On 11/23/2013 03:55 PM, Chris Murphy wrote:
On Nov 23, 2013, at 3:47 AM, Andrew Haley <aph(a)redhat.com> wrote:
> On 11/22/2013 09:44 PM, Chris Murphy wrote:
>
>> Nope, you're wrong. Find a copy of New Oxford American Dictionary
>> and look up the words and usage. I seriously doubt even Oxford
>> English makes such a big distinction between two words that share
>> the same etymology and have no good reason for meaning different
>> things.
>
> I doubt it. Fowler is pretty definite:
>
> "Alternative (offering a choice) had formerly also the sense now
> belonging only to alternate (by turns); now that the differentiation
> is complete, confusion is even less excusable than between definite
> and definitive."
Sounds like someone at Fowler has a bone to pick, but they've gone
out too far on a limb. There is a clear differentiation between
definite and definitive that most anyone can easily understand, yet
they're proposing there's an even greater distinction between
alternate and alternative that no one would care about.
Well, Fowler's Modern English Usage is Oxford Dictionaries' reference
work on English usage, so I can say without any reasonable fear of
successful contradiction that when you "seriously doubt even
Oxford English makes such a big distinction" you surely are wrong.
Andrew.