Usage (was Re: OT: Re: New Address Book in Jaguar 10.2...)
Usage (was Re: OT: Re: New Address Book in Jaguar 10.2...)
- Subject: Usage (was Re: OT: Re: New Address Book in Jaguar 10.2...)
- From: richard_howland-bolton <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 07:46:04 -0500
>
>>>> the media has degenerated
>
>>>
>
>>> You mean the medium has. Or the media have.
>
>>
>
>> If the medium was sound you wouldn't see this sort of mistake.
>
. . .
Non-productive plurals have an interesting place in current
usage since they are often to be considered nouns of mass.
(Productive plurals in MnE are pretty well reduced to -[e]s
apart from humorous formations such as the plural for the VAX
computer as 'vaxen' (prob. by false anal. w. 'vixen') and, to
vaguely return to the topic of this list, 'osaxen'---though I
have seen this given as pseudohebraic 'osaxim' so perhaps it's
merely a nonce word).
This means that you can happily use 'the media has'
(especially if you are lumping it together) without recourse
to enallage.
>
>
>
>If it *were* sound....
>
if it *was* a good joke it *would* bear repeating ;-)
Would that it were not so, but the subjunctive is rapidly
fossilizing.
i thought it was considered bad form to kriticize speling and
usageses on lists since many peeple may be writing in a second
(or subsequent) language and anyway one of the only irrefutable
facts about a complex system like English is that no one knows
enough about it to promulgage rules of usage. Any usage can be
defended and that's the beauty of it and to fight that would be
fowler than i can imagine.
Now, to return from things pedantistical to our scheduled
programme...
rhb
Richard Howland-Bolton email@hidden
email@hidden
email@hidden
email@hidden
jcpenney phone 972 431 3979
cell phone 214 662 0536
home phone 972 312 0536
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