Hey Guys!
I wrote a blog post a long time back. For this post I chose a writing style very different from what I'd read or what I'd seen before. Some guys did criticize me and others did acknowledge me for the same. Now this is not a publicity stunt, but could you guys provide critical comments ...
Non sequitur-du-jour: can we please change the old-english tag to something else? (1) I'm not even sure if Old English is on-topic for this site; and (2) it's being used to label questions about early English, not old English. Well, with one exception. For which see point (1). And yes, I know I've answered that question and favorited it and everything.
I guess Old English is on-topic, because it can inform about etymology of Modern English. But yes, things should not be tagged Old English when it is really Early Modern English.
I mean, I understand that what Martha is actually saying is that many people don't know which tag to use, but that is true of pretty much every tag, with the possible exception of usage and words.
@Robusto Technically, you can argue that Old English is not English, but an ancestor language. But I don't think it is useful to anyone to be so strict.
Obviously, you do have to draw a line somewhere though. Germanic is a bit further back.
I don't want to argue against OE either, because it's one of my areas of interest, but it is a very different language than modern English. Hence my occasional bouts of doubting its topicality.
So, unless there are objections, I think I shall go and retag some early-modern-english questions.
I think if the question were strictly about Old English it might be off-topic. But Old English in the context of modern English would pass the sniff test for me.
I mean, if the question were "Is eode the correct verb to use in the sentence Sume man eode ham to his huse ?
@Kosmonaut Yeah, he replied to my "reménytelen eset" comment with (1) a demonstration that either he doesn't know as much Hungarian as he thinks he does, or that he's deluded about his behavior; and (2) a very bad-taste joke.
I mean, disregard the answer, disagree with it, whatever, but I'm making a sincere effort to be helpful — even to the point of searching for a corroborating link.
@Martha (regarding which word in possessive constructions gets modified) Arabic (at least, the formal variety thereof) modifies both nouns, for good measure... (al-muwazzafuun = the employees; al-sharikatu = the company; but "the company's employees" is "muwazzafuu al-sharikati"). Best not to do things by halves ;-)
The "muwazzafuu" form only ever appears in possessive constructions
@Cerberus Only when I have something more important that I need to be avoiding ;-)
“A discussion of”, “a discussion on”, and “a discussion about”: When is each phrase used in preference to the other?
If context is important, I want to use it as a subheading on a piece of non-fiction.
Right, I noticed that Question; but my question is on the one hand too specific to be covered by that one, on the other it is too similar to post it as a separate question.
(But we refuse to use our diminutives in such silly phrases.)
(Perhaps this only happens to me, but I doubt it.)
Sometimes after looking at a word for a while, I become convinced that it can't possibly be spelled correctly. Even after looking it up, sounding it out, and realizing that there's simply no other way to spell the word, it still looks wrong. ...
Oh, we know the standards: Jumbo Shrimp, Real Phony,Living Dead..... is 'peaceful demonstration in the list: reasons why/not are, of course unexpectedly anticipated.
Re: the discussion question, I think the three possible prepositions all have slightly different meanings, but I'm not sure I can describe the difference coherently.
@RegDwight — Do what you like. I don't really care. I wrote that response either late at night or early in the morning. Right now I'm watching Serenity with my son and I don't care about prepositions masculine and prepositions feminine. Or the lights of Norway and all that.
@Rob: I see. Should you be bored later today, feel free to @ me your choice, because I actually need this sentence, that is, I am helping a friend with her PhD.
@Robusto Wasn't suggesting that there was anything wrong with your response - just would be interested in your input in @Cerberus's example. But if you're busy that's fine :)
@Martha: I actually replaced the real topics with "the state and political autonomy" because my friend didn't want her stuff to be searchable on the internet; but the real topics are "democracy and political authority".
@Cerberus That's fair... I suggest you go for my solution (for being the first), Robusto's (for coming from the person with the highest rep), or Martha's (being the only one that actually came with some sort of reasoning...)
@Cerberus: Trying to be helpful (for once!) I did just ask my other half for yet another opinion, but I'm afraid the response could be summarised as "I don't know"...
@PSM: Well that is a valuable reply: uncertainty among ehhm those whose opinions I value tells me that none of these prepositions would be grossly ludicrous.
Words like "anywhere" and "everybody" usually have a predefined or implicit context during conversations:
Everybody is going out to lunch. Would you like to come too? We are willing to go anywhere - we're starving.
In this statement, clearly the speaker doesn't mean all people from all plac...
“A discussion of”, “a discussion on”, and “a discussion about”: When is each phrase used in preference to the other?
If context is important, I want to use it as a subheading on a piece of non-fiction.
(Perhaps this only happens to me, but I doubt it.)
Sometimes after looking at a word for a while, I become convinced that it can't possibly be spelled correctly. Even after looking it up, sounding it out, and realizing that there's simply no other way to spell the word, it still looks wrong. ...
Oh, we know the standards: Jumbo Shrimp, Real Phony,Living Dead..... is 'peaceful demonstration in the list: reasons why/not are, of course unexpectedly anticipated.
Words like "anywhere" and "everybody" usually have a predefined or implicit context during conversations:
Everybody is going out to lunch. Would you like to come too? We are willing to go anywhere - we're starving.
In this statement, clearly the speaker doesn't mean all people from all plac...
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…