Your first OT thread. Much wow. More yay.

[Traitorfish]

Maybe if you just cut out all the parts you stole from other languages...

Hey, I didn't steal anything. I'm the pure-bred son of the Gael, doncha know; it's not my fault that the Saxons stole our language but couldn't come with anything decent to replace it!

 

[sophie]

Hey, I didn't steal anything. I'm the pure-bred son of the Gael, doncha know; it's not my fault that the Saxons stole our language but couldn't come with anything decent to replace it!

I took out all the stolen words, for your benefit

 

[Timsup2nothin]

Just posted my first thread today.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=539667

A whopping 0 replies so far. I'm proud of how well I wrote that first post, but damn, apparently I didn't pick the best topic.

I replied. My reply may not have contributed much, but I did my best.

 

[gay_Aleks]

I took out all the stolen words, for your benefit

Of course, that is without all the Latin derivatives coming from French/German/Spanish/whatever European language Britain was stealing at that time.

As someone in 1990 said...

"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 riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.".-James Nicoll.

 

[sophie]

Of course, that is without all the Latin derivatives coming from French/German/Spanish/whatever European language Britain was stealing at that time.

As someone in 1990 said...

"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 riffle their pockets for new vocabulary.".-James Nicoll.

No, I took out all the French/Latin words. The remainders (aside from "Gaelic") are pure Germanic words. Among the absolute oldest words that exist in English, in fact.

 

[Borachio]

That's the exact opposite of what I'm saying. I'm not at all saying that it doesn't matter what people mean by the words they say. What matters is the meaning that people hear when you use a word. The meaning that matters when you say something is the meaning that other people hear. Nobody communicates purely to talk to oneself. We communicate in order that other people understand us. We have an idea in our head, we attempt to articulate that idea, the other person hears what we say, interprets our words according to the meaning they have in their own heads, and forms an idea from them. We hope that the idea they have formed in their heads is substantially the same as the idea we have in our heads; the goal of communication is to ensure that, and its effectiveness is measured with respect to that goal.

But I could just as easily use exactly the same argument in favour of people using the original meaning of "unique".

Are you referring to my "arrogance" comment, or my "verbose" comment? Or some other, perhaps? Either way, I apologise - I should try to be less insulting in the future. But to explain, the former is a sincerely held belief: I really do believe that you are being arrogant, and though I really am sorry that you have felt insulted by that characterisation, I would rather not sugar-coat it. The latter, I assure you, was purely said in jest, but again, I'm sorry that it came across as insulting.

No, no, I'm perfectly fine with being insulted. Doesn't bother me a bit. I rather like it, in fact, since it tells me that my interlocutor is flailing around looking for better arguments.

As for me actually being arrogant, I can only assure you that I'm not. Not a bit of it. I've nothing at all invested in whether people use what seems to me to be the correct meaning of any words at all.

But anyway. There's a serious point behind all this argy bargy.

Languages move on inevitably. But they're also quite conservative things. Meanings depend overwhelmingly on precedent, and people move their meanings on at the peril of losing quality of communication. So there's two opposing forces determining all this: that of the traditionalist (represented by me and other grammar nazis, I suppose) who is more interested in how words have been used in the past and with an interest in how languages actually work in practice, and, sticking my neck out a bit I guess, the for-want-of-a-better-word progressive, who doesn't give a fig about any word at all and will just seize on the nearest one available, press it into use for whatever purpose without a by your leave or sidelong glance at a dictionary.

I'm fine with neologisms and imaginative use of language. But I'd just be plain happier if when people use a word like "unique" they really do mean "unique" and not something else... like banana. I've not invented English on my own, you know. Somebody taught me every word I know.

You'll allow me to mourn for the passing of the meaning of old favourite word, I hope. A meaning which had already probably shifted because of misuse 50 years before I was born, in any case. But shifted its meaning principally among people who neither had the time nor inclination to listen to other people telling them what it really meant.

But, I'll repeat, I really don't care myself. I'd be just as happy if people spoke French the whole time. And, believe me, as grammar nazis come, you've seen nothing until you've witnessed l'Academie Française at work. They really do believe that every single word, and rule, of French is chiselled in stone tablets.

 

[civver_764]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=351968

Not too bad, younger self. This part: "Plus it would utterly destroy any credibility the conservatives have in this country, which can only be a good thing." was pretty stupid.

 

[Borachio]

Ooh. Hello, Mr 764! I've not seen you for a bit. How are you?

 

[civver_764]

Doin alrightt, I'm gonna be a dad!

 

[Borachio]

You're not!

Wow! How did that happen?

Still, congratulations. There's a certain surge of instinctive pride that hits in quite unexpectedly, at a certain point, I found.

 

[James Stuart]

You're not!

Wow! How did that happen?

Still, congratulations. There's a certain surge of instinctive pride that hits in quite unexpectedly, at a certain point, I found.

I would assume via either sex or adoption.

 

[Borachio]

I'd have assumed just one of those, too.

 

[civver_764]

Definitely a sense of instinctive pride, it's nuts.

 

[James Stuart]

Definitely a sense of instinctive pride, it's nuts.

You'll get instinctive hatred when they're about two weeks old, and you haven't slept more than four hours since their birth. I would suggest stocking up on caffeine and buying wireless headphones.

 

[Traitorfish]

I would assume via either sex or adoption.

He could be some sort of fungus-person; we really don't have enough information to rule out that possibility.

 

[James Stuart]

He could be some sort of fungus-person; we really don't have enough information to rule out that possibility.

I've played my girlfriend's Sims game in the past. The possibility that he is a robot, alien, werewolf, or vampire, can also not be ignored.

 

[Borachio]

He could be some sort of fungus-person; we really don't have enough information to rule out that possibility.

Don't fungi reproduce in a fairly normal sexy way?

I know they have fruiting bodies. So there's that.

Maybe I should just go look the subject up. Fungi are neither animal nor vegetable (nor protists nor bacteria), so I expect they're a bit peculiar.

On the other hand, for all I know, fungi go in for adoption in a big way.

edit: Hmm, fungi seem to have the sexual playing field pretty well covered however you look at it.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Well, he could have went to a graveyard, find a fresh corpse, then plant it's seeds. As days pass by, it grows more. It's fungal embrace covers the body completely. In due time, it transforms. What once was dead, is now alive. Alive, and desiring to be avenged.


Now that I'm done with this slight prosaic detour, I am considering a reserve career as a writer in case this whole "IT" business doesn't catch on.

 

[Traitorfish]

It's settled then: congratulations, Civver, on the coming resurrection of your vampiric fungus-spawn.

 

[James Stuart]

It's settled then: congratulations, Civver, on the coming resurrection of your vampiric fungus-spawn.

I saw that movie. It had Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig in it. I assume Civver is built like Daniel Craig, or at the very least will not deny it.