Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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> My students used to call me Mr. Picky.A reference to "pizzicato," and, therefore, a compliment, perhaps?
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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After I'd posted I remembered that ness is not only present and accounted for, but away from his Mac for a coupl'a weeks.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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George will have to answer that one.
Jon
macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
Moderator
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Moderator
Joined: Aug 2009
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Well, that would be "away from her Mac," but we get the idea. (Kind of ironic that the champion of the gender-neutral pronoun would apply the old-school version incorrectly... )
dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15 |
Oops! I have absolutely no idea why, but I had the distinct impression that ness was a man.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 1
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Because you're a man. I also assume other people posting are men unless the user name is an obvious feminine clue. Although those "double-duty" names have thrown me off that pattern in the past.
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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OP
Joined: Aug 2009
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I also assume other people posting are men unless the user name is an obvious feminine clue. Why? Do you think that only men join techie forums? What does gender matter on a public messageboard? Do you change your approach if you think you're talking to a woman as opposed to a man, then?
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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In reverse order.... No, I'm still me. It doesn't matter. I've been surprised to learn someone was the opposite gender that I assumed. I find that I can't assume that the person is neither. I answered the Why already.
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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You are in the UK. I am from the UK. I have lived in California since 1981 and in Germany for 5 years prior to 1981. I feel very settled and at home here. I have family in Australia and of course in England and have visited both countries in the last 3 years. I actually see little or no difference between Aussies, Brits and Americans. We are all 'folks'.
Richard
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
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> Because you're a man. I also assume other people posting are men unless the user name is an obvious feminine clue.
Glib, but that's where it ends.
I don't make such all-encompassing assumptions; something ness said mislead me into thinking she's a man.
Last edited by artie505; 08/23/09 09:30 AM. Reason: Expanded quote
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
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> [...] the champion of the gender-neutral pronoun [....]
That "title" calls for qualification.
I use "se" and "hir" not to champion political correctness, but in response to it; I simply got sick and tired of typing the convoluted, grammatically incorrect alternatives used by most people.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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And what are (we) Canadians? Chopped liver?
That must be wonderful; I have no idea what it means. — Molière
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
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Joined: Aug 2009
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One might wish to check out the ON LANGUAGE column titled "All-Purpose Pronoun" by Patricia T. O'Connor & Stewart Kellerman in The New York Times Magazine of July 26, 2009, where among other things it is noted that: "The idea that he, him and his should go both ways caught on and was widely adopted. But how, you might ask, did people refer to an anybody before then? This will surprise a few purists, but for centuries the universal pronoun was they. Writers as far back as Chaucer used it for singular and plural, masculine and feminine. Nobody seemed to mind that they, them and their were officially plural. As Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage explains, writers were comfortable using they with an indefinite pronoun like everybody because it suggested a sexless plural."
That must be wonderful; I have no idea what it means. — Molière
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Thanks for that, grelber!
> "The idea that he, him and his should go both ways caught on and was widely adopted."
That lacks context; "...was widely adopted" when or, as the case may be, during which time-frame?
> "This will surprise a few purists, but for centuries the universal pronoun was they. Writers as far back as Chaucer used it for singular and plural, masculine and feminine. Nobody seemed to mind that they, them and their were officially plural. As Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage explains, writers were comfortable using they with an indefinite pronoun like everybody because it suggested a sexless plural."
Did the authors document the convention's current SOP status, or, if it's not, what current SOP is? (For what it's worth, my 1967 Random House Unabridged calls that usage "nonstandard.")
Personally, my aesthetic sensibilities, and their simplicity and gruesome origins (Richard A. Lupoff's "Space War Blues"), draw me to "se" and "hir."
(This-all may induce me to look into SheepShaver to get my OED back up-and-running. )
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Another excerpt in response (but we're getting close to violating board rules and the NYT's proprietary interests): "Meanwhile, many great writers — Byron, Austen, Thackeray, Eliot, Dickens, Trollope and more — continued to use they and company as singulars, never mind the grammarians. In fact, so many people now use they in the old singular way that dictionaries and usage guides are taking a critical look at the prohibition against it. R.W. Burchfield, editor of The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, has written that it’s only a matter of time before this practice becomes standard English: "The process now seems irreversible." Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed) already finds the singular they acceptable "even in literary and formal contexts," but the Usage Panel of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (4th ed) isn’t there yet." The column (and others) should still be available at http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/feature...uage&st=cse .
That must be wonderful; I have no idea what it means. — Molière
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
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Thanks for that.
> R.W. Burchfield, editor of The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, has written that it’s only a matter of time before this practice becomes standard English: "The process now seems irreversible."
It amazes me that it's taking so long to happen.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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OP
Joined: Aug 2009
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You are in the UK. I am from the UK. Are you responding to me? I can't tell from your post. If you are, did you read the Thread Title?
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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The noise one makes when ones brain is not engage when one tries to make conversation?
It seems to fit for me.
There are 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Sep 2009
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(This-all may induce me to look into SheepShaver to get my OED back up-and-running. ) I use SheepShaver for just that (OED).
Mac since 1984, Apple since 1978 MacBook Pro, iPhone 5, MacBook (in living room for iTunes and searching for recipes), iPad
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
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I don't know if I qualify by Bensheim's strict standards. I live in the UK. I have a UK passport. But I was born in the USA and have (after 26 years) still been unable to get my mouth around those posh British vowels. I have learned to love football (soccer to you septics) but will never get to grips with cricket.
iMac (19,1, 3.1 GHz i5, 12.7.4, 40 Gb RAM); MacBook Air (1.8 Ghz, 8 Gb RAM, 10.14.6, 256 Gb SSD) Vodafone router and Devolo Wi-Fi Extender, Canon TS8351 printer/scanner.
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 7 |
I have learned to love football (soccer to you septics) Typo or Freudian slip?
Jon
macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 4
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Joined: Aug 2009
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It could be a noun meaning one who promotes putrefaction, but somehow ...
That must be wonderful; I have no idea what it means. — Molière
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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OP
Joined: Aug 2009
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I don't know if I qualify by Bensheim's strict standards. I live in the UK. I have a UK passport. But I was born in the USA and have (after 26 years) still been unable to get my mouth around those posh British vowels. I have learned to love football (soccer to you septics) but will never get to grips with cricket. Freelance, Hi Rules of CricketYou have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out. When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out*. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game. *5 common ways of getting out1. Clean bowled 2. Caught 3. Run out 4. Stumped 5. Leg before wicket** 6 uncommon ways of getting out6. Hit wicket 7. Handled the ball 8. Double hit 9. Obstructing the field 10. Timed out. 11. Retired. Also, for an out to be given, the in side have to appeal by shouting "HOW'S THAT?" (pronounced HOWZAYYYYYYYY) **not necessarily the leg
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 15
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Joined: Aug 2009
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> I use SheepShaver for just that (OED).
Thanks for posting that; I wasn't certain OED would run in SheepShaver, and inertia has kept me from experimenting.
The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.
In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
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Re: Am I the only one here from the UK?
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Joined: Aug 2009
Likes: 3
Moderator
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Moderator
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I don't know about Bensheim's standards, but you do use two of the constructions which tip me off to British posters if I haven't already glanced at the Loc: field in the post sidebar: sorted the problem and works a treat. Football, on the other hand, is the universal way of referring to, um, American Soccer.
dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
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