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AnnaStrophic #173096 02/02/08 03:21 PM
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Humblest apologies for my breach of forum etiquette. I am not sure what Ad Hominem means but am afraid it's an offense I may have committed.

I will be more judicious about my posts in the future and will try to be less retaliatory.

Porcupine #173097 02/02/08 03:39 PM
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Porky,

solecistic means erroneous, as in that apostrophe was. ad hominem is Latin for 'to the person', meaning the response was a personal attack rather than a rebuttal of ideas.

It's considered poor form to complain about usage (the verbing of GoogleŽ) whilst committing a common usage error.

>..which means I'm assuming that everyone here is actually smarter than I am.

You may actually be smarter than you realize!

-joe (just kidding) friday

Porcupine #173099 02/02/08 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted By: Porcupine
...because I'm terrified of being ridiculed,

****If you stick with it participation in forums such as this will case-harden you as you come to realize there's always a small fraction of control freaks who will attack anyone for virtually any reason at all

which means I'm assuming that everyone here is actually smarter than I am.

*******Highly doubtful. Undoubtedly you are highly intelligent as well as sensitive, and welcome to the fray

Funny.


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I now find myself annoyed.

Sorry to roil you, Porcupine. Please do stay. It's possible that you'll mellow and get used to the place. It took me awhile when I first got here. I only correct typos or solecisms when the writer is trying to impugn some common usage.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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the tribunal has decided to award you ten merit points

How graphically plutarchian. I congratulate you on your emergence from the chrysalis. The transformation is now complete. How fitting the paranoia. How minor the consequences.

I'll donate my points to Greenpeace in your name.


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Originally Posted By: zmjezhd
How graphically plutarchian. I congratulate you on your emergence from the chrysalis. The transformation is now complete. How fitting the paranoia. How minor the consequences.


ooh, I don't think so, but that could be speculatorily fun!


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From zmjezhd's link:
solecism

SYLLABICATION: solˇeˇcism
PRONUNCIATION: sl-szm, sl-
NOUN: 1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction. 2. A violation of etiquette. 3. An impropriety, mistake, or incongruity.


Hmm--so, can we say that solipsism is a solecism?

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Just for the record, I my comment was not meant as a complaint about the use of google as a verb as much as it was meant as a curious observation. We are witnessing the evolution of our language, the ubiquitous influence of technology. We are witnessing history, which is still a novel concept to me as I refuse to acknowledge having aged out of my twenties.

Thanks all for the warm welcome and gentle initiation.

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Nouns have been verbed and verbs nouned (in English) going on for a tad bit over half a millennium.


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Yes, I imagine.

However, I would surmise that just as technology is advancing and at unprecedented speed, so is language being influenced by the advancement of technology at a rate that has never before been witnessed.

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