Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1+some 2/3/84; site dual.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!qumix!amd!dual!hav From: hav@dual.UUCP (Helen Anne Vigneau) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: Chris's Major Conniption Message-ID: <830@dual.UUCP> Date: Tue, 9-Oct-84 15:34:30 EDT Article-I.D.: dual.830 Posted: Tue Oct 9 15:34:30 1984 Date-Received: Thu, 11-Oct-84 04:03:40 EDT References: <605@trwspp.UUCP>, <826@dual.UUCP> <1271@ihuxq.UUCP> Organization: Dual Systems, Berkeley, CA Lines: 50 <*munch*> Well, Ken. I'm stunned. I had until now had a goodly amount of respect for you, but it appears that this was unwarranted. => Maybe you say so, but you're wrong-o! Such Victorian stodginess about => so fluid a thing as language is silly. I know your kind, Helen. You => think grammar is a set of arbitrary rules that one memorizes and uses => inflexibly. But you didn't even do that well--there is such a word as => "lastly", not even "obs." or "coloq." It's a perfectly acceptable => English word. And "IC's" is OK too. Really. My kind, eh? Yes, I'm a doddering old maid schoolmarm turned techno-twit. And you, when was the last time you picked up an English text and actually *read* it? Third grade, you say??? Well, I'm sorry you have this problem with remembering the rules and following them. I guess people of *your kind* (sic) belong in an anarchy like the net. => If you were ever to do any serious writing, you'd know that manuals of => style disagree on numerous points, especially in the punctuation sense. => The most recent proponent of the apostrophe for plural acronyms is => William Safire, in an "On Language" column in the Times Magazine last => month. Read him sometime, Helen. Or don't you love language? I => guess you don't, since for you it's just a jumble of immutable rules. => There are rules, but they are a window on the mind--grammar reflects => orderly thought, and thus it lives and breathes. I do plenty of serious writing, and I am fully aware that manuals of style disagree, et cetera, et cetera, blah, blah, blah. I frequently read William Safire, although I seem to have missed the column you mentioned. Would you mind transcribing a copy and mailing it to me? After all, I *love* language. I make no pretense of defending the immutability of the rules of grammar, but I *do* try to follow them. If I am reading something and it's unclear to me because some asshole decided he was exempt from following the rules, that, to me, is a problem. It is a window on the mind of the person who writes, clearly or otherwise. If you would like to debate the rules and/or the possibility of changing them, let's meet in net.nlang. => *** *** => JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** => ****** ****** 06 Oct 84 [15 Vendemiaire An CXCIII] => ken perlow ***** ***** => (312)979-7188 ** ** ** ** => ..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken *** *** Don't you thing it takes a lot of gall to include a peace sign in a followup like yours, Ken? :-) *Sigh* Helen Anne Vigneau Dual Systems Corporation