[TAG] [lg-announce] Linux Gazette #171 is out!

[Kat Tanaka Okopnik]

On Mon, Feb 01, 2010 at 04:26:43PM -0800, Rick Moen wrote:
> It's also called taking the high road.  You may have heard of it.

So very, very kindly and gently stated, Mr. Moen. Thank you *so* much
for refraining from using snideness or insulting terms in expressing
your upset. 

> Ah, yet another crummy dictionary that gets it wrong.  PNG at 11.
> Fortunately, _that_ bunch of mouthbreathers is not on our editorial
> staff.

Oh, dear. Perhaps some naughty monkey has intercepted your transmission
and inserted the term "mouthbreather" and further made it appear that
you don't actually hold with the idea that copyeditors may *differ*.


> Kat wrote:
> 
> > I'm sorry it makes your head spin, Rick, but I suspect your problem lies here:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_noun/ rather than in erosion of
> > any mythical ability. 
> 
> Another Fun Fact to Know and Tell is that I _did_ manage, somewhere
> within my 51 years (and counting) to pick up a nodding acquaintance with
> the concept of collective nouns.  I think it was somewhere around year
> eight.
> 
> Sadly, Kat's comment misses the point that the cited sentence ("Levitz is
> having a sale at their Oakland warehouse") changes its conception of
> number _twice_ within the space of nine words.

No, Rick, I got that. I just think that forcing Latinate rules of
grammar onto English was a foolish thing to do in the mid-1700s, and
it's even sillier now. It's not okay to split infinitives or end with
prepositions in Latin, but we're not using Latin, nor are we using a
language that has been codified by a committee. 

You've often spoken of early imprinting on (and a continuing fondness
for) British style English, despite many years in the Bay Area. "Company
*is* having a sale at *their* warehouse" is perfectly good American
English. It may grate to a British-trained ear just as "in hospital"
sounds awful to Americans.

Meanwhile, your "nonstyleguide" mentioned that we don't adhere to any
one style guide. So all these come down to "it strikes me as wrong". So
be it, then. Ultimate arbiter becomes the EiC, eh?

-- 
Kat Tanaka Okopnik
Linux Gazette Mailbag Editor
kat at linuxgazette.net