[G4] Re: English

[Eric Wood]

Our language seems to be shaped by a lack of education, actually. I see
so many errors online, and now they're present in almost everything I
read. Typically, they are confusion of things like your and you're, and
then there's the lesser-known confusion between it's and its. But these
are just two tiny examples of grammar skills disappearing, and everyone
getting confused by everyone else making such mistakes. Suddenly, there
are too few examples of proper English. It's a nightmare to me.

The language was far less convoluted before it was transformed from its
old Germanic roots to what it is now. I blame the Normans.

How long until "English for Dummies" becomes a textbook, I wonder?
Anyone seen the film "Idiocracy?"

Eric

On Mon, 2007-06-18 at 03:14 -0700, keith_w wrote:
> Ronald Steinke wrote:
> > On 17 Jun, 2007, at 10:11 AM, Al Poulin wrote:
> > 
> >> Hope this helps,
> >> Al Poulin
> > 
> > Your explanation of the terms is much appreciated. The information I 
> > read from the Apple site is often laden with terms that can have more 
> > than one meaning and Apple does not normally tell which definition is 
> > the correct one. Sometimes, I wish the english language was not so 
> > convoluted.
> > 
> > Thanks, again.
> 
> Ronald, It's amazing so few errors actually creep into communication, 
> even when used by native speakers.
> English is a rich language but it's structure is complex , and you have 
> to work carefully to not be mis-understood!
> Words change meanings over the years, and as you point out, sometimes 
> have more than one meaning, making it even more difficult to communicate 
> well.
> I think it helps when the two parties (reader and writer) stay polite, 
> and help each other with understanding text with ambiguous meanings...it 
> makes for a far more pleasant experience!
> 
> It also helps when the writer is aware of this difficulty, and makes his 
> or her writings as free of double meaning as possible.
> Writing clearly is not a simple task, sad to say...
> 
> Best,
> 
> keith whaley
> _______________________________________________
> G4 mailing list
> G4 at listserver.themacintoshguy.com
> http://listserver.themacintoshguy.com/mailman/listinfo/g4
> 
> Listmom is trying to clean out his closets! Vintage Mac and random stuff:
>          http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmacguy1984
>