Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

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pezman
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Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

Post by pezman » Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:41 pm

A nice article by Steven Pinker in regards to "Justice Chief of the Court Supreme" Roberts' stumble during Obama's oath of office:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opini ... er.html?em

Every now and then my inner stickler will rise up to paralyze my writing -- not that my stickler knows all that much about the finer points of English grammar.
I have spent the whole morning putting in a comma, and the whole afternoon taking it out.

larry cottrill
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Re: Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

Post by larry cottrill » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:29 pm

pez -

I agree with these sentiments. The greatest English and American writers have not been bothered by any enslavement to such rules. They even occasionally make up new words when it suits their purpose, though this is blessedly rare.

Of course, we all have pet linguistic perversions 'up with which we will not put'. "Comprised of" is horrible.

L Cottrill

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Re: Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

Post by Mark » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:37 pm

I say the King's English or nothing! ; )
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Re: Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

Post by Viv » Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:14 pm

Mark wrote:I say the King's English or nothing! ; )
The King's English you say? I note that one of the earliest English laws written by the English king is that of treason, interestingly it was written in the original Norman French ;-)

The linguistic roots of English are French, German, Dutch and Flemish to name but a few, Chaucer is sited as the father of vernacular English, as early as the 13th century French was still the language of Government in Britain.

It is the very ability of English to break and to absorb new words that ensures its success as an international language.

Viv
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Viv
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Re: Nonsense, up with which we ought not put?

Post by Viv » Tue Jan 27, 2009 2:26 pm

Viv wrote:
Mark wrote:I say the King's English or nothing! ; )
The King's English you say? I note that one of the earliest English laws written by an English king is that of treason, interestingly it was written in the original Norman French ;-)

The linguistic roots of English are French, German, Dutch and Flemish to name but a few, Chaucer is sited as the father of vernacular English, as early as the 13th century French was still the language of Government in Britain.

It is the very ability of English to break and to absorb new words that ensures its success as an international language.

Viv
"Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them" Brock Clarke

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Monsieur le commentaire

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