Re: correct English usage
Pierre Frenkiel <pierre.frenkiel@gmail.com> writes:
> On Mon, 2 Apr 2012, Paul E Condon wrote:
>
>>> As far as I know, Squeeze is posterior to Lenny, and the recommended
>> ^^^^^^^^^
>>
>> This is the wrong word in English to describe the relation between
>> Squeeze and Lenny. Maybe OK in some other European language, but not
>> in English.
>> . . For named releases of software and to express a relationship in
>> time,
>> posterior is the wrong word in English.
>>
>> Since the thread seemed mainly about correct English usage, I thought
>> it would be helpful to point this out before the word got incorporated
>> into Debian documentation.
>
> I agree that it is important to have a correct English usage, at least in
> the documention, and that I am less qualified than you in that field.
> Still, I am really puzzled by what I found in several dictionnaries.
> I admit that most of the translation tools found on Internet are
> not very reliable, but I thought that it was not the case for dictionnaries.
> Here are some results I got for the "posterior" entry:
>
> Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
> 1 chiefly Anatomy further back in position . . .
> 2 Medicine . . .
> 3 formal coming after in time or order; later.
>
> WordReference English Thesaurus © 2012
> Sense: Subsequent, succeeding, next, following
> Sense: Behind, at the rear, dorsal, in back o, back
>
> Collinsdictionary.com
> 1. situated at the back of or behind something
> 2. coming after or following another in a series
> 3. coming after in time
>
> Are all these distionnaries wrong?
I am a native speaker, and the "after in time" usage is one I can't
remember ever seeing.
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