Re: "Proper" english [off topic]
On Sun, Jan 02, 2000 at 11:52:05AM -0600, David Welton wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 02, 2000 at 01:25:33AM -0600, Dwayne C . Litzenberger wrote:
>
> > > Met[er] is pronounced Mee-tur, not Meet-ray, so Meter is of course
> > > correct. Metre comes from French, but we are speaking English, so
> > > staying close to French spellings isn't all that important.
>
> > Wrong. Much of English comes from French, German and Latin. Metre
> > is correct (ask any Englishman). *Americans* are the only ones who
> > spell things "the other way".
>
> It comes from French, German and Latin, but it is English. If metre
> is 'correct', why isn't the name "Petre" instead of "Peter" ? That's
> my point - the "re" ending comes from French, but that is no longer
> the official language of either England or the US, and "er" is more
> logical as an ending from an anglo-saxon pronunciation point of view.
>
> If people wish to poke fun at the dreadful "English" measurement
> system we still use in the US, by all means go ahead, but keep your
> hands off of my native language:-)
David, I hope you won't shoot me for "putting my hands in your native
language", but a quick look at my Hazon (1961) tells that "meter" and
"metre" has exactly the same pronounciation ('mi:te*)(where the e is
upside-down).
"meter" has two entries:
I) contatore, misuratore;
tassametro.
II) (amer) per metre.
also "metre" has two entries, one with 4 meanings and the second with
one meaning:
I) 1-(poes.) metro
2- metrica, prosodia
3- componimento in versi
4-(mus.) tempo
II) metro, unita' di lunghezza = 39.37 in.
the two verbs:
to meter: 1- misurare, controllare;
2- dosare.
to metre: comporre in versi, verseggiare.
cheers (for the new year; let's wait next one for the millennium!)
fab
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