On Wednesday 10 August 2005 11:40, you wrote:
Guess I won't be having Gyros for lunch...
'Gyro', 'cygni' and 'cygnus' are Greek; not English.
Jason Clinton wrote:
On Wednesday 10 August 2005 11:40, you wrote:
Guess I won't be having Gyros for lunch...
'Gyro', 'cygni' and 'cygnus' are Greek; not English.
Gyro and Cygnus are both in the Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Wiktionary dictionaries of the English language (I don't have access to the OED). Does that not, by definition, make them English?
Cygnus and cygni both have Latin etymologies, BTW.
Gerald Combs wrote:
Gyro and Cygnus are both in the Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Wiktionary dictionaries of the English language (I don't have access to the OED). Does that not, by definition, make them English?
Actually I think the Oxford English Dictionary is the definitive work for the English language.
Philip Leonard wrote:
Gerald Combs wrote:
Gyro and Cygnus are both in the Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Wiktionary dictionaries of the English language (I don't have access to the OED). Does that not, by definition, make them English?
Actually I think the Oxford English Dictionary is the definitive work for the English language.
Is this by consensus, or is there some sort of governing body for the English language, similar to the Académie française?
Gerald Combs wrote:
Philip Leonard wrote:
Gerald Combs wrote:
Gyro and Cygnus are both in the Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and Wiktionary dictionaries of the English language (I don't have access to the OED). Does that not, by definition, make them English?
Actually I think the Oxford English Dictionary is the definitive work for the English language.
Is this by consensus, or is there some sort of governing body for the English language, similar to the Académie française?
I should've Googled harder first. According to http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutdictionaries/officialcommitt... there is no equivalent to the Académie française for English. Furthermore, the OED isn't to be treated as a definitive authority on English as far as the folks at Oxford are concerned.
I should've Googled harder first. According to http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutdictionaries/officialcommitt... there is no equivalent to the Académie française for English. Furthermore, the OED isn't to be treated as a definitive authority on English as far as the folks at Oxford are concerned.
We should all thank our $deities that it isn't the case. They're the ones responsible for those annoying L' addons to words you'd otherwise recognize, in an attempt to create havoc on the integration of language. Today, I feel most sorry for the German students, who have an official language and committee actively changing the big book of German grammar and spelling rules.
Justin Dugger
First, I'd like to offer my generous opinion. ;) English isn't a language, it's a compilation. Anytime, we need a word we borrow it from another language, or just make one up from parts of others. Thank God we do'nt do it the way the Germans do. Fortunately also we do treat our language the Ukrainians do. The single most difficult language I've ever seen (just hope my linguistics professor forgives me for saying that). Seriously though, I would trust Webster's or Oxford's. As far as an actual English word, well that could open up a big debate. But there aren't that many (proportionately speaking). English is about the only language that seems to incorporate basically *every* rule from *every* language it has touched. So pronouncing a worde in English can't necessarily be determined by the application of rules. Most of the rules are true, except when they aren't (I love this one "i before e, except after c, except when it's not"). [y'all be happy to know this will be my *only* response on this subject ;) ]
--- Justin Dugger jldugger@gmail.com wrote:
I should've Googled harder first. According to
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutdictionaries/officialcommitt...
there is no equivalent to the Académie française
for English.
Furthermore, the OED isn't to be treated as a
definitive authority on
English as far as the folks at Oxford are
concerned.
We should all thank our $deities that it isn't the case. They're the ones responsible for those annoying L' addons to words you'd otherwise recognize, in an attempt to create havoc on the integration of language. Today, I feel most sorry for the German students, who have an official language and committee actively changing the big book of German grammar and spelling rules.
Justin Dugger _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
__________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Of course, if an English standards organization were to declare that "blog" was not a word (and thus, "blogosphere" doubly so), I think I might be prepared to embrace them with open arms.
Justin Dugger
On 8/11/05, Jack quiet_celt@yahoo.com wrote:
First, I'd like to offer my generous opinion. ;) English isn't a language, it's a compilation. Anytime, we need a word we borrow it from another language, or just make one up from parts of others. Thank God we do'nt do it the way the Germans do. Fortunately also we do treat our language the Ukrainians do. The single most difficult language I've ever seen (just hope my linguistics professor forgives me for saying that). Seriously though, I would trust Webster's or Oxford's. As far as an actual English word, well that could open up a big debate. But there aren't that many (proportionately speaking). English is about the only language that seems to incorporate basically *every* rule from *every* language it has touched. So pronouncing a worde in English can't necessarily be determined by the application of rules. Most of the rules are true, except when they aren't (I love this one "i before e, except after c, except when it's not"). [y'all be happy to know this will be my *only* response on this subject ;) ]
--- Justin Dugger jldugger@gmail.com wrote:
I should've Googled harder first. According to
http://www.askoxford.com/asktheexperts/faq/aboutdictionaries/officialcommitt...
there is no equivalent to the Académie française
for English.
Furthermore, the OED isn't to be treated as a
definitive authority on
English as far as the folks at Oxford are
concerned.
We should all thank our $deities that it isn't the case. They're the ones responsible for those annoying L' addons to words you'd otherwise recognize, in an attempt to create havoc on the integration of language. Today, I feel most sorry for the German students, who have an official language and committee actively changing the big book of German grammar and spelling rules.
Justin Dugger _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Kclug mailing list Kclug@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
On 8/10/05, Gerald Combs gerald@ethereal.com wrote:
Is this by consensus, or is there some sort of governing body for the English language, similar to the Académie française?
It's the Kansas City Linux User's Group, for the next two and a half sideral months, then we pass it to Perth.
-
David Nicol -
Gerald Combs -
Jack -
Jason Clinton -
Justin Dugger -
Philip Leonard