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[OT] English Grammar Pitfalls (was: En dash usage in European languages &c)
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| Dan Sommers 2005-12-14, 7:11 pm |
| On 14 Dec 2005 09:45:02 -0800,
"Dan" <luecking@uark.edu> wrote:
> Personally, I have never seen an endash used for this purpose, and I
> doubt whether even educated readers would find it aided in determining
> the meaning. If I were composing the text, I would probably rearrange
> it ("an economy based on crude oil") but if I had to leave the words
> as is (for example, quoting a speach), I would either connect all
> three words with hyphens ("a crude-oil-based economy") or use none at
> all and let the context handle the meaning ("a crude oil based
> economy"). The latter would be my preference.
And now all I can think of is an economy that is (a) crude, and (b)
based on oil (which should have been rendered as "a crude, oil based
economy" or "a crude, oil-based economy"). Who invented this language,
anyway?
Regards,
Dan
--
Dan Sommers
<http://www.tombstonezero.net/dan/>
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| Morten Høgholm 2005-12-14, 7:11 pm |
| On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:48:42 +0100, Dan Sommers <me@privacy.net> wrote:
> On 14 Dec 2005 09:45:02 -0800,
> "Dan" <luecking@uark.edu> wrote:
>
>
> And now all I can think of is an economy that is (a) crude, and (b)
> based on oil (which should have been rendered as "a crude, oil based
> economy" or "a crude, oil-based economy"). Who invented this language,
> anyway?
Much easier in Danish (and German, Norwegian and others): "En
råoliebaseret økonomi" vs "En rå, oliebaseret økonomi". If something is
one word conceptually then we write it as one word. Works like a charm but
the downside is of course that we have this tendency to get some very,
very long words...
--
Morten
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| Dan Sommers 2005-12-14, 10:02 pm |
| On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:54:12 +0100,
Morten Høgholm <morten.hoegholm@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:48:42 +0100, Dan Sommers <me@privacy.net> wrote:
[color=darkred]
> Much easier in Danish (and German, Norwegian and others): "En
> råoliebaseret økonomi" vs "En rå, oliebaseret økonomi". If something
> is one word conceptually then we write it as one word. Works like a
> charm but the downside is of course that we have this tendency to get
> some very, very long words...
IOW, in Danish (and German , Norwegian and others):
Regards,
Dan
--
Dan Sommers
<http://www.tombstonezero.net/dan/>
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| Dan Sommers 2005-12-14, 10:02 pm |
| Oops; let me try that again, this time *without* the fat fingers...
On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:54:12 +0100,
Morten Høgholm <morten.hoegholm@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:48:42 +0100, Dan Sommers <me@privacy.net> wrote:
[color=darkred]
> Much easier in Danish (and German, Norwegian and others): "En
> råoliebaseret økonomi" vs "En rå, oliebaseret økonomi". If something
> is one word conceptually then we write it as one word. Works like a
> charm but the downside is of course that we have this tendency to get
> some very, very long words...
IOW, in Danish (and German, Norwegian and others), you use an en-dash,
but it's invisible. ;-)
That said, I think I like that solution, long words or otherwise.
Regards,
Dan
--
Dan Sommers
<http://www.tombstonezero.net/dan/>
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| Robin Fairbairns 2005-12-15, 4:03 am |
| Dan Sommers <me@privacy.net> writes:
>On 14 Dec 2005 09:45:02 -0800,
>"Dan" <luecking@uark.edu> wrote:
>
>And now all I can think of is an economy that is (a) crude, and (b)
>based on oil (which should have been rendered as "a crude, oil based
>economy" or "a crude, oil-based economy"). Who invented this language,
>anyway?
geoffrey chaucer, i guess, working on a basis left to the people of
his time by all those danes, norwegians and germans and so on, with
their long words, overlaid by input from some sort of norsemen who had
emigrated to france, and then took over england.
chaucer was the first one to say "this is the dialect i shall work in
from now on", so (by printing in it) starting to solidify the language
from a point where it was quite easy for people living as little as
twenty miles apart to be mutually incomprehensible.
after which there's people like shakespeare and johnson, and
miscellaneous grammarians along the way.
--
Robin Fairbairns, Cambridge
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| Dan Sommers 2005-12-15, 7:07 pm |
| On 15 Dec 2005 09:58:24 GMT,
rf@cl.cam.ac.uk (Robin Fairbairns) wrote:
> Dan Sommers <me@privacy.net> writes:
[color=darkred]
> [an honest, serious, probably-not-too-far-from-what-happened answer]
You know, Robin, I've been asking that question rhetorically for years,
and not once has anyone actually had an answer (perhaps I've been
running with the wrong crowd for all that time). I stand happily and
proudly enlightened (and laughing, as well).
> ... and miscellaneous grammarians along the way.
Aha! Then it's no wonder we have such a mess now! ;-)
Regards,
Dan
--
Dan Sommers
<http://www.tombstonezero.net/dan/>
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