@Rob: So I feared... his "fairly certain" sounded trappish. But it didn't seem like his kind of humour to use a random figure of speech instead: I'd have expected some special reason for picking "litotes". Perhaps he was imitating someone else's humour.
That is, your comma forced me to read "as" as a causal conjunction; the sentence would be possible with "as" causal, but it would make much more sense with "as" temporal, so lose the comma.
"Unicorn" comes from the French and late Latin, with the "cornus" part meaning "horn". I am wondering what other English words share this root. I could think of "rhinoceros". Can you think of something (or multiple somethings) else?
@RegDwight I successfully resisted all forms of chat until StackExchange added it. Well, ok, and that Wreath meeting that had to move online because of Snowcalypse.
My sister met her husband online (specifically UseNet). Their messages to each other tended to be excessively long (understatement alert), so they just used email.
A guy I used to work with was totally against marriage. He frequented prostitutes instead. I asked him why, and he said, "If you're not paying money, you're paying too much." It was possibly the most cynical thing I ever heard before Dick Cheney became VP.
@RegDwight — I'm an American Dad. Guilty as charged.
Alright, poker face again: in this sentence, should it be "whom" or "who"? I personally think it's whom but the native speaker disagrees firmly with me.
Well, whom is on its way out anyway. So you can get away with using who instead of whom where it used to be awfully incorrect just a century ago, but not the other way round.
Regarding the first-second-third person question that appeared yesterday (and was closed as off-topic because its main focus seemed to be about video games)
As far as my limited understanding of grammar goes, I know that first person is written with "I" forms, second with "you" forms, and third with "he/her/it" forms. But I have also seen these terms (particularly "first person") used in non-grammatical contexts, for instance video games.
How does t...
No, he's asking about the specific phrase "first person" (or "second person", etc.), but used in a context that isn't grammar-related. The example for "first person" is FPS = First Person Shooter, a specific type of video game.
@Martha Not really, but there's a really wide range. According to one chart I looked at, she's supposed to have four teeth on the bottom and the two center front teeth up top, and the one that just came in isn't supposed to show up for another couple of weeks. Or something.
Gotta go rescue those peas I put on before coming upstairs on diaper duty.
@kiamlaluno There are a number of similar phrases that are common (FPS/first-person shooter is probably the most common, but also first-person perspective, first-person view, etc...)
@kiamlaluno Every meaning that is relevant and common
for example, the FPS example should be included, but "I was the first person to go into the room" should not (because it is not really related to the grammatical term)
@psmears In fact, the question is asking for every non grammatical meaning of "first person."
As it is now, the question should be closed as "subjective and argumentative," which is described as "It's impossible to objectively answer this question; questions of this type are too open ended and usually lead to confrontation and argument."
If the question doesn't specify in which context "first person" is being used, it's wide open. Are we supposed to copy the full page of the dictionary?
That's a common usage that's not the grammatical one, because it describes a narrative style, rather than the subject of a specific sentence - in a typical first-person narrative there will typically be many sentences that are not, grammatically, first person
Yet, it is called "first person narrative" because the grammatical meaning of "first person." If grammar would call I "singularity person," then the narrative would be called "singularity person narrative" or "singularity person."
"How does the meaning from the grammatical context transfer to other contexts? Can the terms other than "first person" also be applied outside of a grammatical context in the same way?"
The question doesn't specify those "other contexts." It is too broad.
The intention of my edit was to phrase it such that one could give the dictionary definitions, plus a few other common usages (such as FPS), as a definitive answer...
@kiamlaluno I would certainly say that the question was less broad than this one
I was watching a Youtube video on English accents, and in the middle of a Yorkshire one, I think, the author of the video used the word "minging", in what seemed to be an insult. So I have two questions: What's the definition of the word, and does it have any preferred phrases or contexts its u...
It doesn't ask you to think of all the cases where "first person" is used, then see if there is any connection with the grammatical meaning of "first person," and then reply.
@kiamlaluno No, it asks you to think of all the cases where "minging" is used, and think of phrases to go with them... which sounds fairly open-ended, but actually isn't, because minging (like many words/phrases) is used in a limited number of contexts
@MrHen I agree - my view is that, at the core of the original question there was a valid, on-topic question - but that it was (and possibly still is) somewhat obscured
My aim is to make the question 100% on-topic and acceptable
The real question here is, "First/second/third person is a term applied to (a) word forms and (b) perspectives. What are the definitions and uses regarding perspectives?
@psmears It doesn't ask you to think of all the cases where "minging" is used. In fact, the question is about the meaning of the word in a specific context; it doesn't ask what you mean when you use it.
"Grammar" is mostly irrelevant. There are two sets of meanings: one is a technical definition for words; the other is a technical definition for narrative/perspective.
@kiamlaluno Do you really think that that would be an acceptable answer (given that the questioner mentions the word is slang, so clearly already knows it is for informal contexts)?
(and it ignores the "preferred phrases" part, too :-)
@kiamlaluno My point is that I don't think the question is off-topic, and similarly I don't think the other question we're talking about (the 1st-person one) is off-topic either...
...at least, I think that it can be made on-topic
and I'm attempting to do so
If you have any suggestions for how best to edit it to achieve that, I would be very receptive to them
@kiamlaluno Yes... my reasoning goes like this: Question M ("minging") is broader than Question P ("1st/2nd/3rd person"); Question M is not too broad; therefore question P is not too broad either
Hey, do "mingy" and "minging" come from the same root, or do they at least have a commingled origin? As I understand it, mingy means stingy, minging means foul or unpleasant.
@psmears This is not a syllogism. Mathematically, it can be stated as M > P and M < B, therefore P < B. Which is perfectly correct. (M = minging question, P = 1st/2nd/3rd person question, B = too broad.)
Ok, apparently I'm not getting across too well. - Question was closed (for being off-topic) - Question was edited to make it more on-topic - Some people voted to re-open the question - You (@kiamlaluno) said no, it's now too broad to be answered - An example was given that shows that no, it's not too broad
@kiamlaluno Consistency requires that if you think this question is too broad and should remain/be closed, then you should also think a broader question should be closed.
If you are asking me to be coherent with my actions, I am coherent because I didn't vote to close the "first person" question, nor did I vote to close the other one.
The other question cannot be broader, as it describes exactly in which context the OP heard the word. As he accepted an answer, I get who replied understood what he meant.
@kiamlaluno True, but the reason for the confusion (on my part at least) is that you appear to be arguing that the "first person" question should remain closed because it's too broad, but that "minging" should remain open - but this seems (again, to me) inconsistent, because the "minging" is just as broad as the "first person" one, if not more so...
@kiamlaluno But it doesn't actually ask about the context in which he heard the word - that's only included in the question as the motivation - it asks about the contexts where it can be used
@kiamlaluno Sure, and I'm trying to understand yours...
@kiamlaluno I'm not asking you to reopen it :) But if you think it's too broad then others may do too... so I want to understand your point of view, which is why was discussing it with you... I'm sorry if it seemed argumentative, but I'm just trying to figure out your reasoning :)
Anyway, I will take your input and @MrHen's, and attempt to come up with an improved question...
@psmears The question should keep the original meaning, or it becomes a different question. Maybe it should be the OP who changes it following the indications given in comments. I don't know in which way the question would become on-topic, if it is considered on-topic for linguistics.SE from who closed it.
@kiamlaluno Of course it should keep its original meaning... as in, any edit to it should try to ensure that the information the questioner is seeking will still be covered by valid answers. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be changed, even quite substantially...
... it can often be the case that, when someone doesn't know a lot about a topic, they don't even know enough to express their question precisely... (not saying that's definitely true in this case)
But in this particular case the questioner has indicated he's OK with the question being edited to be on topic
I am aware of the terms first person, second person and third person from grammar, but I have also seen them used in other contexts, in particular first person perspective with regard to video games.
What is the precise meaning of first person perspective? Can the terms second person and third p...
@Martha Spooky indeed... BTW is there a way to look at precise timestamps of questions?
(Not so much for this question actually, but more for ones where all the answers say "3 days ago" and it would be interesting to see which order they arrived in...)
"Unicorn" comes from the French and late Latin, with the "cornus" part meaning "horn". I am wondering what other English words share this root. I could think of "rhinoceros". Can you think of something (or multiple somethings) else?
I was watching a Youtube video on English accents, and in the middle of a Yorkshire one, I think, the author of the video used the word "minging", in what seemed to be an insult. So I have two questions: What's the definition of the word, and does it have any preferred phrases or contexts its u...
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…
English Language & Usage: Multi-Layer…