#89982
12/19/2002 3:47 PM
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5 |
Check http://www.mentalfloss.com/archives/archive015.htm. (link updated 12/23 to match archive on site) Whod've thunk that Noah Webster, someone revered by English teachers (when I grew up anyway) as having crafted the first American dictionary, had such radical changes in mind for our language? I give the whole thing "thums down."
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#89983
12/19/2002 3:57 PM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Simplification of spelling seems a good idea, until you think about the impossibility of
getting it accepted. It would be interesting to see how many of Webster's suggestions
for simplified spelling are still in use.
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#89984
12/20/2002 10:19 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Radical approaches to language change are doomed to failure in a free and democratic society. Webster is one of very many more or less influential people who have advocated change (cf G.B.Shaw, for instance.)The only way change has come about has been from the bottom up - people start to use different spellings (and ascribe different meanings, for that matter) which become accpeted, first in a small area - geographically or culturally - or even vocationally - and then spread to a wider public. You USns have dropped redundant second vowels, for instance, and it is spreading over here. We have two acceptable spellings of "Program/me" over here, depending on whether it is computer-speak or theatre-speak. It won't be long before the final "-me" is rarely seen in any context. So long as "sox" never becomes an acceptable alternative to "socks", I can live with the changes, myself! 
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#89985
12/21/2002 11:41 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I have always been amused by the pretentiousness of the French lawmakers who seem to really believe they can stop the tide of language change in the estuaries.
TEd
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#89986
12/22/2002 5:09 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
I give the whole thing "thums down."
Is that in the Siskel and Ebert to a movie cents or the Roman Emperor to a Gladiator sense?
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#89987
12/22/2002 7:59 PM
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180
member
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member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180 |
Germans set about doing the same thing several years ago. Like you, I am amazed by the willingness of an entire population to go along with that kind of authority, or to establish such an authority to begin with. Not opposed to it, I guess, just surprised.
But I did like the word for the phenomenon: Rechtschreibereform.
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#89988
12/22/2002 9:42 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>Germans set about doing the same thing several years ago. Like you, I am amazed by the willingness of an entire population to go along with that kind of authority, or to establish such an authority to begin with. Not opposed to it, I guess, just surprised. Ah, but isn't that the famed, stereotypical German mindset?  Some cousins of mine have grandparents who run a pub in Denmark, close to the German border. They(the grandparents) remarked that when it comes to closing time, the general rule was, ask the Germans to leave, they wouldn't. Tell them to leave, they would. The reverse applied to the Danish clientele.
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#89989
12/23/2002 12:50 AM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
As someone here said some time back, anal retentive does not have a hyphen, it has a colon. I consider the Germans to be right up there in anal:retentiveness.
TEd
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#89990
12/23/2002 1:13 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2 |
...if it's anal and retentive it durn well better have a colon. Better get it scoped every five years, too.
Don't blame me, I'm only a cardiologist
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#89991
12/25/2002 2:20 PM
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5 |
If used as an adjective to describe a type of surgery in which a portion is removed, however, a semicolon is preferred.
Sorry, someone had to say it.
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#89992
12/25/2002 3:55 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2 |
If used as an adjective to describe a type of surgery in which a portion is removed, however, a semicolon is preferred.
But seriously, folks. When used in that context, the prefix used is "hemi-", and the full term is hemicolectomy, often done when a scary-looking polyp is found.
So, now - is there any reason (rhyme there is, aplenty) why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-, when it wants to indicate half?
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#89993
12/25/2002 4:43 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
I quaver to think how the musicians answer this question.
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#89994
12/25/2002 7:41 PM
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
I'd like to say I used demi more than the others, but 'tain't true.
TEd
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#89995
12/25/2002 7:47 PM
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 5 |
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#89996
12/25/2002 10:19 PM
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Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Jul 2002
Posts: 742 |
>is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
To use hemi for half here could leave one in a bit of a jam - it's a not uncommon given name, thought of as the Maaori version of James.
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#89997
12/25/2002 11:24 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 11,074 Likes: 2 |
Q: is there any reason why sometimes the language chooses hemi-, or semi-, or demi-?
A: I quaver to think how the musicians answer this question.
Noted...
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#89998
12/26/2002 12:01 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Posts: 2,661 |
'Hemi' is used to describe an internal combustion engine wherein the top of each piston (not Walter) are convex shaped to focus/distribute more of the available power to the drive shaft. 'Semi' has become *our word for any truck with a removable cargo box. 'Demi' is the lady assistant to that guy who couldn't " Handel the truth". It seems as if some tranference is involved in each yet nothing near a "half" and they clearly have nothing to do with music, Faldage. 
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#89999
12/26/2002 2:35 AM
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
and they clearly have nothing to do with music, Faldage.ooh, you're going to get drawn and quartered for that one, or at least get kicked in the crotchet...
formerly known as etaoin...
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#90000
12/26/2002 1:20 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't know about the intricacies of convex pistoned internal combustion engines and demi- and Demi are another non-example of words that change pronunciation when they are capitalized, and for the same reason the as the other non-example. The meaning from which semi, meaning the whole vehicle, transfered is that of the trailer being half supported on its own wheels and half on the wheels under the massive trailer hitch.
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#90001
12/26/2002 6:10 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
But 'Demi' and 'demi' are pronounced the same sfars® I know, as are 'Hemi and hemi'. Yet 'Semi' and 'semi' fall into that *other category, no?
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#90002
12/26/2002 6:27 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Demi I'd always heard [duhMEE], demi [DEHmee]. [SEHmy] for the truck, half I've heard [SEHmy] and [SEHmee] both, depending.
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#90003
12/27/2002 1:44 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Now be kind. Musick may have no truck with the lovely Demi (Deh-ME) Moore but I bet he fairly Bubbles with joy for musical celebrities.
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