English Grammar and Spelling

[Pielorinho]

Moderator's Notes:

The personal snipes will stop now, please. If you have any questions about this moderation, please feel free to email me--do not discuss this matter further in this thread.

Thanks!
Daniel

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Or perhaps- well I suppose I have already answered that.

I know that. I was being sarcastic.

EDIT: I thought that you did the right thing by deleting your original post.

 

[Harmon]

I know that. I was being sarcastic.

My apologizes if any part of my response came off as taking offense, I was a little upset at what transpired. I did not know your position. Thank you.

Peace

 

[Piratecat]

Way to avoid the subject while still bringing attention to yourself.

And to supplement Pielorinho's warning, it's worth noting that if someone posts and then erases their post, it's probably because they've posted in anger and don't fully agree with what they had written in the heat of the moment. Taking them to task for this is rude, especially considering the speed with which it happened this time. If someone wants to remove something they regret saying, please respect that.

 

[Hijinks]

PS. Can someone tell me what "pwn" means?

It's from gaming parlance. Gamers frequently miskeyed "own" as "pwn" and it stuck. Same as ending sentences with !!!1!1!! ... they were trying to type !!!!!!! and their finger slipped off of the shift key. So some folks like to make fun of it by typing !!!one!!eleven!! and so on. I'm guilty of this one myself

If you ever see the phrase "all your ______ are belong to us," that's a gaming term as well.

 

[Huw]

Hmm..."bus" is (as I just confirmed) short for "omnibus," a Latin derivative meaning, "for everyone." The idea is presumably that this form of transportation is for everyone. How is shortening it to "bus" a distortion of the language? What does "distorted" even mean in this context? If the language is expressing an idea and communicating it aesthetically to the intended audience, what function of language does it fail to perform?

"Omni-" is indeed "all", but "-bus" is the plural ending for the dative and ablative cases in Latin. The word has been reduced to nothing and only the ending remains - which now has a singular sense.

So the three letters "bus" have changed from "dative plural case inflection" to "mass transportation system". Distorted might be a bit of a harsh description, but it has undergone a huge change.

 

[the_myth]

Nice catch. When I read his edited post, I figured that he had second thoughts on what he posted and decided to take them down. I didn't realize that it was all a ploy to avoid being quoted.

Well, I just wanted to congratulate you on calling Harmon out. The English language thanks you.

Well, the post was there when I responded. How am I supposed to know he probably took it down *AS* I was responding?

My psychic abilities, while formidable, are far more limited than my language skills.

The sarcasm police thanks you.

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

Well, the post was there when I responded. How am I supposed to know he probably took it down *AS* I was responding?

My psychic abilities, while formidable, are far more limited than my language skills.

The sarcasm police thanks you.

I completely understand what you're saying, but at the point that you acknowledged his deletion with your initial comment in that post, you had a chance to revise your post as well.

I will admit that I was probably out of line with my sarcastic response, but I'm a silly goofball and couldn't help myself.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I was not referring to your psychic abilities, but the first line (and the quote) in your post. I know that I've probably crossed another line in posting this, but you don't have PM access.

As another language snob, I do find the thread topic interesting. Let's let this little side discussion go and return to the topic of the thread.

 

[Piratecat]

Gentlemen, ENOUGH. It's over and done with. Keep the thread on topic, please.

 

[Roudi]

u l337 Phds obvisousley pwn us n00bs at teh meassage bording, IIRYFPC. Y're u waisting tiem telling us we suk?

I r bad engilsh speker. Also spels not so good. Am I not loved? Will I not be part of teh new regeem?