Wordsmith.org
Posted By: tsuwm yet another logomachistic link (yall) - 03/18/03 03:54 PM
I don't think this one has been mentioned here before. (Jackie, note the reference to John McPhee!)

http://www.thediscouragingword.com/

Posted By: Jackie Re: yet another logomachistic link (yall) - 03/18/03 10:57 PM
Yes, he is a fine author who uses many words that are new to me, and he's not just rodomontading, either. [dig e]
Here's the quote the site has: As if in a minor earthquake, the truck trembled for minutes after he was gone, its corrosive fluid seiching back and forth.
I notice, though, that at one point the writer (on the site, not Mr. McPhee) says "an 1839", and in another place he has "a 1864". I saw the latter first, and wondered if it was some variant usage.

Posted By: Faldage Re: One in five ha(s,ve) - 03/19/03 11:02 AM
Yet Another Case of grammar by meaning vs. grammar by form. No one would think of saying twenty percent has.

Posted By: Capfka Re: One in five ha(s,ve) - 03/19/03 11:50 AM
The discussion of the word "sieche" was interesting, because it was used, in a slightly altered form, by Frank Herbert to describe the cave-dwellings of the Arrakis Fremen in the Dune books. Some sieches had large underground lakes. I wonder if there is a causal relationship?

- Pfranz
Posted By: tsuwm Re: One in five ha(s,ve) - 03/19/03 09:51 PM
>grammar by meaning vs. grammar by form

well yeah; if you're really talking about a sample of five people, I suppose you should say 'one in five has', but if your sample is 100..
-ron o.

© Wordsmith.org