Guest guest Posted October 18, 2000 Report Share Posted October 18, 2000 Mel, Thank you for the grammatical clarification on the word " pedantry " ! I don't believe you were being " overly punctilious " . Oops, was this a redundant phrase? Mike Doyle, NSCA-CPT, CSCS >From: " Brett Blaney " <mpakt@...> >Reply-supertrainingegroups ><supertrainingegroups> >Subject: Pedantism & Language >Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 00:09:14 -0600 > >Matt Madsen wrote: > >This level of pedantism is simply disgusting. > >I don't know if Krieger's comments about " burning " a calorie was an >exhibit of pedantism or not, but I really like the word pedantism. I had to >look it up, and I am for sure going to use it in the future. It sounds >impressive. ;~) > >Brett Blaney > > >***In which dictionary did you find " pedantism " ? If one is to be entirely >pedantic, then " pedantism " is not standard English. In standard English, >the noun from " pedantic " is " pedantry " , a word that gained some renown when >Winston Churchill used it in responding to someone who criticised his use >of the English language. His well-known retort is reputed to have been: > > " This is the arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put! " > >Someone who is concerned about pedantry is often called " punctilious " , >namely one who is scrupulously observant about details and finer points. > >Another comment: it is totally incorrect to state that " pedantism " is >different than " pedantry " . Despite the widespread misuse of " than " in >this context, it is correct English to state that " pedantism " is different >from " pedantry " . > >Yet very common error that numerous journalists even continue to make, is >the confusion of " its " with " it's " , as in the sentence: " The cat licked >it's paw " . " It's " is the abbreviated form of " it is " , whereas " its " is a >possessive pronoun. > >Unfortunately, the Microsoft program dictionaries perpetuate many >linguistic errors in their spell(ing) and grammar checks. One which >constantly comes up is a prompt that urges you to replace the word > " practise " with " practice " in all cases. Whoever wrote their dictionary >seems to be blissfully unaware that " practice " is the noun form and > " practise " is the verb form. Thus, I may practise my power clean, but I >work in a medical practice. > >Then, when I am performing a few surgical operations or procedures, I am >not doing " surgeries " , because this is an incorrect use of the plural form >of surgery. " Surgeries " is the plural form of " surgery " , the place in >which surgery takes place; despite commonplace misuse, it is not a synonym >for " surgical procedures " . Similarly, " accommodations " is not an >acceptable standard English plural form of " accommodation " . > >I remain, yours truly, > >Dr Mel C Siff >Denver, USA >mcsiff@... > _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 18, 2000 Report Share Posted October 18, 2000 Mel Siff wrote: > In which dictionary did you find " pedantism " ? It would appear that I made it up and set myself up for: > If one is to be entirely pedantic, then " pedantism " is not standard > English. In standard English, the noun from " pedantic " is > " pedantry " ... I shouldn't write while overworked. > ...a word that gained some renown when Winston Churchill used it in > responding to someone who criticised his use of the English > language. His well-known retort is reputed to have been: > > " This is the arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put! " What's so embarrassing about all this is how we just recently discussed that quote, you and I. Matt " Put In My Place " Madsen __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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