English Language & Usage: Multi-Layered Discourse Room

[ SmokeDetector | MS ] Few unique characters in answer, repeating words in answer: Usage of "yet" and comma by Jack Kirn on english.stackexchange.com

Tonepoet

How did my post go through after the question was put on hold?

Q: Will we ever come up with non-gender specific pronouns and possessive pronouns for the English language?

Will we ever come up with non-gender specific pronouns and possessive pronouns for the English language? It seems that there are many new words in the English language every year, so why not gender-neutral pronouns? This would solve many problems, in literature and in everyday life.

gender-neutral

2 hours later…

user227867

11:08 PM

@Tonepoet If you started typing before closure, the system may accept it.

Tonepoet

@WillHunting Is that consistent behavior?

user227867

@Tonepoet Yes. There are some rules though, but it is consistent.

Tonepoet

@WillHunting I don't know exactly how that answer regarding the suffixes I wrote yesterday became my most upvoted answer. What was so "brilliant" about it, as you initially commented?

user227867

@Tonepoet The two words have very similar meanings, and you managed to explain quite well the subtle difference, while at the same time pointing to a more general phenomenon of -ive versus -ed. Also, my now invisible comment has the force. May the force be with you.

user227867

11:25 PM

@Tonepoet I was just tired of seeing copy and paste long answers that do little more than copy paste and which explain almost nothing and get many upvotes, which is why I said that most long answers here are not brilliant.

Tonepoet

I see.

user227867

I have eyes, so I see.

user227867

It appears that Chambers is the number one selling dictionary in the UK @Tonepoet, according to advertisements.

Tonepoet

Well if it is, that's because the O.E.D. as big and expensive as a used car. =P

Well okay, the "as big" part might be slightly hyperbolic, but still, it is quite large.

user227867

I never used the OED, so I cannot comment rightly. But I have a feeling the OED is good only because it has all the words in English and has citations for first known use, and that's about it, and these are actually useless to me.

user227867

11:30 PM

I would rather get a current dictionary with good definitions, like the AHD.

user227867

Of course, I am basing all this on my dissatisfaction with the ODE. The ODE has really upset me a lot since I started looking things up in it.

Tonepoet

The first edition has the best definition of the word Hobby I've seen. It's interesting to see the etymological notes too. But I think that you described the primary appeal well. I have the C.E.O.E.D. which is the 1st edition plus first supplement and you can examine most of that online

user227867

And also, I think the separation into ODE and NOAD is mainly a marketing trick, intended to penetrate the American market. The two dictionaries are virtually the same.

user227867

And then they do not give full pronuncation, and they have silly mistakes here and there, which I mentioned to you. So it seems that they have lost their way for quite a while already, and are merely resting on their laurels.

user227867

@Tonepoet I think the first compact edition came in two volumes, and the second compact edition came in one volume, and I know the latter definitely needs a magnifier to read.

Tonepoet

11:36 PM

I can read the first edition, but it's only up to date as of 1933. I think it mostly exists to compliment the compact supplemental volume iii.

user227867

Interesting thing about Chambers is that it now gives definitions separated by semicolons and not numbered separately, which saves space and makes one sense flow into the other, according to one review I read.

Tonepoet

I'd be concerned about readability with that format.

user227867

Unlike Collins and Oxford, Chambers also does not have biographical or geographical entries, which saves even more space.

user227867

I really don't think a dictionary needs to have such entries, so Chambers got this right for me.

user227867

I am not going to learn about places or people from a dictionary, but from an encyclopedia online or otherwise.

Tonepoet

11:38 PM

What about quotations?

user227867

I think example sentences are good and can be very helpful.

user227867

Collins and Chambers don't really give them, but Oxford does for most entries.

user227867

But then again, the AHD also gives examples for many entries. I think it is the best dictionary currently in the world.

user227867

And I am not even a staff working at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, LOL

Tonepoet

That's some mighty high praise. Why don't you email them and ask them to put more usage notes in the next edition because reviewers on Amazon coming from the fourth edition to the fifth are complaining?

user227867

11:41 PM

I really like the girl in the AHD video so I am going to watch it again soon, LOL

Tonepoet

@WillHunting You mean that advertisement?

user227867

@Tonepoet Yes, LOL

user227867

Hi @suməlic I upvoted your decardiate answer as well as tchrist's beheart answer, LOL

Tonepoet

@WillHunting You realize Houghton Mifflin only copublishes it right? Maybe you work for the American Heritage Publishing Company Incorperated.

user227867

@Tonepoet Oh, OK. Maybe you work for Noah Webster?

Tonepoet

11:44 PM

@WillHunting Oh geeze, I hope he's not my employer. A dead man can't sign paychecks!

user227867

@Tonepoet Maybe you are a spirit just like him? LOL

Tonepoet

I think this is probably closer to the truth:

@MarkHubbard Figured it'd be more along the lines of "Buy a product tag today!" Regardless,I don't think it's in the help center but I suppose it's the same as it is with anything else that's covert: "It's fine just as long as you don't get caught." It's hard to say if this whole operation isn't just a scam to garner hits and peddle premium subscriptions for M.W. with teasers or if I'm just a shill for Public Domain Inc., isn't it? More seriously, I cited it because there aren't many logical interpretations of supporting a product here. The alternative is we're tech support for the O.E.D. ... — Tonepoet Jan 13 at 1:33

user227867

It seems Hubbard wrote some reviews on Amazon. I think I came across some.

user227867

@Tonepoet What would you like to be reborn as?

Tonepoet

A Buddha obviously, but failing that I think being a person is best.

@WillHunting Do you have any good citations for 'e as a contraction of he?

user227867

11:54 PM

@Tonepoet No. I am not good at citations.

user227867

@Tonepoet I prefer to be a god enjoying heavenly things.

Tonepoet

@WillHunting The problem with that is that if the string is too slack, it will not play.

user227867

@Tonepoet No. The problem with that is that even gods experience suffering.

user227867

@Tonepoet Have you heard of the Millennium Problems?

Tonepoet

@WillHunting Yes, that's a part of the problem, but they don't experience enough to do anything about it. It's vaguely like being a couch potato just starting to get hungry for a bag of potato chips, so to speak...

@WillHunting No but I think I have a good guess that it's vaguely related to what I just wrote. =P

user227867

11:59 PM

@Tonepoet No, it's not, LOL. They are seven math problems that each have a one million dollar award if you solve them. So far only one has been solved, and he rejected the money.