On Sun, 24 Nov 2013, Rolf Turner wrote:
On 11/24/13 09:30, Robert Holtzman wrote:
> On Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 10:29:19AM +1300, Rolf Turner wrote:
<SNIP>
> >
> > But wrong nevertheless. It conflates two quite distinct ideas,
> > blurs
> > the meaning and diminishes the language.
> Another English major heard from.
Actually not true. Maths honours, Ph.D. maths, M. Stat. But what is
your point?
> I assume you're aware that languages evolve over time in accordance with
> common usage.
This is such a tired and tiresome old cliche that it is not worth
responding to.
Read what I wrote and think, rather than glibly reacting with smug
conformism.
cheers,
Rolf Turner
I think the problem is that you are under the mistaken impression that most of us who find
this so funny are people who speak English. We don't. We speak American, a related
but very different thing. Hell, I don't even speak Yankee.
The last time someone said "whilst" to me, I thought he had a cold and offered
him a hankie.
I well remember a friend of mine from London coming to visit me at the ranch. After the
initial pleasantries, my father whispered to my aunt, "What the hell that boy
sayin'? Don't get a damn thing coming outta his mouth." My aunt whispered
back "Don't matter none. He's Little Bill's friend. Just smile."
The difference between "alternate" and "alternative" is a drop in the
freaking bucket. You might as well be bitching that we misspell "colour."
It's not that you are wrong about English usage. You are wrong about American usage.
And we just don't care -- but we find it hilarious that someone would.
Listen to this guy talk (he's from Tupelo, Missisipi) and imagine telling this guy
that he's using the word "alternate" incorrectly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gS98llpw1L4
(BTW, this is the fight he was talking about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2H-7NIC2qI
)
billo