silly points of usage

On Jan 23, 3:35 pm, Chris Menzel <cmen...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
It's too bad you decided instead simply to
self-destruct over silly points of usage.

I do not think that points of usage are silly.
I just plain don't concede that. SOME of them are silly,
but the way you PROVE that a point of usage is silly
is basically by isomorphism; you prove that works out the same either
way;
you prove that it doesn't much MATTER which way you resolve the point.
If it MATTERS then it's NOT silly.

Back when TF was alive I was notorious for arguing (vs.him and AK)
against
using "true" as opposed to "true in this or that model" around issues
of
first-order arithmetic (or even CALLING it "the language of first-
order arithmetic",
for that matter). THAT is a usage that you might view as "universal
and
justified" but that I have always been contemptuous of.

My position is that the community at large IS JUST WRONG in some of
its
usage choices and that responsible actors can make a positive
contribution
BY CHOOSING TO ESCHEW locutions that, DESPITE their ubiquity, have
SOME demonstrably bad pedagogical consequences.

If all you want to do is champion the status quo and make sure that
people
have learned it properly, then obviously, WE WILL FIGHT more than we
co-operate.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Parse "sooner"
    ... soon - adverb (bef. ... "sooner" should always be considered a matter of ranking ... examples carry over to the usage of "sooner" being discussed. ... "I'd prefer that you refrain ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: What does kaimono mean
    ... Most people i know of let the machine do the decoding and nobody seems to ... contribute more elaboratively on the matter as it's clearly not your favorite issue. ... Incidently what Jim didn't mention was why 買い物 accords with modern standards. ... In my opinion if there is any usage difference outside of age of text it might be formality. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Parse "sooner"
    ... but this is a mere formality isn't it? ... It's still a matter of which option the speaker would do "sooner". ... the habit of omitting the obvious, the word acquires a new usage. ... or "I'd like it if you'd refrain from ..." ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: what matter they?
    ... this usage, but it is from users who characteristically adopt a dated, ... which would be "What do they matter?" ... mannered and quirky usage" might well be characterised as ... "Virginia Woolf style" and, I would say, you will continue to come across ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Word usage: "whence"
    ... usage was in the past. ... It doesn't matter how entrenched the usage was in the past. ... You shouldn't use words that you don't understand, and you shouldn't use words that have more than one meaning without specifying what meaning you intend. ... I'm not talking about prescriptivists, ...
    (alt.usage.english)