| | | | 
11-02-2009, 12:35 PM
|  | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Denmark
Posts: 13,863
| |  Quote:
Originally Posted by fable  <snip>
Your comments have been noted. Please answer the polite knock on your door when it occurs, shortly. It will save the time required to break it down. | I'll be tweeting about it when it happens  | | |
11-02-2009, 03:33 PM
|  | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: The sun, the moon, and the stars.
Posts: 30,319
| | |
__________________
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
Last edited by fable; 11-03-2009 at 08:33 AM.
| | |
11-03-2009, 07:26 AM
| | Exalted Member | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Halifax NS Canada
Posts: 182
| | |
It's nauseating, but until some language king comes over and anoints the head of the mongrel(I wanted to use a different word but did not want to offend the almighty censor) tongue known as english as a complete language to which no more words will be added, this garbage will happen. Like it or not, google is both a verb and a noun. If this has not happened to facebook and twitter yet, it is only a matter of time.
English was never a regimented language, which is why it grew to the monster it is now. Perhaps it is too late to stop feeding it.
| | |
11-03-2009, 08:57 AM
| | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: The sun, the moon, and the stars.
Posts: 30,319
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by jklinders It's nauseating, but until some language king comes over and anoints the head of the mongrel(I wanted to use a different word but did not want to offend the almighty censor) tongue known as english as a complete language to which no more words will be added, this garbage will happen. Like it or not, google is both a verb and a noun. If this has not happened to facebook and twitter yet, it is only a matter of time.
English was never a regimented language, which is why it grew to the monster it is now. Perhaps it is too late to stop feeding it. | Oh, it definitely is. Other languages have similar issues, but whatever language becomes the lingua franca (pardon the pun) is going to be subjected to all sorts of changes. It's like a highway among other roads: the volume of use wears it down faster than everything else. Then, when you factor in the Internet as a means of remarkably quick communications, it's taking off the speed limit.
I joke about this. It annoys me slightly to see nouns being changed into verbs--it's quick and lazy--but it's not surprising, and it doesn't really lead me to homicide. Well, not usually. Not more often than once a day.  What does get me are the idiots who have a strong understanding of English, but want to make others work for their meaning. So they post without punctuation and capitals, and with atrocious spelling. Or with substitution letters. Lack of communications as a means to show how "cool" they are. That's the classic definition of a bad jargon.
__________________
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe.
Last edited by fable; 11-03-2009 at 09:01 AM.
| | |
11-03-2009, 10:19 AM
| | Exalted Member | | Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Halifax NS Canada
Posts: 182
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by fable snip
What does get me are the idiots who have a strong understanding of English, but want to make others work for their meaning. So they post without punctuation and capitals, and with atrocious spelling. Or with substitution letters. Lack of communications as a means to show how "cool" they are. That's the classic definition of a bad jargon. | Oh you mean 1337 sp3ak? But how will they show how they are both clever and retarded at the same time? I find it useful actually. Not seeing anyone here indulge in that tripe showed me that I wanted to participate here.
It is kind of like a filter for bad forums. All the great discussion, none of the bad taste. | | |
11-03-2009, 12:30 PM
|  | Exalted Member | | Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Right after that really long cutscene
Posts: 162
| | |
I'm tired of all this beating up on English. Every language borrows from a ton of other languages. And if you say English is bloated, Chinese and Japanese contain the English dictionary to the power of ten. You have to admit it's nice not having all those different formal titles, verb conjugations, and such you get with most languages. Also, no language can just declare itself off-limits to expanding vocabulary, nor should it. That's a horrible idea.
Now, if you want to argue that adding words like google and twitter is a stupid idea, then that's perfectly fine. They describe a product, not an action or anything else. You don't google or bing... you search the web. I don't hop in my car and go toyota. I don't ask someone who has a Ford if they're going fording tonight. It's called driving no matter what brand you find yourself using.
Unfortunately, the people who actually put the dictionaries together are even worse than the 12 year old girls who invent the words. A few years back they wanted to put WMD in. Yes, WMD, an acronym for Weapons of Mass Destruction. I don't remember if they put it in or not, but I don't think the tweens who are twittering would even tweet that WMD is a word.
 | | |
11-03-2009, 01:15 PM
| | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Nov 2000 Location: Denmark
Posts: 13,863
| | |
Well - actually - it isn't unheard of that terms get introduced even though the original source is a "product" or company. Hoover is a common example of a product which became synonymous with an entire line and act.
Googling is an accepted term describing the act of searching via Google (and for many simply just the web). The reason for this is obviously due to Googles dominance on the web that people started calling it Googling.
Google themselves weren't even interested in the term because it would cheapen their name.
Like or dislike it - languages evolves and it is something which can't stop. It has always happened, it will always happen.
| | |
11-03-2009, 03:04 PM
| | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: The sun, the moon, and the stars.
Posts: 30,319
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Xandax Like or dislike it - languages evolves and it is something which can't stop. It has always happened, it will always happen. | Yes, it does. I like to joke about outrage over it, but the only part I object to is deliberate misuse of language to confuse others, and to define oneself as among the special kids. And that applies, however old the special kids are, on up through their sixties and seventies.
Well, and as a subset, the attempt to create new, bizarre words that aren't needed, and are more complicated, than ones that exist--chartage, signage--these annoy me. Charts and signs, people! Gussying up perfectly good, simple words with Latin and Greek suffixes doesn't make the person who uses them look smooth and sound great.
__________________
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe. | | |
11-04-2009, 08:55 AM
|  | Moderator | | Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Mindlessly floating around.
Posts: 4,262
| | |
@Fable: What do you know about the language log and Mark Liberman in particular? I became quite enamoured with his posts there, as well as the way he handled a lot of the comments.
__________________
While others climb the mountains High, beneath the tree I love to lie
And watch the snails go whizzing by, It's foolish but it's fun | | |
11-07-2009, 06:14 PM
| | Super Moderator | | Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: The sun, the moon, and the stars.
Posts: 30,319
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by Dottie @Fable: What do you know about the language log and Mark Liberman in particular? I became quite enamoured with his posts there, as well as the way he handled a lot of the comments. | Not much. I follow his comments, as you do, and like them quite a lot. I've also branched out into some other language blogs, including those he recommends. Unfortunately, my time is limited by the end of my life, so I can't read every language blog out there just for today.
And before I forget... Another crisis.
__________________
To the Righteous belong the fruits of violent victory. The rest of us will have to settle for warm friends, warm lovers, and a wink from a quietly supportive universe. | | Thread Tools | Search this Thread | | | | | Display Modes | Rate This Thread |  Linear Mode | | 
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
| | | |
