Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:46:16 +0100 From: Paul Robinson <paul@iconoplex.co.uk> To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?S=EAr=EAciya_Kurdistan=EE?= <sereciya@kurdistan.ath.cx> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD logo... Message-ID: <20030416114615.J41924@iconoplex.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20030415235701.GA16666@kurdistan.ath.cx>; from sereciya@kurdistan.ath.cx on Tue, Apr 15, 2003 at 04:57:01PM -0700 References: <3E9C6992.90403@potentialtech.com> <XFMail.030415142305.nicole@unixgirl.com> <20030415235701.GA16666@kurdistan.ath.cx>
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On Apr 16, Sêrêciya Kurdistanî <sereciya@kurdistan.ath.cx> wrote: > English may have originaly come from England, however, American English has > in many ways departed from the original. It also helps to remember that > English has many foreign words in it. Actually, if you go back to the 16th century and take a snapshot of English as it was spoken then, you'll find both American English and English English (OK, British English), have both moved on. I do not speak like Shakespeare despite living in modern England. It continues to diversify on a daily basis. British English is in fact a much larger and more dynamic form of the language than American English. The full version of the OED (http://www.oed.com/public/publications/) is some 20 volumes long, and I would reccomend you buy the additions series as well if you really want a handle on the language. Of course, for most every-day usage, the Compact/Concise OED is fine. Merriam-Webster is a fine resouce covering American English, but at just 476,000 entries it shows how limited American English is in comparison. This is not to state that American English is inferior - often a simpler solution is the best, as all of us FBSD-lovers will agree, but it should be noted that they are SIGNIFICANTLY different and not comparable outside of every-day usage. This discussion does not cover a word that is used on a daily basis, and the limitations of American dictionaries will indeed cause American Christians to believe that daemon is the same as demon. > That is precisely true. English, like most languages is not homogeneous. > Anyone who has had any schooling at all knows that English has many Greek, > Latin, German, French, and Arabic words among others. The basic stuff comes from there, but modern British English has Irdu, Bengali and Yiddish undertones to sections of the language because of the incredibly relaxed immigration rules we had here after WW2. The word "Madras" is now as common in British English usage as any other description of food. Incidentally your comment about "anyone who has had any schooling..." is telling. I would expect a five year old to be able to tell me that English has Latin and Greek roots, and by the age of eight I would expect them to be able to tell me why, and how Anglo-Saxon and French got mixed up in there. If they weren't able to do so, I'd reccomend to their parents that they should change schools. But then, these days, who knows what goes on in English schools.... is this not the case in American schools then? I suppose the Norman invasions aren't very interesting to Americans... > Right. They use an English word because they think that it has a more > suitable definition to the word if only they knew that the word does not > make as much sense as you might think. Most Europeans are adept English speakers. I can't speak for South Americans or Canadians. I'm joking about the Canadians. Kind of. :-) > Remember... there is also another matter: not all imported words are used > with the original definition. Sometimes we "think" that we understand a > word, and we end up using it in a similar context, but never the less > different. Examples? I can't think of any. I saw a French translation of "Emergency Exit" yesterday and was reminded that secours was the French for emergency, but of course the English "security" has it's roots here and in Latin... quite interesting... > Take the words "fare well" for example. English speaking folk commonly use > this to mean "good bye". It just happens to be French, and what it really > means is "do well"; not really having anything to do with travel or even > departure. Somebody else has debunked this. You were close, but not right... > Back to the Daemon/Demon issue... I honestly can *not* believe that in this > day and age that there are people acting as though they are still living > in the dark ages. They're not. Anyway, what makes you think that the dark ages were any worse than today? Fewer deaths and people were probably content with a lot less. I doubt that people in the dark ages worried about being lactose intolerant. Just because somebody is religious doesn't mean they were ignorant. Newton, Einstein, even BLOODY DARWIN were all Christians. Newton spent most of his life working on alchemy and bible codes - the whole gravity and light going through a prism thing was a distraction that happened to be useful. Don't discount somebody else because they think differently to you and you assume you are more "enlightened". To do so just makes you a bigot. > This is a real embarressment to any and all educated persons to have to hear > this kind of nonsense. I consider myself educated. I am not embarrased, save the fact that one person (you) seems to think yourself better than another member of the human race because you discount his belief system. That truly is embarassing - I thought people here were actually grown up and sensible. Evidently not. > Yes indeed. A group of very interesting characters who have far too much > time to analyse such small things. People's opinions matter, no matter what. The opinion is wrong, and does require clarification, but it still matters. Everybody opinion counts and should be dealt with. The majority however rule, and the majority do not want to get rid of the name or the logo of the FreeBSD project. > Apparently, common logic has not prevailed over them. Your logic hasn't prevailed over them, their logic hasn't prevailed over you. Try and understand a bit about the human mind, and you'll realise you are not, contrary to your own beliefs, special. -- Paul Robinson
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