[R] OT --- grammar.

[Bert Gunter]

No substantive comment.

But your addendum does bring to mind Gilbert and Sullivan (HMS Pinafore):

"
I am never known to quail At the fury of a gale, And I'm never, never sick
at sea! Chorus. What, never? Captain. No, never! Chorus. What, never?
Captain. Hardly ever! "

https://www.letssingit.com/gilbert-and-sullivan-lyrics-my-gallant-crew-good-morning-fv97wfr
LetsSingIt - The Internet Lyrics Database

Cheers,
Bert


Bert Gunter

"The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along and
sticking things into it."
-- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip )

On Sat, Jun 30, 2018 at 2:09 AM, Patrick Connolly <
p_connolly using slingshot.co.nz> wrote:

> How about "Physics / politics / economics are my favoruite subject"?
>
> Might be fun to see how long we could make that list.  It seems to be
> a fact of life that it's impossible to make a (useful) language that
> has totally consistent grammar.
>
> Something else to consider:I knew an English teacher who frowned on
> what Rolf wrote (to quote) "...almost never .. "  which *should be*
> "... hardly ever ... "
>
> How boring it would be if we all agreed. :-)
>
> On Mon, 25-Jun-2018 at 12:16PM +1200, Rolf Turner wrote:
>
> |> On 25/06/18 12:03, Bert Gunter wrote:
> |> >Ted, et. al.:
> |> >
> |> >Re: "Data is" vs "data are" ... Heh heh!
> |> >
> |> >"This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."
> |> >(Attributed to Churchill in one form or another, likely wrongly.)
> |> >
> |> >See here for some semi-authoritative dicussion:
> |> >
> |> >http://www.onlinegrammar.com.au/top-10-grammar-myths-data-
> is-plural-so-must-take-a-plural-verb/
> |>
> |> I beg to differ.  "The data was out of date" sounds just plain
> |> stupid to my sensitive ears.
> |>
> |> It's rather like using the phrase "begs the question" to mean
> |> "raises the question" or "invites the question" rather than to
> |> carry its *correct* meaning of "assumes what is to be proved".  The
> |> fact that the phrase is almost always used in its *incorrect* sense
> |> these days, and almost never in its *correct* sense, does not
> |> diminish the fact that those who use it incorrectly are ignorant
> |> scumbags!  The language is weakened and diminished by the
> |> encroachment of incorrect usage.
> |>
> |> cheers,
> |>
> |> Rolf
> |>
> |>
> |> --
> |> Technical Editor ANZJS
> |> Department of Statistics
> |> University of Auckland
> |> Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276
> |>
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> --
> ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.
>
>    ___    Patrick Connolly
>  {~._.~}                   Great minds discuss ideas
>  _( Y )_                 Average minds discuss events
> (:_~*~_:)                  Small minds discuss people
>  (_)-(_)                              ..... Eleanor Roosevelt
>
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