Solipsism Gradient

…If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be…

Fellow grammar god Bill Poser, over at the Language Log, takes issue with this paragraph:

…The author of this quiz probably has good intentions, but I’m afraid that my mission in life is not “to preserve the English tongue”. For one thing, it doesn’t need saving. English is spoken natively by hundreds of millions of people and as a second language my hundreds of millions more. I’ll devote my efforts to languages that are actually endangered, such as the native languages of British Columbia.

Of course, the author may be concerned with the preservation of the English language in another sense. He or she probably has the idea that to the extent that prescriptive rules are not followed, the language is somehow deteriorating…

But this is something that happens to dying languages, not languages like English that are growing. By any real measure of linguistic vitality or expressiveness, it makes not the slightest difference whether you use will or shall according to prescriptive rules or how you spell the possessive form of words ending in <s>. It is silly to think that English is in need of preservation because people don’t follow arbitrary rules.

He also comments on several other aspects. If you took the test, you should read the full article!

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

If your mission in life is not already to
preserve the English tongue, it should be.
Congratulations and thank you!

How grammatically sound are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thanks to Burning Bird for the link. This certainly wasn’t an easy test for me as I’ve had nearly no formal English grammar training; I did it mostly by the “looks right” method. I only wish they would post the right answers…

John “Daring Fireball” Gruber has posted an update on his previous Ronco Spray-On Usability article, responding to e-mails and comments:

…Perhaps the biggest misconception is that I’m somehow “rooting against” desktop Linux. I really don’t see how anything I’ve written implies that, unless you subscribe to the “if you’re not with us, you’re against us” school of thought.

Regardless, it’s not the case. I’m not rooting against desktop Linux, nor have I ever claimed it can’t succeed. What I am saying is:

1) It hasn’t succeeded yet.

2) It’s unlikely to succeed without direction and substantial commercial support.

Where by “succeed” I mean “provide a terrific user experience”.

…

The key is that there’s never going to be a good desktop user interface for Linux that pleases the Linux nerds who don’t care about usability. If the reason you use Linux is that you value tweakability over usability, or if you get off on the fact that a normal person couldn’t sit down in front of your computer and figure out how to use it, you’re probably not going to like a system that doesn’t even have a replaceable “window manager”. Trying to create a cohesive GUI system that appeals to these guys is like trying to write music that appeals to the tone deaf.

The folks at the fascinating Language Log pointed out a Circolwyrde Wordhord (Old English Computer Glossary):

This glossary, which complements several printed sources of its kind, is intended for Anglo-Saxonists and other speakers of English for whom the language of the computer world has become alien and largely incomprehensible.

We learn, for instance, that a white-hat hacker is a searocræftiga, while a malicious hacker can be a feondsceaða, atorwyrht or even an inwitgæst. No doubt this will be very useful for any scholar who regularly sits at a weorcstede (workstation), exchanges hrædærendgewrit (e-mail), or needs to look at some oftgeacsunge (FAQ) on the woruldwidewebb. Not to speak of cneomæglicgifhordonweald (relational database management) problems, of course. Hm.

The indefatigable Uncle Al has some “new weapons of mass consumption” posted, among them these Dilbert Neologisms:

…Blamestorming – Group discussion of why deadlines slipped or projects failed, and who was responsible.

…Chainsaw consultant – Outside expert brought in to downsize personnel, leaving the brass with clean hands.

…Mouse Potato – An on-line, wired couch potato.

…Percussive Maintenance – The fine art of whacking an electronic device to restore function.

…Seagull Manager – A manager who flies in, makes a lot of noise, craps over everything, and then leaves.

The Advanced Developers Hands On Conference, for the first 18 years known as MacHack, will take place on July 21-24, 2004, in Dearborn, Michigan, USA.

I’ve attended 3 times in the past and written several papers for it. As most of you know, I heartily endorse the conference – it’s smaller, more concentrated, and much more fun than WWDC. The US is off my travel routes for now, so I won’t be able to attend – but I plan to publish a paper in absentia.

I just saw on Jon Rentzsch‘ site that he’s calling for MacHack stories by previous attendees… and he kindly linked to here, too. Thanks Jon, I will contribute some stories in the near future…

skellybootle wrote:

AGREED

except for the dig at English sports!

…Stan Kelly-Bootle

Stan, thanks for dropping in!

Regarding any and all sports, I invoke the “calm disinterest” clause…

Posted by skellybootle:
AGREED
except for the dig at English sports!
Guess who beat the invincible Aussies in the RUGBY World Cup
Final?

Stan Kelly-Bootle