The language argument

[awaken_D_M_golem]

You can run for President of Amercia , now.


You don't need spellcheckers or proofreaders.

[InnaBinder]

Here is a link that's on-topic.

[altpersona]

i am for the first time reading Stranger in a Strange Land.

and i see this

"English swallows up anything that comes its way, makes English outof it. Nobody tried to stop this process, the way some languages are policed and have official limits . .probably because there never has been, truly, such a thing as 'the King's English'-for 'the King's English'was French. English was in truth a bastard tongue and nobody cared how it grew . . . and it did!-enormously. Until no one could hope to be an educated man unless he did his best to embrace this monster"

 

[Nanshork]

Guh, I am not a fan of that book at all.

[InnaBinder]

I find it curious - given the author's apparent belief that English is anything that the writer or speaker designates as English* - that Heinlein did not merely mash the keyboard until he'd produced gibberish of sufficient length and call it good.  His choice to utilize the general rules of English in sentence structure, syntax, and spelling (perhaps with slight "artistic" deviations) seems, to me, to undermine the point made in the passage altpersona highlights.

*Here I paraphrase the definition of "Art" given by an old college professor/hippie I knew years ago.

[altpersona]

*Here I paraphrase the definition of "Art" given by an old college professor/hippie I knew years ago.

ya, something like that.   

[EjoThims]

I find it curious - given the author's apparent belief that English is anything that the writer or speaker designates as English* - that Heinlein did not merely mash the keyboard until he'd produced gibberish of sufficient length and call it good.  His choice to utilize the general rules of English in sentence structure, syntax, and spelling (perhaps with slight "artistic" deviations) seems, to me, to undermine the point made in the passage altpersona highlights.

I agree. Yet I feel that in doing so it greatly strengthens the ideas many of us have put forth in this thread... 

[altpersona]

consider a poor comparison using a poorly chosen subject.

how much official guidance was given for the operation of congress? almost none.

they make up rules and generally live with in them.


using those 'rules' isnt not correct or incorrect.

[altpersona]

also as a tangent totally unrelated to the thread.

as i read SiaSL it seems i am reading The Watchmen again. Dr Manhattan, the Comedian, Rorschach, silk specter, sally jupiter all together. (the others are less prominent, but are most likely there)

so far SiaSL is missing a real protagonist so Ozymandias will have to wait...

[Jackinthegreen]

A bit of preface on this: I don't remember if I've fully read this thread, which means I also don't remember its full contents.  If I'm just repeating something someone else said then I'd like to know.  I'll probably go back and look myself, but that'll be when I feel like it (which isn't now, nor is it likely to be tonight.)

Something I've noticed a little all over the internet:  Those who can't fully seem to express themselves due to poor word choice or somewhat incomprehensible writing seem to be more likely to be regarded as trolls.  I believe a possible reason for that is sometimes people assume the poster is intentionally being difficult or thick-headed, but of course we all know what happens when we ass/u/me.

[EjoThims]

Something I've noticed a little all over the internet:  Those who can't fully seem to express themselves due to poor word choice or somewhat incomprehensible writing seem to be more likely to be regarded as trolls.  I believe a possible reason for that is sometimes people assume the poster is intentionally being difficult or thick-headed, but of course we all know what happens when we ass/u/me.

I've definitely noticed this myself, and while I'll agree that it's not always a fair assumption to make, it harkens back to my points in this post.

[Jackinthegreen]

Here are some things that really got me thinking about what English is and how we use it.

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/making-sense-of-spelling-gina-cooke
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/beware-of-nominalizations-aka-zombie-nouns-helen-sword
http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-english-evolve-kate-gardoqui