re: Eats, Shoots & Leaves page 4

BTW, it's amazing what Google comes up with if one enters (without the quotation marks): "pneumonic help remember"

What on earth possessed you to try it?

I simply wasn't sure how to spell 'mnemonic'. By
entering "pneumonic help remember" into Google, I
thought I had found it straight away, of course,
given the number of what looked like relevant hits. But I became suspicious and decided to check with
a dictionary and then realized that there are
many people out there who are quite convinced
that 'mnemonic' is spelled 'pneumonic'.

Christopher
My e-mail address is not 'munged' in any way and is fully replyable!

I'm afraid it sounds like she's in the category ... to tell any good yarn whether or not it's true?

Has it been generally established that Bryson is unreliable to the extent that he's justifiably held up as a yardstick ... many others that the exception-proves-rule thing uses "proves" in the sense of "tests", but is he really SO bad?

I'm not what sure what you mean by "SO bad." Bryson is very entertaining and I'm sure a great deal of what he says is true. The problem is, some of it isn't (stuff he could have known about), and that makes him unreliable. As I said, I've come to think of him as someone who does't let truth get in the way of relaying a good story or a "fascinating fact." I don't have examples off the tip of my fingers, but I'm sure I could locate two or three just by searching in a.u.e archives. Do you want me to? If I'm going to malign the guy, I guess I should back up my own charges.

Best Donna Richoux

Has it been generally established that Bryson is unreliable to ... the sense of "tests", but is he really SO bad?

I'm not what sure what you mean by "SO bad."

"Willing to tell any good yarn whether or not it's true" which is fine for an entertainer but not for a journalist. I'd put some of his books the travel writing more in the former category, but the rest in the latter. These have extensive reference sections and seem to be well researched, on the whole. I think he'd be mightily miffed at the accusation that he doesn't care about the truth of those books.

Bryson is very entertaining and I'm sure a great deal of what he says is true. The problem is, some ... you want me to? If I'm going to malign the guy, I guess I should back up my own charges.

I was wondering whether you were referring to his general veracity having been openly criticised and whether he'd ever had the chance to respond to such a challenge; if, on the other hand, you were making criticisms based on well-founded examples you were aware of, then I'd appreciate a couple of examples from you. I think you've disparaged Bryson in this way before, so I assume you have some strong feelings on the subject.
(Aside: I don't really understand what you mean by "stuff he couldn't have known about".)
Matti

Bryson is very entertaining and I'm sure a great deal ... could have known about), and that makes him unreliable.

(Aside: I don't really understand what you mean by "stuff he couldn't have known about".)

Sorry I misread your comment; but I still don't know what you meant!

Matti

Adrian Bailey infrared:

(snip) That's correct. That's rubbish.

Apparently there was a brief period in the 17th or perhaps the 18th century (I'm no good on dates) where ... would have been correct. With the genitive case fallen into disuse, it appears that people are spontaneously reinventing a genitive.

In Norwegian this phenomenon is also present so one could say 'Jan sin hund' instead of the standard 'hunden til Jan'. Actually in Bergen the first form is probably more natural than the second. The form is spreading to other parts of the country also.

It is often called the 'garpegenitiv' apparently from an old word for Hanseatic merchants so the general
opinion is that the form is due to Low Gernman influence on Norwegian.
As regards English one should note that Shakespeare used the form on at least one occasion. In 'The merchant of Venice' I seem to recall a reference to 'the duke his ships' but I don't have time to check. Whether this is popular etymology on Shakespeare's part or not I have no idea.
Brian
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mailto:(Email Removed) Norsk Hydro Research Centre phone +47 55 99 68 74 ((( Postboks 7190 fax +47 55 99 69 70 2oooS N-5020 Bergen home +47 55 13 78 49 HYDRO Norway

(snip discussion of Bill Bryson)

(Aside: I don't really understand what you mean by "stuff he couldn't have known about".)

I said, "stuff he could have known about." Things he could have fairly readily have seen were doubted or dismissed by authorities. Which would mean he either didn't look very hard, or he decided it was anticlimactic to say "but that probably isn't so."
I'll get back to you on examples.

Best Donna Richoux

What on earth possessed you to try it?

I simply wasn't sure how to spell 'mnemonic'. By entering "pneumonic help remember" into Google, I thought I had found ... dictionary and then realized that there are many people out there who are quite convinced that 'mnemonic' is spelled 'pneumonic'.

Rats! It's a new outbreak of mnemonic plague.

wrmst rgrds
Robin Bignall
Hertfordshire
England

What on earth possessed you to try it?

I simply wasn't sure how to spell 'mnemonic'. By entering "pneumonic help remember" into Google, I thought I had found ... dictionary and then realized that there are many people out there who are quite convinced that 'mnemonic' is spelled 'pneumonic'.

There are many of us, though, who are rightly convinced that "pneumonic" is spelled "pneumonic".
When someone asked me years go "How do you spell 'noomonic'?", I made the mistake of saying "There isn't any such word". That we were both thinking of the memory-aid word didn't make me right.

I simply wasn't sure how to spell 'mnemonic'. By entering ... there who are quite convinced that 'mnemonic' is spelled 'pneumonic'.

Rats! It's a new outbreak of mnemonic plague.

Speaking of rats, there are hundreds of hits for "bubonic plaque", but not a one for "mnemonic plaque".
Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward" (Email Removed) Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com