On Feb 27, 7:23 pm, Peter Cole <
[email protected]> wrote:
> Andre Jute wrote:
> > Andre Jute replies to Fogel:
> > The first victim of the enemies of society is always the meaning of
> > the language -- Paul Johnson, The Enemies of Society
>
> Paul Johnson, the conservative nut-case that he was, wasn't talking
> about grammar.
He was talking about weasel words, IIRC. You're the one with a copy of
Mr Johnson's book. You could look it up and let us know.
But Johnson isn't a rightwinger. For a start, he's a Catholic, for
another he was Bertrand Russell's gofer and Russell was one of the
limpest of the lefties. Johnson gradually came to his senses, and it
is the fact that he isn't a dogmatic born conservative that makes him
worth reading. That and his excellent prose, of course.
> Contextual rubbish:
>
> "When we are dealing with concepts like freedom and equality, it is
> essential to use words accurately and in good faith. So the eighth
> commandment is: beware of those who seek to win an argument at the
> expense of the language. For the fact that they do is proof positive
> that their argument is false, and proof presumptive that they know it
> is. A man who deliberately inflicts violence on the language will almost
> certainly inflict violence on human beings if he acquires the power.
> Those who treasure the meaning of words will treasure truth, and those
> who bend words to their purposes are very likely in pursuit of
> anti-social ones. The correct and honourable use of words is the first
> and natural credential of civilized status."
>
> "A NEW DEUTERONOMY" Ten Pillars of our Civilization
> by Paul Johnson
> from Enemies of Society
> 1977
Makes perfect sense to me. For those my age who remember the damage
done to an entire country by language-garbling
commiepinkofellowtravelling wreckers in the British unions, and the
French and Italian unions, it is difficult not to agree with Mr
Johnson.
It is significant to understandng his outlook that Mr Johnson is also
a distinguished and insightful historian.
*****
> >> http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti contact security.shtml
> >>>>> Continental, Germany tells us :Animal paws were the model for
> >>>> designing the tread pattern and it's surface!"
Tom Sherman asks:
> >>>> How many animals have wheels and travel primarily on pavement?
Colin Campbell writes:
> >>> And how many animals misuse "it's" twice in two sentences? I
> >>> thought the UK had something to do with the English language.
[email protected] wrote:
> >> That language is no longer taught in schools as is apparent from
> >> (lie/lay), (effect/impact), (affect/impact) and other speech
> >> embellishments "overwhelming majority" aka "most" that we see all the
> >> time.
> >> Its the overwhelming majority of these kinds of things that give
> >> wreck.bike a lack of clarity.
> >> aka
> >> Most of these things make wreck.bike unclear.
[email protected] wrote:
> > Actually, its/it's perfectly clear when read aloud.
> >
> > The apostrophe is helpful and even elegant punctuation on the printed
> > page, but its/it's utterly inaudible when you read aloud.
> >
> > The same is true of they're/there/their and too/to/two.
> >
> > Or John's/Johns bicycle--the apostrophe that signals possession rather
> > than plurality to the eye cannot be heard.
> >
> > Similarly, the contraction function of the apostrophe is literally
> > inaudible. You cannot hear a missin' letter, even though it eventually
> > signals the pronunciation of can't vs. cannot
> >
> > (Try to pronounce the period for abbreviation in "vs." above.)
> >
> > Somehow we manage to hear things without quite so much quibbling. The
> > errors of grammar and punctuation on RBT scarcely ever cause even the
> > slightest confusion.
Andre Jute replies to Fogel:
The first victim of the enemies of society is always the meaning of
the language -- Paul Johnson, The Enemies of Society
Andrew Muzi says:
> Some old fogies (me) are driven to distraction on hearing things like
> 'orientated'. I, for one, have learned to smile and walk away, no one
> being interested in my opinions of language. Languages degrade; get over it.
Andre Jute:
I agree with you, Andrew, people should write better English than
"languages degrade". Languages degrade what? What does languages
degrade? No, I think you mean that someone degrades the language. So
let's rewrite in simple and direct English without the solecisms:
****
> Some old fogies (me) are driven to distraction on hearing things like
Some old fogies like me are driven to distraction by hearing words
such as
> 'orientated'. I, for one, have learned to smile and walk away, no one
'orientated' [oriented]. I have learned to smile and walk away because
no one
> being interested in my opinions of language. Languages degrade; get over it.
is interested in my opinion of the language. People degrade languages.
Get over it.
*****
Besides "languages" incestuously degrading themselves, the parenthetic
"(me)" is a lazy affectation, "oriented" is a sample from a larger
whole rather than a metaphor and should take "such as", we can take
your opinion but if you imply more sharing your opinion as in "for
one" you should tell us who they are or Creepy Carl will call you a
liar for the deceit of claiming support you don't specify, "being
interested" is in a limp passive case that should be rewritten and
then allows the much more manly connective "because" before it in the
place of the limp comma, there is no reason for your opinion of the
language to be in the plural, you do not tell us what "languages
degrade" nor do you in fact mean to say that languages degrade
something but the someone degrades language to an extent where
resistance is futile, and it makes the two ideas stronger to split
them into separate short sentences.
*****
There will be no further charge for professional services, Andrew; I
like reading your advice on the newsgroup.
By the way, I have no objection to the way Andrew writes; he seems
pretty literate and comprehensible to me. I'm merely demonstrating
that even some of the best of us are not immune from criticism of the
way we use the language, so we should point out solecisms politely.
Not everyone has English as a mother tongue.
Andre Jute
Forgive me if I sin, for English is not my first language, not by five
or six
