The Index of the Giant's Comments IV - A Rich Source of Quotassium

[Tragak]

Spoiler: Fun quiz for grammarians!

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"I ate a lot of fruit, because there were a lot of fruits available."

What is the difference in plurality for "fruit/fruits" in that sentence?

Spoiler: Boring answer to syntaxians?

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The plural "fruit" refers to the total amount, while the plural "fruits" means that there were different types

edit: first person on page 2!

...this would be ironic back in 2014

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Because the plural of index is "indices," for one.

Spoiler: Fun quiz for grammarians!

Show

"I ate a lot of fruit, because there were a lot of fruits available."

What is the difference in plurality for "fruit/fruits" in that sentence?

Plurals are always so much fun.

Spoiler

Show

Tragak beat me to this, but the first one means many of one kind, while the other means many kinds

[Jasdoif]

I am also in favor of keeping all interviews in their entirety but adding comments in them (as was done in the Geekademia interview) for parts that are now outdated or irrelevant.

• We are on 945. Don't Split the Party ended at 672. Another book in the works?
  RB: Yes, but not yet. Lots of prep work to do before printing.
  Editor's note: Book 5, Blood Runs in the Family, was released on 10/20/2014

I would support this.

As would I. It keeps the quotes around while letting people know the context around them has since changed.

Fourthed. It makes sense to me.

Me too. Happy new thread, at any rate.

I support it as well.

That's how I'd prefer the index to function as a whole, so support for this.

So...is that the only such comment you're all thinking should be added?

But why isn't the "Thread History" subsection called "The Index of the Indexes of the Giant's Comments"?

Principally because I added the section because people were mentioning they couldn't find a "thread history" list; naming the category something else would introduce the same issue.

Also, the Department of Redundancy Department denied it. Twice. Concurrently.

[Boost]

Because the plural of index is "indices," for one.

Actually, it can be both.

[Keltest]

So...is that the only such comment you're all thinking should be added?

Principally because I added the section because people were mentioning they couldn't find a "thread history" list; naming the category something else would introduce the same issue.

Also, the Department of Redundancy Department denied it. Twice. Concurrently.

Personally, I feel that the curator (ie you) should also be allowed and encouraged to indicate redirects in places where, for example, Rich's opinion has evolved. For example, an annotation that says something like "For Rich's latest expressed opinion on this topic, see quote X under section Y." However such comments are probably unnecessary when doing things like pointing out that comic page X has made a quote redundant.

[Blisstake]

Because the plural of index is "indices," for one.

Eh, English tends to generalize the plurals for most words, even if they traditionally had an irregular plural. Indexes is perfectly fine, as is cactuses, octopuses, oxes, etc.

[Gwynfrid]

If we're on removing stuff anyway: maybe the twitter questions should be cleaned up. There are at least three questions about "the new book" (will there be a break?, will there be a book? and was this the last panel?) that seem quite useless now.

Unless, for academic posterity, it was decided to just include all twitter-questions, in which case never mind me.

I never understood the value of keeping a Q&A "in its entirety", unless certain questions are linked to others, such as follow-up questions for example. But these 3 questions are unconnected, they might as well have been asked on a different day. Following the book release, these questions are pure clutter.

EDIT: and adding extra comments after such questions would help with the silly feel, for sure. But at the end of the day, it means adding still more clutter.

[Ron Miel]

Plurals are always so much fun.

Puzzle:

find English plural nouns ending with the following letters: d, g, h, k, l, p.

I can think of at least two for each letter.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

Puzzle:

find English plural nouns ending with the following letters: d, g, h, k, l, p.

I can think of at least two for each letter.

I have to admit, I do not share the same knowledge. I can think if only a few, like sheep or cod. Care to share your answers?

[rodneyAnonymous]

Eh, English tends to generalize the plurals for most words, even if they traditionally had an irregular plural. Indexes is perfectly fine, as is cactuses, octopuses, oxes, etc.

Nitpicking, but octopuses is the "correct" plural; changing -us to -i is a Latin thing, and the word is derived from Greek. Octopi is okay, though, for a similar reason that indexes is :)

[Atomic Knight]

Delurking... Don't mind me...

What if The Index was ammended to say some version of the following:
"Quotes may not be removed from The Index"?

It might sound silly, but wouldn't that strengthen the supposed-level of viability we look for when adding a quote? That is, wouldn't we be willing to wait an extra week to see if the question is answered in the next strip -- rather than be stuck with a redundant quote? -- or to make sure a quote isn't just being used to answer one (insane) poster's question?

There are other reasons why not removing posts might be useful, too, but I'll leave those for less-sleepy posters to come up with.

[littlebum2002]

Nitpicking, but octopuses is the "correct" plural; changing -us to -i is a Latin thing, and the word is derived from Greek. Octopi is okay, though, for a similar reason that indexes is :)

Nitpicking, but since it's derived from Greek, octopodes is the "correct" plural.

However, I am of the opinion that we shouldn't use the history of a word to determine its usage in english, and instead just use whichever plural makes the most sense to the actual, living users of the language, not people who have been dead for centuries, and therefore I think Octopuses is correct as well as Octopi, since so many people use that plural it has become standard.

[Peelee]

What hath I wrought?

[Miriel]

The correct plural is the one(s) people understand today, not the one Aristotle or Cicero would have used.

[littlebum2002]

The correct plural is the one(s) people understand today, not the one Aristotle or Cicero would have used.

That's a much better way of putting it.

[Gwynfrid]

Delurking... Don't mind me...

What if The Index was ammended to say some version of the following:
"Quotes may not be removed from The Index"?

It might sound silly, but wouldn't that strengthen the supposed-level of viability we look for when adding a quote?

Very unlikely, imho. People will take a stand based on what they feel today, not out of some vague sense of responsibility for what might happen in the future.

That is, wouldn't we be willing to wait an extra week to see if the question is answered in the next strip -- rather than be stuck with a redundant quote? -- or to make sure a quote isn't just being used to answer one (insane) poster's question?

I don't see a problem in entering a quote that is useful for a certain amount of time, then removing it when its usefulness expires due to the comic's evolution, or to a later quote.

On the other hand I do see a problem with having no rules for clean-up, and even more so, having a rule that explictly forbids de-cluttering.

On the matter of plurals in the English language, I have no opinion, lacking competence of any sort to build one. I can only remark that a discussion of spelling is a surefire way to derail a thread that, by definition, attracts the nitpickiest of the Forum's nitpicker population

[Boost]

What hath I wrought?

On the matter of plurals in the English language, I have no opinion, lacking competence of any sort to build one. I can only remark that a discussion of spelling is a surefire way to derail a thread that, by definition, attracts the nitpickiest of the Forum's nitpicker population

This thread is now temporarily "The Grammar and Spelling of the Index of the Giant's Comments." New rules will soon be proposed and voted upon for how to address grammar and spelling issues in the posts here, including whether or not to edit and correct the Giant's own grammar with the same nitpickiness that the forums analyze every other thing that he creates ever ever.

[Tragak]

We are now temporarily naming this thread "The Grammar and Spelling of the Index of the Giant's Comments." We will soon propose and vote upon new rules for how to address grammar and spelling issues in the posts here, including whether or not to edit and correct the Giant's own grammar with the same nitpickiness that the forums analyze every other thing that he creates ever ever.

Fixed it for you

[Jasdoif]

What hath I wrought?

You have wrought...iron? Maybe cold wrought iron (wrought cold iron?), since silver dragons have the Cold subtype....

This thread is now temporarily "The Grammar and Spelling of the Index of the Giant's Comments." New rules will soon be proposed and voted upon for how to address grammar and spelling issues in the posts here, including whether or not to edit and correct the Giant's own grammar with the same nitpickiness that the forums analyze every other thing that he creates ever ever.

I would be concerned about the risk of implosion when Durkon's accent comes up. It may very well be a safeguard against that degree of nitpickinessousity.

[littlebum2002]

I would be concerned about the risk of implosion when Durkon's accent comes up. It may very well be a safeguard against that degree of nitpickinessousity.

The Transcript of the Stick has debates about Durkon's accent constantly.

[Peelee]

You have wrought...iron? Maybe cold wrought iron (wrought cold iron?), since silver dragons have the Cold subtype....

I'm good with that rationale.

[Boost]

Fixed it for you

Ironically, just yesterday I was tutoring students on active vs passive voice and how to make their writing more direct.

[Tragak]

Ironically, just yesterday I tutored students on active vs passive voice and how to make their writing more direct.

Are you doing this on purpose

[Ron Miel]

Puzzle:

find English plural nouns ending with the following letters: d, g, h, k, l, p.

I can think of at least two for each letter.

I have to admit, I do not share the same knowledge. I can think if only a few, like sheep or cod. Care to share your answers?

Any takers? I can confirm that the two given are on my list.

[Gwynfrid]

Fixed it for you

It's totally fascinating to see how eager the thread's participants are, when it comes to confirming their unparalleled capacity for nitpickicism.

[Emanick]

The correct plural is the one(s) people understand today, not the one Aristotle or Cicero would have used.

Speaking as a devil's advocate, I'm personally a fan of sticking to Greek and Latin roots whenever possible, simply because those languages form the roots of so many Romance languages, which means that someone who bothers to learn one or both of the two tongues acquires a dramatic advantage in learning the spelling and grammar of so many modern European languages. In my (admittedly quite limited) experience, it's much easier to learn a language when you have an understanding of how it developed, and don't have to absorb a seemingly arbitrary and endless list of rules in the process. There's some of that no matter what, but minimizing it is always nice.

[Gnoman]

Speaking as a devil's advocate, I'm personally a fan of sticking to Greek and Latin roots whenever possible, simply because those languages form the roots of so many Romance languages, which means that someone who bothers to learn one or both of the two tongues acquires a dramatic advantage in learning the spelling and grammar of so many modern European languages. In my (admittedly quite limited) experience, it's much easier to learn a language when you have an understanding of how it developed, and don't have to absorb a seemingly arbitrary and endless list of rules in the process. There's some of that no matter what, but minimizing it is always nice.

Why on earth would you try to insist on sticking to Latin and Greek when trying to come up with standards for a Germanic language? That's how we got that idiotic "split infinitive" garbage, and probably a whole host of other pointless "rules", in the first place.

[Zyzzyva]

Why on earth would you try to insist on sticking to Latin and Greek when trying to come up with standards for a Germanic language? That's how we got that idiotic "split infinitive" garbage, and probably a whole host of other pointless "rules", in the first place.

My favourite also involves "to"! English doesn't have an indirect object, that was just stolen from Latin without thinking. "I gave the chocolates from France to Jane" has two perfectly normal nouns at the centre of prepositional phrases, but 8th grade English keeps insisting that "Jane" is somehow magical just because it would have been dative-cased by Cicero.

Oh, also the attempts to disallow "It's me!" That's a case where English manages to be more regular than Latin, but heaven forfend we treat copular verbs in English differently than sum, esse, fui, eh?

[Porthos]

*checks thread title*
*checks thread conversation*

A little topic drift is fine. Hell, I do it myself all the time.

Still, getting a bit much, no?

[Jasdoif]

*checks thread title*
*checks thread conversation*

A little topic drift is fine. Hell, I do it myself all the time.

Still, getting a bit much, no?

I like to think of this language discussion as further evidence that thread rules are difficult to enforce solely on the language