On May 15, 12:45 am, pete <pfil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Dr. HotSalt wrote:
> > On May 14, 5:00 pm, pete <pfil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >> Dr. HotSalt wrote:
> >>> On May 12, 10:11 pm, pete <pfil...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> >>>> Dr. HotSalt wrote:
> >>>>> Perhaps you would care to examine the roots of the word
> >>>>> "****ography" with emphasis on the "-graphy" part.
> >>>> How do you feel about graphic pictures and graphic writing?
> >>> I feel that those who misuse words like "graphic" should be
impaled
> >>> on large rods of graphite.
> >> It's difficult to deal with a rapidly evolving language.
> >> But, "misuse" happens to be the primary mode of
> >> the evolution of English, and all living languages evolve.
>
> > Standard excuse of word-abusers.
>
> > Words have _meanings_. (Considering where this thread was
> > crossposted*, that seemed appropriate.)
>
> > The Ancient Greek root graphein was a verb with a specific meaning;
> > to encode information in non-glyphic symbols.
>
> If you don't know what "alpha" and "beta" mean,
> I can see how it might seem that way.
>
> The ancient Greeks defined words any way that they wanted to,
> all the time.
>
> "alpha beta gamma" means "aleph beth gimel"
> and that means "ox house camel",
> and that's what those symbols represent.
>
> > Word-abusers will claim that "we ain't no Ancient Greeks and can
> > define words any way we want", completely ignoring the fact that the
> > task of language is to express a particular concept with a particular
> > word; when a word is used to express some other concept, what happens
> > to the original concept? Is it orphaned forever, or will word-abusers
> > bother to reassign some other innocent bystanding word to take up the
> > slack? What then happens to the meaning of the so-reassigned word?
>
> > (What word are we now expected to use to express the original
> > meaning of "graphein", "text"?
>
> The original meaning of "graphein"
> is "to inscribe on a clay tablet".
I held your side of a conversation eerily similar to this one with
one "Autymn DC" aka "Lysdexia" in sci.physics some time ago (Autymn is/
poses as some weird sort of raving nutcase who refuses to recognize
any linguistic cross-fertilization as valid since apparently about 400
AD and posts in a REALLY bizarre version of Olde AngloFrankish,
constantly "corecting" her correspondents' language).
Like so very many, Autymn/Lysdexia seems to take personal affront at
Nicoll's observation about the English language's methods of
evolution:
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is
that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just
borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down
alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new
vocabulary."
You might have gotten a smattering of a clue from my mention of
Kibo's (and hence that of His followers) occasional irony, but NOOOOO
you had to make me go and POINT IT OUT! And LAUGH AT IT!!
Yours in total disgust
Dr. Hot"and maybe some PeptoBismol"Salt
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