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Author Topic: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane  (Read 8439 times)

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MattFish

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #45 on: October 16, 2006, 03:29:29 am »
when I read "alot", I hear it pronounced in my head like the word "shallot". Or maybe "aloe".
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Choop

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #46 on: October 16, 2006, 03:58:39 am »
Wombat, you've quaked my grammar earth just now.

I've always been a prescriptivist. The tale you related has me damning the prescriptivists to hell. To HELL!

Oh. Oh... oh shit. I think I've got something.

Yeah: Those 18-th century grammarians weren't prescriptive at all - they were scriptive. Except, no, that doesn't fit, they were scriptivving what had never been scriptivved before. So they were subtracting -- subtractive? Ooh- subscriptive!

Okay, I can still be prescriptive -- whew -- just not toward patterns that predate someone writing down the patterns.
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AugustWest

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #47 on: October 16, 2006, 04:30:17 am »
Macro-linguistically, I'm a descriptivist.  Micro-linguistically, I'm a prescriptivist.

Does that make any sense?

I think that languages, lexicons and grammars change over time.  However at any one given time I think we can take a snapshot (OK, a blurry, approximate snapshot) of the state of our language.  I think it's important to try to use our language well.  Doing so require compliance with recieved language rules, such as they are.

Yes, language is constantly evolving and changing.  Good for it.  But the long-term growth and evolution of language should not excuse lazy or sloppy erudition.
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theinevitable

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #48 on: October 16, 2006, 04:44:18 am »
for real. I mean, isn't it cool to be able to use language precisely? there is nothing cool about being sloppy.

ironically, I am misappropriating the word Cool, which is far overused in our English today.
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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #49 on: October 16, 2006, 06:34:59 am »
Quote from: AugustWest on October 16, 2006, 04:30:17 am
Yes, language is constantly evolving and changing.  Good for it.  But the long-term growth and evolution of language should not excuse lazy or sloppy erudition.

Next you're going to claim the evolution of species doesn't somehow justify my walking up to people and kicking them in the grill. This is a slippery philosophical slope and I've seen it before.
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wombat

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #50 on: October 16, 2006, 12:15:25 pm »
Sure, we should try to use language clearly, precisely, and beautifully.  But if you think you get there via a handful of arbitrary rules that only apply to a tiny percentage of sentences anyway, well, good luck with that, you know?
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Bobby Isosceles

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #51 on: October 16, 2006, 01:52:35 pm »
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AugustWest

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #52 on: October 16, 2006, 02:03:11 pm »
Quote from: wombat on October 16, 2006, 12:15:25 pm
Sure, we should try to use language clearly, precisely, and beautifully.  But if you think you get there via a handful of arbitrary rules that only apply to a tiny percentage of sentences anyway, well, good luck with that, you know?

S' all good, babe.
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theinevitable

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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #53 on: October 16, 2006, 06:27:08 pm »
oh, bobby, you are such a cutie.
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Re: 13 October 2006 - a review of my life by Anthony Lane
« Reply #54 on: October 16, 2006, 07:46:26 pm »
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