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#83280 10/11/02 09:58 AM
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Mostly babies seem to get called it, at least around this part of the world and I can't imagine a reasonable mother* objecting to anyone calling her baby beautiful.

The president example is a little narrow; we've never had a female president. How'd y'all handle that in Ireland, Rube? Or anyone know from Iceland? How do they do it when talking about their president?

*Is that an oxymoron?


#83281 10/11/02 01:09 PM
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Every citizen should pay their taxes, which, in turn, buys them the right to be tax-paying citizens

I'd go for this kind of construction, where appropriate. Sometimes sounds a bit stilted (in fact it does here), but I can live with that.

Mind you, with just a little thought you can usually re-work PC sentences into something slightly more palatable:

"Every citizen should pay taxes, which, in turn, buys them the right to be called a tax-paying citizen"


#83282 10/11/02 02:00 PM
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Since the wording is "...THEIR taxes.." I guess the speaker is referring to direct taxation. Not every citizen is liable to direct taxation, due to very low income perhaps, which means that "Every citizen should pay taxes..." is too sweeping.


#83283 10/11/02 03:23 PM
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Doing a Faldage



Here, have my place, David. I'm off to the back of the queue!






#83284 10/11/02 03:57 PM
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have my place, David

The torch has been passed, shona. It's now officially doing a Juan


#83285 10/11/02 08:56 PM
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The torch has been passed

That's as may be, nunclage, but I've bagsied a place on that big comfy couch right at the back of the line

And if you don't want second place, dxb is, I think, a most worthy understudy to the Juan.


#83286 10/11/02 11:30 PM
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a most worthy understudy

That'd be up to Juan. I'm retired.


#83287 10/12/02 03:20 AM
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Here, now, what's all this faldagery going on with my good "name"? It's all very clear as cited in the dictionary section of the Ithaca Encyclopedia of Nit. You can't retire from, or relinquish, an inherent power, Faldage...you ARE, now and forevermore, the Nit King! O fearsome King of Nit, I bow before, and light years away from, your fearsome and omnipotent powers. Shona and me merely jesters and/or pages in your esteemed court...and that's all we can ever hope to be. Now here's the dictionary citation for all to see:

faldage: n. (origin: "a Cubs fan in New York" ) : 1. a miniscule, and sometimes presumptuous, dissection of formulas, phrases, historical facts, and any data in general, but usually directed at linguistic discussions.( ~he's a real faldage when it comes to picking nits!) 2. nit-knacker; nit-knackery; nit-knacking 3. v. to nit-knack; demonstrating a knack for picking nits ( ~he faldaged all through that citation!)



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Forgive me for derailing Won and Faldage's twaddle and getting back on the track of this interesting thread.

It seems that this love of things PC, which above all seems to catch the attention of TV people, is getting so out of hand that no one wants to use a gender-specific word even when it's justified. Several times in the last month or so, I have heard TV announcers use "their" when referring to members of a group composed entirely of mothers, female lawyers, male prison inmates, etc.


#83289 10/12/02 02:17 PM
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you ARE, now and forevermore, the Nit King!

As is the line between insanity and genius, that between nitpickery and conceptual detection is exceeding thin.


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