[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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