Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!gatech!ukma!david From: david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- Resident E-mail Hack) Newsgroups: news.admin Subject: Re: New Map Files - Latest PATHALIAS/NETNEWS versions required Message-ID: <7896@e.ms.uky.edu> Date: 18 Dec 87 19:42:22 GMT References: <8711241022.AA12529@RUTGERS.EDU> <21871@lll-tis.arpa> <3622@hoptoad.uucp> <1034@maynard.BSW.COM> Reply-To: david@ms.uky.edu (David Herron -- Resident E-mail Hack) Organization: U of Kentucky, Mathematical Sciences Lines: 63 In article <1034@maynard.BSW.COM> campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell) writes: >In article <3622@hoptoad.uucp> sunny@hoptoad.UUCP (Sunny Kirsten) writes: ><>My dictionary shows that superCedes and superSedes are aliases for ><>each other. >You should get a new dictionary. There is no `c' in supersede. >The word comes from the Latin verb `supersedere', "to sit above", >from `super-' "above" and `sedere' "to sit" (whence also comes >`sedentary'). Oh, puhlease ... quit being a prescriptionist! ><> Since this is typical of english, it will be typical ><>of those who speak english. In acknowledgment of actual usage, ><>the software ought to accept BOTH spellings. The computer should ><>adapt to the nature of humans. >If you mean it's typical that English speakers don't know how to spell >their own language, yes, this is true, but it is also unfortunate and >not be encouraged. (Apology to British readers -- I suspect most of the >violence to English is done by Americans.) Now this is pigheadedness ... I dare say that Britisher's mangle their language just as badly as we mangle ours. It is the nature of language to change, it's just that changes take so long to work themselves out that most people just don't see it. >If people are confusing the words `cedere' and `sedere', the proper >solution is not to wish their ignorance out of existence by declaring >that the words are identical -- which would be a lie -- but to point >out the distinction to them, enriching them thereby. A "mistake" like the one you are describing is a very common one to make when languages import words from other languages. Basically it's an overgeneralization ... tho not the form of overgeneralization which they taught me in Linguistics where a kid starts calling all small furry animals "kitty!". Now, tell me something. Why is it unfortunate that languages change? Where would we be if English had been frozen a couple of hundred years ago when there were no words for this thing sitting on my desk, the thing it's connected to, various of the chips and such inside the terminal and the computer and so on. Reminds me of a word from Coeur D'Alene (a (I think) Indian language from the pacific northwest) they have for dogs. I saw the phonetic transcription in my phonology book ... it was reeeaaall long ... the translation they gave was something along the lines of small furry animal with wrinkles on the pads of it's feet Why can't they just call the d*mn thing a dog and be done with! -- <---- David Herron -- The E-Mail guy <---- or: {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET <---- <---- Winter health warning: Remember, don't eat the yellow snow! -- <---- David Herron -- The E-Mail guy <---- or: {rutgers,uunet,cbosgd}!ukma!david, david@UKMA.BITNET <---- <---- Winter health warning: Remember, don't eat the yellow snow!