Originally posted by Padraig
View Post
Pedants' Paradise
Collapse
This is a sticky topic.
X
X
-
More a question of usage, perhaps,......
In a recent post from Lat-Lit (no criticism intended) there is the expression 'with the aim to raise money for...'.
I tend to change such wording to 'with the aim of raising money for...', restricting 'aim to' to 'We aim to please!'.
Am I being overly fussy?
Or is the accepted/usual verb use 'aim to' and noun use 'the aim of'?
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by ahinton View PostNo, Paddy me good sir (if I may), de spellin's OK and so's de puctuation - it's de toypin' dat's unacceptable! (corrections made, by the way - thanks!)...
Meanwhile your 'th' sound has gone to pot.
Comment
-
-
A view has been expressed that these attempts to convey Irish accents are not in the best of taste. As I started it, I apologise, and perhaps we could change the subjectIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
Comment
-
-
This is from the Arts Council Announcement today thread, but my comment belongs here.
ThisOriginally posted by french frank View PostNil illegitimi carborundum.
What's driving me MAD is that since the televising of an adaptation Margaret Attwood's the Handmaid's Tale the version I believe she invented in the book, Nolite te bastardes carborundorum, has become widespread - though it misses several targets at once.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by jean View PostNolite te bastardes carborundorum, has become widespreadIt isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by jean View Post
What's driving me MAD is that since the televising of an adaptation Margaret Attwood's the Handmaid's Tale the version I believe she invented in the book, Nolite te bastardes carborundorum, has become widespread - though it misses several targets at once.
[ ... we are v impressed by the tele adaptation of 'The Handmaid's Tale' - (tho' mme v, who has read the book, says it departs wildly from the original). But as tele, impressive stuff - the Americans really are creating tv series that seriously outclass British productions at the moment, I feel.]
.
Comment
-
-
A quite clever cod-Latin phrase turned into a not-quite-so-clever one? What's 'creative' about that?
I think she just misremembered. Here she is in an interview with Elizabeth Moss, first talking about Moss's character in Mad Men:
Atwood: It’s a brave new world. You’ve come a long way, baby. Virginia Slims.
Moss: Exactly. She’s walking down the hall, and she’s carrying a box of her things and wearing sunglasses, doesn’t give a sh-t and has made this giant leap because it takes place in the ’60s. I’m super-proud to have been part of a moment that people can gain any inspiration from or connect with women’s rights.
I can ask the same question of you: Does the fact that I have the nolite te bastardes carborundorum (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”) line from the book on my necklace, or the fact that people get it tattooed, is that weird?
Atwood: I’ll tell you the weird thing about it: it was a joke in our Latin classes. So this thing from my childhood is permanently on people’s bodies.
If you look it up, you'll find that most people don't get the supposed grammar of either version!
Comment
-
-
Originally posted by jean View PostA quite clever cod-Latin phrase turned into a not-quite-so-clever one? What's 'creative' about that?
I think she just misremembered. Here she is in an interview with Elizabeth Moss, first talking about Moss's character in Mad Men:
Atwood: It’s a brave new world. You’ve come a long way, baby. Virginia Slims.
Moss: Exactly. She’s walking down the hall, and she’s carrying a box of her things and wearing sunglasses, doesn’t give a sh-t and has made this giant leap because it takes place in the ’60s. I’m super-proud to have been part of a moment that people can gain any inspiration from or connect with women’s rights.
I can ask the same question of you: Does the fact that I have the nolite te bastardes carborundorum (“Don’t let the bastards grind you down”) line from the book on my necklace, or the fact that people get it tattooed, is that weird?
Atwood: I’ll tell you the weird thing about it: it was a joke in our Latin classes. So this thing from my childhood is permanently on people’s bodies.
If you look it up, you'll find that most people don't get the supposed grammar of either version!
Comment
-
-
Both versions are attempts at a joke. The first one is a better joke.
I don't get your point about 'linguistic restrictions'.
Here's an article in which the writer tries to explain Attwood's version of the joke, but is confused by the explanation given to her by someone who knows the original - she's probably confused because she didn't know there were two versions:
(Neither did Attwood, I'm guessing.)
.Last edited by jean; 10-07-17, 11:49.
Comment
-
Comment