From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 30 14:20:49 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0BCA837B401 for ; Fri, 30 May 2003 14:20:49 -0700 (PDT) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (phoenix.welearn.com.au [139.130.44.81]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C812A43F85 for ; Fri, 30 May 2003 14:20:46 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from sue@welearn.com.au) Received: from phoenix.welearn.com.au (localhost [127.0.0.1]) h4ULKTgC089019; Sat, 31 May 2003 07:20:29 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from sue@phoenix.welearn.com.au) Received: (from sue@localhost) by phoenix.welearn.com.au (8.12.8/8.12.8/Submit) id h4ULKQB8089018; Sat, 31 May 2003 07:20:27 +1000 (EST) (envelope-from sue) Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 07:20:26 +1000 From: Sue Blake To: "Kevin Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." Message-ID: <20030531072026.O33085@welearn.com.au> Mail-Followup-To: Sue Blake , "Kevin Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P." , Bill Moran , Stephen McKay , chat@freebsd.org References: <20030520203225.GA30587@thyrsus.com> <200305221613.h4MGDNLR016491@dungeon.home> <3ECD3A8C.1040506@potentialtech.com> <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2.5i In-Reply-To: <00ae01c32668$2ff5ad70$2441d5cc@nitanjared>; from kdk@daleco.biz on Thu, May 29, 2003 at 11:58:59PM -0500 X-PGP-Fingerprint: E9A3 7B97 C563 DBB1 979E BC04 D2A2 9DA3 1274 7885 cc: chat@freebsd.org cc: Bill Moran cc: Stephen McKay Subject: Re: grammar X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 21:20:49 -0000 On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 11:58:59PM -0500, Kevin Kinsey, DaleCo, S.P. wrote: > > > Stephen McKay wrote: > > > On Wednesday, 21st May 2003, brian@planetshwoop.com wrote: > > > > > >>On Tue, 20 May 2003, Gary W. Swearingen wrote: > > >> > > >>>What's worse is that y'all apply the same old propaganda about > > >> ^^^^^ > > >> > > >>You commend his grammar and then stick that whammie in there? > > >> > > >>You, not "y'all". Please. > > > > > > No! No! It is merely artistic flair! > > > > > > Once he's established his impeccable grasp of grammar he is > > > permitted to bend it in order to demonstrate his grasp of the > > > vernacular, hence showing he not only knows the Official > > > Grammar, but also a Dialect. It's a solid > > > points scorer. > > > > > > This isn't the same as the 99% of Internet users who believe a > > > valid contraction of "you are" is "your", or the other new > > > percent who know > > > about "you're", but believe it is a possessive pronoun. > > > > > > Salt with :-) as necessary, and enjoy your language! > > > > Are you talking about the people who don't know the difference > > between > > "then" and "than" and think that "sux" is spelled properly? > > > The spelling of this word as "sux" is permissible as a > visual rhyme during religious flame wars, e.g. "Tux sux!" > > Kevin Kinsey > grammar-nazi-in-training Now, now, there's no need for that :-) Unless they've been scared off already, most people respond well to the provision of approachable resources for understanding, and those who don't don't matter. Some years ago, rather than complaining about people putting their feet in their mouths when complaining about other people's grammar, I simply put up a web page for reference. http://www.welearn.com.au/~sue/grammar.html I think it's time to add a comment on the use of "in case". Recently I provided some IT staff with the documentation for a new piece of software. Many times it said things like "In case Foo, do Bar". The users (correctly in my view) read that as advice of a precaution worth taking, and took it. Trained to take all reasonable precautions and to be thorough in their work, they read the whole manual and started doing all Bar so that the system would be protected in case any Foo ever happened. I could only offer praise, even though the system was ruined by their actions. Apparently, when the writer said "in case" he actually meant "if". In other words, he meant don't do Bar unless Foo. Why couldn't he just say "if"? I have no idea. I had to sed the whole documentation directory, replacing every "in case" with "if", reinstall, apologise, and ask them to re-read the manual and start again. -- Regards, -*Sue*-