Pedants' Paradise

[jean]

There is a (sort of) answer to this one. This is quite interesting and shows the confusion that can arise:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fla3.htm

Of course! Isn't that what I've just said?

[french frank]

"Go slow" is actually adverbial (and old) rather than an idiom.

Yes, I was using the term 'exceeding loosely', more in the Greek sense of being 'of oneself', 'characteristic'. But, on reflection, I don't think even that is true. Schnell?

[Pabmusic]

Of course! Isn't that what I've just said?

Yes it is, Jean, but I didn't know what you had said until after I'd posted mine.

[jean]

Yes, I see now from the time you posted.

Of course, a true pedant should insist on the "correct" meaning, and to hell with safety!

Except that no meaning has been changed - the inflammable option has just been quietly dropped altogether.

[ahinton]

Careful! Miss can rap a fearful ruler on those knuckles ...

But only cyberspatially, one presumes...

Mightn't the current Price of Wales qualify at some future point as a "fearful ruler"?

[Bryn]

Yes, I see now from the time you posted.


Except that no meaning has been changed - the inflammable option has just been quietly dropped altogether.

Acetate, Rayon & Viscose
Smooth on the skin and excellent colour absorbency
Low resistance when damp
Highly inflammable and static electricity build up
Do no spin

from: http://www.maryling.com/carment_care/ , a URL currently in use.

[jean]

It's very unusual to find inflammable these days.

My main point, though, is that there has been no change of meaning - inflammable (where it is found) means exactly what it's always meant; it has been joined, and bids fair to be superseded, by flammable, which means the same.

The addition of highly helps to make the meaning clearer, of course.

.

[Bryn]

It's very unusual to find inflammable these days.

My main point, though, is that there has been no change of meaning - inflammable (where it is found) means exactly what it's always meant; it has been joined, and bids fair to be superseded, by flammable, which means the same.

Well this is the Pedants' Paradise thread. Just how pedantic I was being to quote that example is illustrated by the "Do no spin" etc. English was clearly not the copywriter's first language.

[Serial_Apologist]

But only cyberspatially, one presumes...

Mightn't the current Price of Wales qualify at some future point as a "fearful ruler"?

Only if when visiting Buckingham Palace one is travelling up to London. But you'd have to be located to the south of London to do that, no?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Or that between "flammable" and "inflammable"? I would expect that the chances of getting to the bottom of such matters are both fat and slim.

My father may have had something to do with that. He was obsessed with safety and wrote letter after letter to anyone who might have an influence over the word "inflammable", which could be interpreted as "fireproof". He urged manufacturers to find an alternative word/phrase. Others may well have done the same, but he was delighted when products became labelled as "flammable".

[Hitch]

Only if when visiting Buckingham Palace one is travelling up to London. But you'd have to be located to the south of London to do that, no?

If travelling by rail, the "up" direction is usually towards a large town. In Britain, this often means taking the "up" train to London and the "down" train to get away from it as quickly as possible.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

While we're on the subject of "going slow(ly)", it occurs to me that an offshoot of this particular neck of the pedantic woods might manifest itself in the question as to the difference, if any, between "slowing up" and "slowing down", although I'm unsure what, if anything, the Latin Grammar Police might have to say about that one...

I think we've had this one before. Slowing "up" is a bit of a contradiction as the speed is going down. However, it might be used to express greater determination in the action?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

If travelling by rail, the "up" direction is usually towards a large town. In Britain, this often means taking the "up" train to London and the "down" train to get away from it as quickly as possible.

Hardly anyone in the North speaks of going "up" to London. It's down south, and that settles the matter.

However, it's a little strange that road atlases start from the south-west and work progressively to the east and north until NE Scotland is reached.

[Hitch]

Hardly anyone in the North speaks of going "up" to London. It's down south, and that settles the matter.

However, it's a little strange that road atlases start from the south-west and work progressively to the east and north until NE Scotland is reached.

I should have made it clear that I was referring to railway terminology rather than everyday speech but I didn't want to appear pedantic...

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I should have made it clear that I was referring to railway terminology rather than everyday speech but I didn't want to appear pedantic...

But this is the place where you can be pedantic.