PIN number.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
ignoring Dr. Bill's standard anti-YART screed, and as perpetrator of the offending term, I stand on shaky ground and state that you shouldn't add an article if you tend to expand it upon seeing it; but rather if you tend to see it as a word unto itself; i.e., yart; then it takes an article just as does any other acronymic noun (not able to think of another example containing an article at the moment, but you see what I mean).
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear tsuwm: I still remember how shitty some oldtimers were to me when I first
joined. You were part of that.
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,852 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 10,852 Likes: 2 |
...almost everybody I know speaks of their PIN number.
Ah yes, the PIN number ... (throwing-the-hands-up-in-the-air-in-dismay-defeat-and-resignation-emoticon)
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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... I say in the future *we should drop the "Y"... come to think of it, it'll clarify a few things.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dear musick: I can't bitch about 'art" so long as it is not an acronym.
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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how many angels could dance on the point of a pin
Picking nits : isn't that "dance on the *head of a pin?"
At least it's how I learned it!
The answer? "As many as want to."
And as to YARTs : How many can bring up a YART ?
As many as want to.
Sometimes old times are best forgotten, Bill!
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