DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
Jack's House
HTML https://jackshouse.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Free Discussion
*****************************************************
#Post#: 8330--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Plagosus Date: August 25, 2018, 5:08 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=786.msg8325#msg8325
date=1535154754]I speak and write American. The longer I live
the more I am convinced American is a separate language. I
would even dare to say Australian is a separate language
also.[/quote]
There is a saying, variously attributed to Mark Twain, George
Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde or Winston Churchill, that the
Americans and British are two peoples separated by a common
language. Like many witticisms it contains an element of truth,
but as a serious proposition it cannot be entertained.
What amounts to a language or a dialect is a tricky question.
Professional linguists make statements such as "There are only
dialects" to emphasise that one variety may merge into another.
If a variety gets called a language it will more often than not
be for political or geographical reasons.
Comparing US and UK English can run into a bit of difficulty
because it depends exactly on what you are comparing. The two
standards are virtually the same, the main differences being
clothing and food. Such minor differences in grammar, vocabulary
and pronunciation as exist are barely noticed. It gets
complicated if you bring register, colloquial speech and slang
into it, especially if you consider that some language used by
the young may not be understood by their parents! Further, the
spoken varieties of North American English are much more like
each other than the spoken varieties of English of the British
Isles. You will encounter more varieties of English travelling
100 miles from any point in the British Isles to any other than
you will encounter travelling from the Arctic Circle to the Rio
Grande. I have never had a problem understanding an American and
I find nothing which justifies characterising the speech of all
the Americans I have spoken to as a different dialect from the
one I speak. Indeed, I am more likely to have a problem
understanding someone from the border zone between England and
Scotland than an American.
The problem is that when comparing varieties one homes in on the
differences and the differences get emphasised. Standard
American and UK English (along with many other standards) are a
unified whole and such differences as exist are minimal and do
not justify regarding any standard as a different dialect let
alone language. This language is called English for no other
reason than that it arose in England. If it gets a different
name outside England you are emphasising difference. You put a
step on the road to linguistic nationalism which is a road to
conflict.
Let each English speaking community delight in its own
peculiarities without interference from outsiders (whether
fellow countrymen or not) suggesting that their variety is
degraded or lazy. That is not incompatible with recognising the
essential unity of English as a world language.
#Post#: 8331--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Jack Date: August 25, 2018, 6:31 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[center]
HTML https://youtu.be/EAYUuspQ6BY?t=1m47s[/center]
[center]
HTML https://s33.postimg.cc/fl3iygvj3/english_quote-e1420498450472.png[/center]
It's said that English is the most widely studied foreign
language in our world. I believe part of the reason for that is
that English IS a living, growing language which is easily
capable of adaption. Sometimes that does lead to things that
one dislikes (I personally detest 'alot' for some reason).
I can understand Flagellant's desire to have MMSA be a site that
presents proper stories. After all, he's put a lot of effort
into making the site where they're presented look proper. In
the end, my problem is not with that so much, nor even the
specific battles he picks, but with the way he pursues them. In
the end, I have to agree with Plagosus' last two paragraphs.
This is something we all do for fun, and something people read
for fun, so we should try to avoid conflict and just let it be
fun.
#Post#: 8343--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Kat Date: August 25, 2018, 5:59 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Am I alone, or would anyone else like to murder Bottom?
Kat
#Post#: 8344--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: stevieweeks Date: August 25, 2018, 6:06 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
If one argues with a Bottom, all one is likely to get in reply
is malodorous intestinal gas and all...
[URL=
HTML http://www.sherv.net/][IMG]http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/farting/super-fart.gif[/img][/URL]
#Post#: 8345--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Kat Date: August 25, 2018, 6:17 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=stevieweeks link=topic=786.msg8344#msg8344
date=1535238388]
If one argues with a Bottom, all one is likely to get in reply
is malodorous intestinal gas and all...
[URL=
HTML http://www.sherv.net/][IMG]http://www.sherv.net/cm/emoticons/farting/super-fart.gif[/img][/URL]
[/quote]
Thank you, Stevie. :P
Kat
#Post#: 8350--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: ivor Date: August 26, 2018, 4:08 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Perhaps Bottom is trying to score some brownie point with Flag,
although I've not seem him as cantankerous as this for a long
while.
I'd suggest you put him in same cell as Flag and BadBoyBobby,
come back in a week and see which one is still alive!
#Post#: 8351--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: stevieweeks Date: August 26, 2018, 8:03 am
---------------------------------------------------------
The angry cherubs would finish Flagellant and Bottom off in a
hurry...
#Post#: 8353--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Adric Date: August 26, 2018, 9:18 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=David M. Katz link=topic=786.msg8291#msg8291
date=1535081399]
If one doesn't want the parser to automatically convert
'anymore' to 'any more' then, in your .rtf file, write the word
as 'any-more.' The parser is programmed to recognize this as
you stating that you know that 'anymore' is the correct usage
and your text will not be altered.[/quote]
There is a way to get the word any‍more into a story
unaltered, but unfortunately that is not it. (Hint - copy the
word any‍more from this post into your clipboard and paste
it into the RTF file containing your story.)
Example:
HTML https://i89.servimg.com/u/f89/19/74/46/40/th/anymor10.jpg
HTML https://servimg.com/view/19744640/122
#Post#: 8366--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Plagosus Date: August 27, 2018, 4:44 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=ivor link=topic=786.msg8350#msg8350
date=1535274482]
Perhaps Bottom is trying to score some brownie point with Flag
[/quote]
Unlikely. Bottom is his own man, I think.
#Post#: 8388--------------------------------------------------
Re: Quoth the Raven: 'Anymore'
By: Kat Date: August 28, 2018, 10:01 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote="Flagellant"]You may not want analogy, Kat, but Bottom's
example IS the one that nails it. MECCANO. A method of play with
lots of pieces that connect together.
If the floor is covered with Meccano pieces, there is NO way
anyone would say "pick up those Meccanos". Unless they were
extremely ignorant. And then they are perpetuating and
legitimising an ignorant usage to their children which creates
your ad populum usage. It may be widespread, but it's still
technically wrong. Just because some random dictionary gives in
and lists a popular usage doesn't make it correct. It just means
they have caved in to the aggressive, proud-of-my-ignorance
populism that's now rampant and has been demonstrated in this
thread.
"Meccanos" isn't a valid word. Meccano is a name for the SYSTEM
of play, just like "Lego", and the SYSTEM cannot be plural. The
PIECES of that system can be, but they are described as bricks,
pieces, parts (so plural)... As Bottom points out, "Go" is a
game with many small parts. You do not say "pick up all your
Gos". You'd be thought an idiot if you said that. :shock: Or if
you said "pick up all your chesses", or "pick up all your
Monopolies". So your argument that it's valid to make a plural
out of a noun like Lego, clearly describing a composite entity,
to describe its subcomponents is just nonsense, since there is
extensive prior practice of NOT doing so with games and systems
of play, especially that have a tradename.
This discussion has degenerated into pointless shouting. I'm
extremely disappointed. I don't know whether it is the cancer of
social media taking root, that people have to be obnoxious and
extreme and lose all rationality to tribal loyalty, but it's not
pretty. I have no truck with social media for EXACTLY this
reason. Sheepie is right that there's nothing more to be said
because people are obviously incapable of listening, or are
deliberately blocking their ears to anything but confirmation
bias of their position, however specious.
So I'm locking the thread. You can probably expect to see a
story added to this challenge by me, with a child spanked for
deliberately persisting in speaking of his "Legos", for the
simple reason of knowing it annoys his parents. :evil: [/quote]
After all Flag's posturing about truth, the above is his last
word on the ridiculous LEGO/Lego/Legos thread. He supports
Bottom's bullshit analogies and completely ignores my repeated
points. I did not shout. I merely insisted on my points. I
invited him to show me where my points are wrong. He refused to
engage.
I'm sick and tired of people like Flag and Bottom employing
dishonest, unfair rhetoric until they wear down their
interlocutors, who finally abandon the field in disgust. I
joined the argument, not because I give a damn about how anyone
makes the plural of LEGO pieces, but as an experiment: what
would happen if someone refused to back down but instead
insisted on logic and facts?
Now we see. Flag is just as intellectually dishonest as Bottom.
Worse, he uses his prerogative as owner of the MMSA forum to
take the last word. One doesn't establish truth by fiat. I have
to say -- no, really, I do! -- I'm disgusted.
Kat
*****************************************************
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page