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2017-07-31, 02:32 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2006
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- Bristol
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Psh, Americans.
Also, achilles tendon.GITP Blood Bowl Manager Cup
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(by Rain Dragon)
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2017-07-31, 02:49 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
You want me to use sellotape, then, mate?
Since the picture is clearly not of the actual Achilles, capitalised or not, is now "a generic term forflying horsesthe foot's tendon", just like Pegasus isn't a specific flying horse, but every flying horse.
GWInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2017-07-31, 03:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Then can I pluralize ruckus into rucki? I think that Pegasi is wrong because there only was only one Pegasus: Latin didn't have any correct way to pluralize it. However, if you decided that there are more than one, then I am OK with it, because Pegasus isn't Greek any more, it's a Latin word borrowed from Greek, and it belongs to the second declension and is not neuter, so its plural nominative is -i. See Metellus, Metelli (Fato Metelli Romae fiunt consules)
Octopi also is wrong, because it completely misses the point. Octopus had a genitive in octopodos, and plural in octopodes: third declension. It has nothing to do with the -us > -i plural for Latin, as could other Greek words that Latin borrowed (like Centaurus > Centauri), which came from the second declension.
I don't think the pluralization rule actually allows you to pluralize in -i all words that end in -us, independently from their origin. I think it allows you to do so only with words from Latin's second declension, or that try to build themselves as second declension Latin words.
No, that's a different structure. Achilles here has turned into an adjective, not in a generic term. Saying "Achilles tendon" is like saying "football team" or "Mercedes-Benz engine". If it had been this same structure, you'd say "Pegasus horse", not pegasus, the same way in which you don't say "Achilles" meaning "heel cord".Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2017-07-31, 03:24 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I fail to see the difference. If Achilles was exclusively the Greek legend, Achilles tendon would only ever refer to the cording on the Greek hero. It doesn't. Therefore, Achilles is no longer exclusively the guy, but some generic word to refer to a body part almost everyone has. Compare that to your own "Mercedes-Benz engine", which can only refer to engines made by a specific manufacturer, whereas a xerox machine doesn't need to have been fabricated by Xerox.
Grey WolfInterested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2017-07-31, 03:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
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- 3 inches from yesterday
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Thanks Uncle Festy for the wonderful Ashling Avatar
I make music
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2017-07-31, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
There is a very concrete difference. One is grammar: the difference between name and adjective.
Achilles = name
Achilles tendon = adjective followed by name
Pegasi = name
Pegasus horses = adjective followed by name
The point is that the Achilles in Achilles tendon is just the hero from the Greek legend. His name is used as adjective, to determine which tendon is being talked about within the frame of the human body. Since that is a tendon that (almost) all humans have, but was very meaningful in Achilles' case, it is named after him. It's not Achilles which is broader in its meaning: Achilles is used as a determiner to narrow down which tendon is of interest.
It is possible that my reading is due to the fact that everyone I know knows who Achilles is and how he died, and saying Achilles tendon would be clear even if they never had heard this tendon's name. In a place where people don't know this, I guess it could become like Béchamel sauce, where the name has survived in spite of the fact that very few know who Béchamel was. The difference is that there are terms for people who don't know who Achilles is, like heel cord, which are just as clear and would likely substitute Achilles tendon, if the reference were to become obscure.Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2017-07-31, 04:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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2017-07-31, 04:13 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Birmingham, AL
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Do you similarly complain about "hermaphrodite?" Because the noble Greek god Hermaphrodites, spawn of Hermes and Aphrodite, was so beautiful that a nymph fell in love with him. However, as he did not love the nymph, he turned himself into a woman to avoid her.* Yet now it's a term for someone born with both male and female sexual organs, and not the specific person. So it's not like there isn't precedence for this sort of thing, especially concerning Greek mythology.
*to the best of my recollection. What's a google?Cuthalion's art is the prettiest art of all the art. Like my avatar.
Number of times Roland St. Jude has sworn revenge upon me: 2
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2017-07-31, 04:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
The version I heard was that she stalked him so closely they eventually fused into a single creature or something like that; somehow they got fused together
"If you want to understand biology don't think about vibrant throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology" -Richard Dawkins
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2017-07-31, 07:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2006
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- Germany
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Si non confectus, non reficiat.
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My S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call of Pripjat Let's Play! Please give it a read, more than one constant reader would be nice!
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2017-07-31, 07:48 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2007
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- France
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
What bothers me about portemanteaux is that they mean what they do in English. It's just the French word for coat-hanger. I know the reason for the etymology, it just annoys me. That and the random use of French words in otherwise English sentences when there are perfectly good English words.
For the plural of octopus, I understand that octopi, octopodes and octopuses are all considered correct, but I personally use "octopuses". I also say "cactuses". I don't think the English plural should ever be "wrong" in English, even when it's not the only accepted form. Although I guess "I'm having some spaghettos" may sound weird. Actually, it would probably sound like a coat-hanger.
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2017-07-31, 07:56 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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- Birmingham, AL
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2017-07-31, 07:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2006
- Location
- 3 inches from yesterday
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Thanks Uncle Festy for the wonderful Ashling Avatar
I make music
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2017-07-31, 11:30 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2014
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-08-01, 01:50 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Both "vision", meaning "sight/something that's seen", and the prefix "tele-", meaning "at a distance (as in 'telescope', 'telegraph', 'telephone', 'telegram') - with particular reference to 'enabled by new-fangled electrificial technology'" - were already well established in English by the time "television" was coined. They had each, independently, already been detached from their roots.
I would say that the same is true of "car". But not "Armageddon". (Independent verification: my browser's spellchecker marks the word as an error *unless* I capitalise it, in which case it's fine.)"None of us likes to be hated, none of us likes to be shunned. A natural result of these conditions is, that we consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor’s pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound." - Mark Twain
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2017-08-01, 02:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
But the dictionary would disagree with you. The first meaning given on dictionary.com is the placename Armageddon, but the other meanings are:
2. the last and completely destructive battle:
The arms race can lead to Armageddon.
3. any great and crucial conflict.
Neither of those refers to a specific place.
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2017-08-01, 10:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2007
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- France
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I will have to admit my ignorance, I didn't know Armageddon was a place. I though it was another word for apocalypse.
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2017-08-01, 02:26 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2010
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2017-08-01, 04:41 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2010
- Location
- Toledo, Ohio
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
That's convoluted.
"Apocalypse" is derived from the greek word "apokalypsis", meaning "revelation". In ancient days, writings were often titled simply by their first word or line, so a certain important bit of prophetic writing from the first century AD became known eventually as "Apokalypsis", and later "The Apocalypse of John". This work is heavily concerned with the end of the world, and mentions that the final battle ever will take place at a mysterious location called "Armageddon".
After a little under 2000 years of popcultural osmosis, both words are now little more than synonyms for the end of the world.
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2017-08-01, 05:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2009
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
I think it was called Apocalypse "of St. John" because there were a good number of such texts running around. It is rather strange that the writer is supposed to be John, because his other works are very Hellenized, while the Apocalypse is very, very Jewish.
Using the first word to set the theme of the work was very common in the ancient times, so the first word of the Iliad is "wrath" (because it revolves around Achilles' wrath), and the first word of the Odyssey is "man" (the man being Odysseus), the first ones of the Aeneid are "weapons and man" (Aeneas and the heredity of Troy), the first words of Aristoteles' Poetics are "About poetics"... So choosing the first word as a title was often done if the first word already was something of a title.
I am not sure of how the habit of giving titles developed itself, it must be an interesting story. In the middle ages, it was still normal not to use titles, using instead the first verse of a poem, or a general name + the author's name (Dante's Comedy being a very famous and debated example).Originally Posted by J.R.R. Tolkien, 1955
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2017-08-01, 06:36 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
A few years back, the Watergate building underwent some renovation. Part way through, it was observed that the construction was slightly behind schedule. Probably the delay was due to any of the normal reasons a construction project could be delayed. However, some in the media speculated that the so-called "delay" was in fact part of a cover-up for a sinister scandal, to which the entire renovation of the Watergate building was just a pretext. I don't think anyone actually believed in this scandal, so much as they really wanted it to be true so that they could call it Watergategate.
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2017-08-01, 06:50 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2016
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- Earth and/or not-Earth
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
It's not so much "a mysterious location" as "a specific hill in northern Israel".
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2017-08-01, 09:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2010
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- Toledo, Ohio
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-08-01, 09:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2012
- Location
- In the Playground, duh.
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
Let us not forget the incident involving Andrew Mitchell, which among other names is known as gategate.
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2017-08-02, 06:52 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
- Location
- Watching the world go by
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
So, that these news outlets were purposefully making a scandal out of nothing should have been labeled "Watergategate-gate", right? I'm surprised nobody tried to do that. It would have ended the practice of labeling things "gate" right quick. I guess it is too much to expect reporters to be that quick on their feet.
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2017-08-02, 09:39 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
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2017-08-02, 01:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2010
- Location
- Dallas, TX
- Gender
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
As a general rule, that's not bad, but I can't accept it universally. My counter-example is "hypothesis". The only acceptable plural is "hypotheses", because "hypothesises" sounds really dumb to my ear.
In the other direction, I find the plural-plural form "operas" to be grating, but it's still correct English.
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2017-08-02, 05:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2006
- Location
- Bristol
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Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
GITP Blood Bowl Manager Cup
Red Sabres - Season I Cup Champions, two-time Cup Semifinalists
Anlec Razors - Two-time Cup Semifinalists
Bad Badenhof Bats - Season VII Cup Champions
League Wiki
Spoiler: Previous Avatars(by Strawberries)
(by Rain Dragon)
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2017-08-02, 05:40 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2008
Re: Completely unimportant language misuses that bug you
When at work and a customer is going to pay for their goods.
"Do you have the chip?"
No, we do not. The chip is on your card. You have the chip. Our terminal utilizes chip and pin features on credit and debit cards, yes, but we do not provide you with the chip. That is the exact opposite of what needs to occur in this transaction. You provide us with the chip. That's how the chip works. That's the point of the chip. The chip lets your bank know that you're there in person. If we had the chip, we would be you. And, of course, since I'm in a place that's slow to adopt supporting these features, the most direct response that gets the customer taken care of and happy?
"Yes."
Over. And over. Again."Okay, so I'm going to quick draw and dual wield these one-pound caltrops as improvised weapons..."
---
"Oh, hey, look! Blue Eyes Black Lotus!" "Wait what, do you sacrifice a mana to the... Does it like, summon a... What would that card even do!?" "Oh, it's got a four-energy attack. Completely unviable in actual play, so don't worry about it."
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2017-08-02, 08:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2014