Re: [OT] Server for Debian + MySQL
--- On Sun, 12/14/08, Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz> wrote:
From: Chris Bannister <mockingbird@earthlight.co.nz>
Subject: Re: [OT] Server for Debian + MySQL
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Date: Sunday, December 14, 2008, 6:32 AM
On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 10:02:14AM -0600, Boyd Stephen Smith Jr. wrote:
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disconnect
>
> I don't know how long the noun usage has been around, but I remember
hearing
> it as a child (20 years ago), so I'd say you just need to update your
> dictionary. (1913 Websters, really?)
According to merriam webster (m-w.com), which by the way helps greatly non english speakers because provides sound to words, disconnect as a verb goes back to 1770; as a noun to 1976
I've never heard of "a disconnect". It is the opposite of
connect.
(Yep, some people still say incorrectly - "unmount" when it should be
"dismount")
>AIUI, the education system 20 years ago had some flaws which have
>shown themselves in the last few years.
One example is that according to modern rules the classics of the language would get F's in standard language tests, because they used long sentences, not bullets, etc. Modern education doesn't realize that complex thoughts require complex sentences (hence the use of symbols in mathematics to compress ideas). I think I read a comment on Obama and MacCain talking at 7-9th grade levels in their speeches, which tells much.
> Also, particularly where I come from (U.S.; specifically "The
South"), English
> speakers don't follow the formal rules of grammar well. So, nouns get
>IOW, " they make up your own rules".
> verbed, and verbs get nouned, words and phrases get abbreviated, mangled,
>and
> misunderstood, and the language evolves. (There are probably some more
>Yeah, apparently "awful" originally meant "full of awe".
>According to "The Pocket Oxford Dictionary" Compiled by F. G. Fowler
>&
>H. W. Fowler; (1st ed 1924 Reprinted with corrections 1947, 1949, 1952,
>1953, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1960):
>awe. 1. n. Reverential fear (stand in a. of).
> 2. v.t. (-wable). Inspire with a.
> ...
>awful a. Inspiring, worthy of a.; (colloq.) notable in its kind (an
>awful bore, relief).
>awfully adv., (esp., colloq) very (awfully good of you). [E]
> serious errors in a 1913 dictionary than not having the noun form of some
> verbs.)
>Are the errors in the dictionary or is it that a high percentage of the
>population are misusing/abusing the {words,rules} of english?
The confusion of verbs and nouns shows the confusion in the mind of the speakers (in other historically and culturally connected languages the distinction remains).
If we divide the pie in two pieces we can see the divide. When we then proceed to disconnect the two pieces we observe the disconnect, and if we try to reverse the process and attempt to connect the pieces, will obtain a connect. After thinking a little our think wanders, so we decide that whatever decide has been previously made may not have been right.
We could continue this chain of thoughts, and after a while we will realize (or come to the realize) that something is not right.
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