[ExI] from quora - laugh of the day

Sat Nov 20 01:17:26 UTC 2021

Now what kind of purist uses 'sorta'?  Maybe a confused one?  I have been
most of a purist.  I remember fighting 'aggravate' as meaning angry or
frustrated rather than its meaning of making something worse.  That battle
was lost long ago.  I just say 'intensify'.   Everybody caved on 'ain't.
And most of everything else too.  Dictionaries are books of usage, and that
comes from the people, and they don't seem to be purists to me.  But they
swing the biggest weapons - popular usage.

Of course we don't have to go along with them, but increasingly we will be
unable to communicate with the followers of the fads.  I, for instance, say
'application' rather than 'app'.  Do you?  I say 'feel that' rather than
'feel like'.  Do you?  As for 'sorta', I'll bet you also use 'kinda'.
Right?  I also say 'ghost poo' rather than 'packing peanuts'.  Do you?  Oh
sorry, irrelevant example.

Year ago Edwin Newman wrote several books on words which I enjoyed ('the
ize have it').  I also communicated with James Kilpatrick over something -
I forget what.  Oh wait - it was over the use of words that are not
amenable to qualification, like 'perfect' and 'unique'.  Called absolute
words.  Fad usage has 'somewhat unique' or 'more unique' as acceptable.
Not me.

On Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 1:49 PM spike jones via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

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> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *William Flynn Wallace via extropy-chat
> *Sent:* Friday, November 19, 2021 9:52 AM
> *To:* ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> *Cc:* William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] from quora - laugh of the day
>
>
>
> >…Ah, another language purist….
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> Billw, being a language purist is the easiest place of all to be a
> purist.  In any other arena, to be a purist means one must be actually,
> literally, pure.  Far easier it is to be an impurist.  We even have a kind
> of socioreligious umbrella under which we shelter: Impuritanism.
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> >…People will use language any way they want to - see the 400 additions to
> the Webster dictionary….
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> Eh, Webstah schmebstah.  What does he know?  He was kinda mildly
> entertaining when he was still a cute little kid, but it didn’t work after
> season 2 and Alex Karras didn’t really break thru into show biz.
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> >…  You just can't stop it…
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> Ah, unnecessarily defeatist attitude Billw.  Affix appropriation can be
> stopped!  But we need more who believe it can be done.  What this world
> needs is more featists.  We can band together and even come up with a
> dismissive or derogatory term for those hopeless pessimists who whack off
> the adjective or verb from its modifier.  We can call them the DEs.  Then
> we make up corresponding missive or rogatory terms for ourselves.
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> >…And don't forget infixes.   bill w
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> Ja.  Those are a whole nother story.  Infixes are my friends.  I can
> guaranfreakingtee you, I will never neglect them.  However I might still
> argue that walnuts and sunflower seeds should have been unpolysaturated
> fats to start with.  The nutrition people followed the science rather than
> the grammar.
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> All of this reminds me of the reason I have hung out here for nearly three
> tragically-squandered decades: the delightfully chaotic way in which memes
> replicate and mutate to form new species of mutant memes.  One can toss any
> notion, sensible or absurd, into the swirling maelstrom of ideas.  It is
> impossible to predict where it will go, like when one presses the handle
> and drops in the TP after having one of those where it goes plup plup plup
> about 20 times, as happens sometimes, and around it goes, unpredictably.
> This particular comparison may need some work, for in the cited case, it is
> very predictable where it will eventually go.  Furthermore, the analogy
> will likely never be used in Reader’s Digest section “Toward More
> Picturesque Speech.”  But otherwise… it is like that sorta.
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> spike
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> w
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> On Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 10:40 AM spike jones via extropy-chat <
> extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
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> *From:* spike at rainier66.com <spike at rainier66.com>
> *Subject:* RE: [ExI] from quora - laugh of the day
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> *From:* extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> *On Behalf
> Of *Adrian Tymes via extropy-chat
> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] from quora - laugh of the day
>
>
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> >>…"dis" is short for "disrespect" or "insult", though in a lesser way
> (thus the shortening).
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> >…Ah.  In that case, I shall un, for I am anti.  We should all be more
> contra, for then we will not.
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> spike
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> This brings back discussions from long ago about prefix appropriation.
> Well… for that matter, the term appropriation, which in our times has
> become a kind of shorthand for the cultural variety.  I oppose prefix
> appropriation, even though we can see it is thriving, much to my dismay.
>
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> For instance, what do you think of when someone says “they are all
> heteros.”  I object to this.  Those who prefer male-female sexual relations
> may not appropriate the term hetero.  That is a prefix that we need to keep
> general.  All prefixes and suffixes should be kept general and
> multi-purpose.  We must start an affix rights movement, help reduce
> violence to grammar.  Those who are unclear on the urgency should review
> the Newspeak section of Nineteen Eighty Four.
>
>
>
> spike
>
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