TIL: Today I Learned

[Valka D'Ur]

I've also noticed that some of my English teachers had oddly small vocabularies.
Probably because they hardly used English outside of school. The internet wasn't a thing and they couldn't spend their free time arguing about politics with some native speakers.

I don't know what the problem was with the teacher @yung.carl.jung had. With my teacher, it might have been that she was irritated that I used science and space exploration themes in as much of my writing as possible (I was a new Trek fan at the time and was reading as many astronomy books as I could get my hands on... and saw no reason not to include such things in my English assignments as long as the actual requirements of the assignment were met).

But that's still no excuse for not knowing that Earth is a planet that is just one of several others (all of which have names that start with a capital letter).

 

[Mouthwash]

Hmmmm, no. You need to interact with real people. You need to be able to get tones, facial expressions, deictics. A few videogames and this Duolingo thing might help, especially when getting started, but they cannot get you past a certain point.

Well of course I have Netflix, too.

I don't know what the problem was with the teacher @yung.carl.jung had. With my teacher, it might have been that she was irritated that I used science and space exploration themes in as much of my writing as possible (I was a new Trek fan at the time and was reading as many astronomy books as I could get my hands on... and saw no reason not to include such things in my English assignments as long as the actual requirements of the assignment were met).

But that's still no excuse for not knowing that Earth is a planet that is just one of several others (all of which have names that start with a capital letter).

"The earth" is still correct, I believe.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

"The earth" is still correct, I believe.

That isn't how I used it in the assignment. If you were talking about the cities in the state/country where you live, would you put "the" in front of them? In most cases, of course not.

If I talk about "the earth", that means I'm talking about the ground, the dirt, the stuff I walk on that isn't grass or rock or ice or wood or something manmade, like a sidewalk.

If I'm talking about the planet, I use "Earth" - just as I would if I were talking about the other planets. After all, nobody says "the Jupiter, the Mars, the Mercury."

We do say "the Moon" and "the Sun" (and yeah, I know some people don't capitalize them; however I do, unless I'm talking about a generic moon or an unspecified moon around another planet).

The teacher was clearly in the wrong in this case (one of her colleagues, who was teaching an astronomy unit that year, would have backed me up). She wasn't happy about it being pointed out, but then I wasn't happy about having been docked marks when I shouldn't have been.

 

[Kyriakos]

The planets took their names from mythological figures, usually gods. That is also true for 'earth', but not in the english term, which seems to not mean anything divine The original term is Gaia, who was the mother of the titans, and one of the three original entities in the Theogonia.
Furthermore, even in greek, due to how much more common it is to refer to the earth (or the sun) than to other planets or a star, those terms can either have a capital first letter or not. The moon also is a figure in greek mythology (again not visible in the english term).

That said, and particularly for the greek term for earth, one very often will use a capital first letter, but due to the same term being also used for 'land', 'soil' etc at times.

 

[Mouthwash]

If I talk about "the earth", that means I'm talking about the ground, the dirt, the stuff I walk on that isn't grass or rock or ice or wood or something manmade, like a sidewalk.

It can also be used to refer to our planet, though. It's rarer, but it's correct.

(Don't complain how that doesn't make sense. We are speaking English, after all.)

 

[Hrothbern]

I thought we are talking International English on this site
under the normal practice that the ones using a language take over control of the continuous evolution of that language

 

[Mouthwash]

What's your point?

 

[Hrothbern]

Because of this:

We are speaking English, after all

We are in fact speaking a mix of English, American English, and effects on it from people with other native languages.
No original language is really in charge anymore.
It is more "go with the flow"

BTW
on that earth or Earth
If you speak proper UK English, the planet must be written with a capital. The soil not.

 

[Mouthwash]

Well, I definitely recall "the earth" being used to refer to our planet (never just "earth" though). My remark was meant to convey that there are a lot of things about English that doesn't make sense.

 

[Traitorfish]

"Earth" is absolute, "the Earth" is relational. The former is as opposed to Mars or Jupiter or Omicron Persei VIII, the latter is as opposed to the sky or the moon or the sun- that is, as those things are viewed from the perspective of earthbound humans.

 

[Hrothbern]

Well, I definitely recall "the earth" being used to refer to our planet (never just "earth" though). My remark was meant to convey that there are a lot of things about English that doesn't make sense.

Ahh
Now I understand...
every living language has that issue, some more than others
perhaps because of more diversity in her historical composition
there is IIRC some original South American Andes native language (with knots in ropes ?) that has a high degree of consistence/logic, but obsolete since centuries.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Well, I definitely recall "the earth" being used to refer to our planet (never just "earth" though). My remark was meant to convey that there are a lot of things about English that doesn't make sense.

If, as a hypothetical, you were born on Mars, and someone asked you which planet you were born on, you wouldn't say, "I was born on the mars," would you? The correct answer would be "I was born on Mars."

 

[Timsup2nothin]

If, as a hypothetical, you were born on Mars, and someone asked you which planet you were born on, you wouldn't say, "I was born on the mars," would you? The correct answer would be "I was born on Mars."

The name of the planet Mars didn't graduate from just being a reference to the dirt we stand on, so doesn't need the differentiation of "the mars." But for someone born on mars, who grew their crops in mars, after tilling mars all day the differentiation might very well feel like a necessity. So they may very well say "the Mars" when referring to their planet to differentiate from just the everyday mars that they wash out of their socks.

It always amuses me when science fiction writers slip up and refer to the soil, dirt, loam, ground, whatever cool synonym could be used for what the space colonists are digging into as 'earth.' Would a bunch of bulldozers and backhoes on Mars be collectively referred to as "earth moving machines"? We are so collectively arrogant that the answer is probably yes.

 

[Mouthwash]

"Earth" is absolute, "the Earth" is relational. The former is as opposed to Mars or Jupiter or Omicron Persei VIII, the latter is as opposed to the sky or the moon or the sun- that is, as those things are viewed from the perspective of earthbound humans.

If, as a hypothetical, you were born on Mars, and someone asked you which planet you were born on, you wouldn't say, "I was born on the mars," would you? The correct answer would be "I was born on Mars."

You guys aren't getting what I'm saying about English and sense. You are right that the rules of English dictate that our planet be referred to as Earth, and that the ground be referred to as the earth. However, it is still correct to use the latter term for the planet, because English breaks its own rules without shame.

(It may just be an Americanism, but I've definitely seen it.)

 

[Takhisis]

Well of course I have Netflix, too.

And that's still not exactly interaction with real people, is it?

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And that's still not exactly interaction with real people, is it?

Not everything on Netlix is pure CGI...yet.

 

[Takhisis]

He cannot interact with characters on Netflix shows, can he?

 

[Mouthwash]

And that's still not exactly interaction with real people, is it?

It has tones, facial expressions, and deictics.

 

[GinandTonic]

"Earth" is absolute, "the Earth" is relational. The former is as opposed to Mars or Jupiter or Omicron Persei VIII, the latter is as opposed to the sky or the moon or the sun- that is, as those things are viewed from the perspective of earthbound humans.

Absolutely but not just that. "The Earth is the only chance our species has for survival" refers to the planet and would be gibberish without the article. Whenever we refer to the planet on which we live we use "The". Even if we substitute the word "world" our planet is very much the definite article. The World was, after all, Not Enough".

EDIT -

And in the immortal words of The Beautiful South

Save us from baldness and saving the earth


Link to video.

 

[Ryika]

There's a student who was hit by a car after she ran onto a highway as part of a protest against Trump, and is now suing her University because they did organize the protest and did not prevent it from leaving the campus "spilling onto the highway", which was apparently not blocked properly.