Re: correct English usage
* Camaleón <noelamac@gmail.com> [120403 13:51]:
> On Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:29:56 -0500, Indulekha wrote:
>
> > In linux.debian.user, you wrote:
>
> >> On Mon, 2 Apr 2012, Paul E Condon wrote:
> >>
> >>>> As far as I know, Squeeze is posterior to Lenny, and the
> >>>> recommended
Commonly-used English terms which are apropos to this matter are
"precede", "predecessor", "succeed", "successor", "antecedent", and
"descendant". Thus, one could say:
"Lenny preceded Squeeze."
or
"Squeeze succeeds Lenny."
or
"Lenny is the predecessor of Squeeze."
or
"Squeeze is the successor of Lenny."
or
"Lenny is the antecedent of Squeeze."
or
"Squeeze is the descendant of Lenny."
%%%%%%%
Perhaps the most fundamental rule or concept of communication is that
the meaning of a word is determined by the context in which the word
is used. Accordingly, it is the author of a document -- and not the
lexicographer (that is, the compiler of a dictionary) -- who
determines the meaning of the words within the document.
The lexicographer merely searches through documents of all sort, and
compiles the meanings which, over the years, various authors have
assigned to those words. Accordingly, while a given dictionary or
lexicon may be said to be more COMPREHENSIVE than another, it hardly
is correct to say that one dictionary is more AUTHORITATIVE than
another. Again, the lexicon is but a catalogue of usage.
However, communication in general is facilitated when an author
assigns to a given word the same meaning as other authors assign to
that word. And this is why an author generally ought keep close at
hand a dictionary while he writes.
RLH
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