Direction of Fedora desktop manager Gnome, related to complaints in OT morons thread
Alan Cox
alan at lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk
Tue Mar 22 10:55:04 UTC 2011
On Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:19:24 +0000
Andrew Haley <aph at redhat.com> wrote:
> On 22/03/11 09:54, Colin Paul Adams wrote:
> >>>>>> "Andrew" == Andrew Haley <aph at redhat.com> writes:
> >
> > Andrew> On 21/03/11 21:19, Vaclav Mocek wrote:
> > >>
> > Andrew> Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary really should warn
> > Andrew> learners that the first usage, although common, is
> > Andrew> technically incorrect.
> >
> > There's no such thing as technical correctness when it comes to
> > (human) languages.
>
> Even if I were to agree with that rather extreme non-prescriptivist
> opinion, the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary should still warn
> learners about "begging the question". Whether the first usage is
> *actually* incorrect is irrelevant as long as some people believe that
> it is.
You can find someone on the internet who will believe anything is
incorrect. Oxford by the way take bug reports, so you can write them a
letter giving examples of the problematic usage and suggesting changes -
but IMHO you have to balance excessive detail against usefulness in
any learning process.
Anyway Humpty Dumpty had it right:
----
`I don't know what you mean by "glory,"' Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don't -- till I tell
you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'
`But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,"' Alice objected.
`When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, `it
means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.'
`The question is,' said Alice, `whether you can make words mean so many
different things.'
`The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, `which is to be master - - that's
all.'
---- (Alice Through The Looking Glass: Lewis Carroll)
And that is probably the most intelligent discussion of "English" words
and language ever written...
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