[PLUG-TALK] begging the question

Michael M. Moore michael at writemoore.net
Sun Oct 4 20:32:53 UTC 2009


On Sat, Oct 3, 2009 at 7:53 PM, Denis Heidtmann
<denis.heidtmann at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I am having a little trouble with this, being a bit of a
> prescriptivist.  Shouldn't an utterance be unambiguous (unless
> ambiguity is the intention)?  Or perhaps the discussion should be
> about who qualifies as a native speaker.  If the intent is
> communication, then utterances which grate are a distraction, and
> interfere with communication.  Notice I did not use the word
> "correct".

Utterances that grate and utterances that are ambiguous aren't
necessarily the same thing.  An example that is often used on the
sister list and among *nix-types in general (maybe even among
other-OS-types too, for all I know):  "boxen" as a plural of "box,"
when referring to computers.  It grates on me every time I see it, yet
I can't recall seeing it used ambiguously, here or elsewhere.  Nor do
I think those who employ it are less intelligent than I might
otherwise think; instead, I think a particular piece of slang appeals
to them, and doesn't irritate them the way it irritates me.

You're right, it's a distraction, for me.  It's use pulls me out of
the meaning the writer is trying to communicate and focuses my
attention on it.  But I presume most of the intended audience doesn't
find it distracting.  So, really, it's my problem.

Be that as it may, were I Prescriptivist Overlord, I would sentence
everyone who uses it to 48 hours on Windows ME.

Michael M.

-- 
"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within
limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add
'within the limits of the law' because law is often but the tyrant's
will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual."
--Thomas Jefferson



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