re: These Data, Those Data page 8

Oh, right, I have to have a Latin dictionary.

Or passing familiarity with such English words as "addendum," "bacterium," and "medium." Next you'll be telling us you should be able to use an English dictionary without knowing any English words at all.

I know enough of Latin roots to know it can be dangerous to guess one form from another by analogy.
Today, when very few learn Latin, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious.

Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia

How is that obvious? It's not in my dictionary.

The word "gullible" isn't in a single dictionary, either, but people still use it all the time. So what's your point?

Again, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious; it isn't even given in a concise English dictionary; it's no longer an ordinary form in English.
I like the joke about "gullible" though.

Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia

Again, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious; it isn't even given in a concise English dictionary; it's no longer an ordinary form in English.

Well, it's a Latin word, and the singular is obvious to those forced to study Latin in school.

I like the joke about "gullible" though.

Good for you for "getting" it! It's one of Kevin's favourite trolls, and it works shockingly often!
Darla

"I'm still here, you bastards!"
Papillon
http://www.yougotta.com/DARLA/

Again, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious; it ... English dictionary; it's no longer an ordinary form in English.

Well, it's a Latin word, and the singular is obvious to those forced to study Latin in school.

Or even not.
I never studied Latin in school, but my interest over the years in English made the singular easily deducible (and therefore 'obvious', to my mind).

Cheers, Harvey
Canadian and British English, indiscriminately mixed For e-mail, change harvey.news to harvey.van

When the Amber Alert system was set up, the wireless ... communications that vinyl records were considered an extra small medium.

That's why it's a shame that they don't issue the Amber Alerts on vinyl. Think of how many millions of ... with the tone-deaf guy yelling "SECRET BONUS TRACK!" 500 times. I could make people listen to that one all day!

Track 19
Verse Chorus Verse
No Alternative
Nirvana
"You're in a laundry room"!

Darla Vladschyk (Email Removed) had it:

Again, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious; it ... English dictionary; it's no longer an ordinary form in English.

Well, it's a Latin word, and the singular is obvious to those forced to study Latin in school.

"forced"? Would you say "forced to study History", or "forced to study Physics"?

David
==

This has become a Pondian difference. In most places, "alright" now passes without exception. In the US, however, it's still treated as nonstandard. I base this on my recollection of several threads in which various views of "alright" were expressed, and a quick check of several American and British dictionaries online supports that conclusion. The Pondian difference is not quite as complete as it is with things like colour/color and defense/defence, and there are some dissenters from each majority view, but the overall tendency is pretty clear, at least to me.
To the extent that there's a drift, it seems to be toward greater acceptance of "alright" in the US. I'd call that a Good Thing. There is a useful distinction to be drawn between "alright" (okay, fine) and "all right" (entirely correct), and that's just the distinction drawn in the UK and various other places that aren't the US. When the language is drifting TOWARD a useful distinction (wasn't someone asking for an example of this just the other day, possibly over on AUE?), why resist it?

Bob Lieblich
Ask Señor Wences

Or passing familiarity with such English words as "addendum," "bacterium," ... an English dictionary without knowing any English words at all.

I know enough of Latin roots to know it can be dangerous to guess one form from another by analogy. Today, when very few learn Latin, the Latin singular of "agenda" is not obvious.

I would add that with the decline in the number of people who know either Greek or Latin, let alone both, trying to extrapolate a plural or singular is even more of a crap shoot, since the origin language must be correctly identified first. Fewer and fewer people have the knowledge to make that identification.

Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On 05 Oct 2006, Darla Vladschyk wrote

Well, it's a Latin word, and the singular is obvious to those forced to study Latin in school.

Or even not. I never studied Latin in school, but my interest over the years in English made the singular easily deducible (and therefore 'obvious', to my mind).

Just between you and me, of course I knew what it was.

For some strange reason probably related to a sense of sympathy for the beginners and non-native speakers, I objected to the statement that it was obvious.
Let's just say not obvious to everyone.

Stephen
Lennox Head, Australia