OOTS #1117 - The Discussion Thread

[Ruck]

Not sure how large a class that is in French, but certainly there are exceptions in English, e.g. "attorney general," "poet laureate."

Although language does shift: I've seen both "attorneys general" and "attorney generals". I'd guess that "general" used to be adjectival in, say, "brigadier general".

"Attorneys general" is certainly the technically correct usage; I imagine the "attorney generals" usage comes either from sloppiness or from familiarity with the official title of Attorney General and the corresponding decision to treat the entire term as a noun.

That said, The Onion is way ahead of us as far as being overly pedantic regarding this stuff.

[Peelee]

"Attorneys general" is certainly the technically correct usage; I imagine the "attorney generals" usage comes either from sloppiness or from familiarity with the official title of Attorney General and the corresponding decision to treat the entire term as a noun.

That said, The Onion is way ahead of us as far as being overly pedantic regarding this stuff.

It's the really small articles like that what makes me really love the Onion.

[Jaxzan Proditor]

"Attorneys general" is certainly the technically correct usage; I imagine the "attorney generals" usage comes either from sloppiness or from familiarity with the official title of Attorney General and the corresponding decision to treat the entire term as a noun.

That said, The Onion is way ahead of us as far as being overly pedantic regarding this stuff.

I think it might just be that people are more familiar with term, while also are less familiar with how internal pluralization works. For example, I haven't seen a ton of people botch "solicitors general" yet, since it's a less frequently used term.

Also, I'm totally going to refer to them as Whoppers Junior from now on.

[Jasdoif]

Also, I'm totally going to refer to them as Whoppers Junior from now on.

While we did warn the honorable tolerable Whoppers about the potential complications of bestowing his own name upon his son, this was not one that we foresaw....

[hamishspence]

I'd guess that "general" used to be adjectival in, say, "brigadier general".

Yup - it evolved from "captain general" - an army was made up of units commanded by captains, and one captain was given command of the whole army, and the suffix "general". The plural back then, would be captains general.

However, over time, it shifted from being a suffix to being the primary term. For example, the term would be "major generals" not "majors general" in most modern writing.

[Shining Wrath]

Yup - it evolved from "captain general" - an army was made up of units commanded by captains, and one captain was given command of the whole army, and the suffix "general". The plural back then, would be captains general.

However, over time, it shifted from being a suffix to being the primary term. For example, the term would be "major generals" not "majors general" in most modern writing.

If you have two Stanley's, are they collectively the Models of Modern Major Generals, or the Models of Modern Majors General, or the Model of the Modern Major Generals?

[nabcif]

EXCELLENT.

And of course this quote must be included.

Nicoll.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Nicoll#1990s


I'm too busy at the moment to quote everyone else (or should be busy!), but....

Whoppers junior is totally something I'd say. :-)

To give a serious answer to a silly question, of course English has a grammar! Or rather, it has hundreds or thousands (or millions to billions(?) if you go the "one per idiolect" route).

There's an enormous book called, I think "The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language" which is a descriptionist, not prescriptionist, grammar[1]. The reason I remembered "poets laureate" in particular is because of a Language Log post mentioning an erratum in which they decided that in fact "laureate" was (or had become) a noun in the phrase "Nobel Laureate."

Thanks for "captains general." I think I knew about that at one point.

[1] Which I crave, but not to the tune of $100 or $200 or whatever it is, or even, sadly, the paperwork and search that would be required for an interlibrary loan.

[KorvinStarmast]

What spell is Ponchella casting in the last frame?

[Shining Wrath]

What spell is Ponchella casting in the last frame?

Unknown, of course, but when she cast Greater Dispel Magic the aura was black, not green. Assuming that means anything at all, I think it means a different type of magic; if "utility" is black, icky green may be "attack".

If I have to guess what the best move for Ponchella would be at this juncture, I'd think trying to keep the horde of vampire spawn in the battle might be good, or anticipate that the Order will send more people into the room and have an AoE attack spell of her own ready to go.

I'm going to guess something along the lines of Mass Inflict Light Wounds. Boost the spawn, nick the members of the Order. Burns a level 5 slot for D8 + level hit points per target. Guessing her level is about 10, cures about half the damage done by the Chaos Hammer, puts some hurt on V, Blackwing, and anyone else who comes in before she acts.

[Rockphed]

If you have two Stanley's, are they collectively the Models of Modern Major Generals, or the Models of Modern Majors General, or the Model of the Modern Major Generals?

If you have two of them, they are Models of the Modern Major General.

[factotum]

Unknown, of course, but when she cast Greater Dispel Magic the aura was black, not green. Assuming that means anything at all, I think it means a different type of magic; if "utility" is black, icky green may be "attack".

I always thought that the colour of the spell matched the aura of the one who cast it? Is there any other example in the comic of someone casting spells with a different aura from one panel to another? If not, I'd say that might just be an art mistake.

[Kish]

There is: Tsukiko, who used one color for her arcane magic and a different color for her divine magic. Also, each of them matched one of her eyes.

So yeah. The color-coding is pretty unambiguously by caster, not by spell.

[zimmerwald1915]

Unknown, of course, but when she cast Greater Dispel Magic the aura was black, not green. Assuming that means anything at all, I think it means a different type of magic; if "utility" is black, icky green may be "attack".

I'll take "Mr. Burlew didn't put much effort into the color design of what was at the time a bit character" for 500, Alex.

[Jasdoif]

So yeah. The color-coding is pretty unambiguously by caster, not by spell.

I'll take "Mr. Burlew didn't put much effort into the color design of what was at the time a bit character" for 500, Alex.

It's "mostly a matter of choice or personality". I could almost buy that she's had a personality change between being vampirically transmogrified and discovering her host was "repressing some major evil tendencies", resulting in a change of spell color...but I think it's more likely that zimmerwald's getting ahead in Jeopardy!.

[Fyraltari]

I think green is her color and the Greater Dispel Magic was the goof rather than this one. Black magic has pretty consistently been used for negative energy spells.

[Rogar Demonblud]

It could also be that the Giant decided the previous color didn't show up well enough.

[Shining Wrath]

I went back and reviewed the big Roy - Durkon^T battle, and Durkon^T's spells were always red, while his "slams" were black. I'm going to agree that it's most likely that green versus black means nothing.

As to what spell she's about to cast, though, I'm still thinking an AoE that will bolster the spawn horde while nicking the Order (Vaarsuvius if no one else) is likely.

[rferries]

I think green is her color and the Greater Dispel Magic was the goof rather than this one. Black magic has pretty consistently been used for negative energy spells.

I think Xykon's magic colour is pretty definitively black (whether or not he's casting negative energy spells).

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yeah, but he's dead. Sorta-dead. Not really living. Rrr, you know what I mean.

[Fyraltari]

I think Xykon's magic colour is pretty definitively black (whether or not he's casting negative energy spells).

Looks like you are right. Well,I got nothing.

Yeah, but he's dead. Sorta-dead. Not really living. Rrr, you know what I mean.

So is the Creature Preacher and his spells are red.

[Fyraltari]

What spell is Ponchella casting in the last frame?

Sound lance, it would seem.