am
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#204
Nov 25, 2016 22:16:24 GMT
Post by am on Nov 25, 2016 22:16:24 GMT
Cant - noun hypocritical and sanctimonious talk, typically of a moral, religious, or political nature Hmmm. Given that "cant" was preceded by the word "they", your use of nouns is ground breaking  . Despite the claim that verbing weirds language it is a form of anthimeria which has been active in English usage for over a century and which is increasingly productive, despite the wails of prescriptivists. I can imagine that there are contexts in which "they cant" is unexceptionable. (I was going to suggest that on of the other meanings of cant - a cryptolect - was perhaps more likely to be verbed, but on the other hand "canting preacher/priest/friar" already has a fair presence in the Google corpus.) But going to wiktionary I find that "cant" is already in use as a verb.
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DeafEater
Member of DD Central
Extremely Moderate
Posts: 228
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Post by DeafEater on Nov 25, 2016 22:54:43 GMT
Hmmm. Given that "cant" was preceded by the word "they", your use of nouns is ground breaking . Despite the claim that verbing weirds language it is a form of anthimeria which has been active in English usage for over a century and which is increasingly productive, despite the wails of prescriptivists. I can imagine that there are contexts in which "they cant" is unexceptionable. (I was going to suggest that on of the other meanings of cant - a cryptolect - was perhaps more likely to be verbed, but on the other hand "canting preacher/priest/friar" already has a fair presence in the Google corpus.) But going to wiktionary I find that "cant" is already in use as a verb. Just because something is common doesn't make it either right or desirable. The fact that morphing nouns into verbs is most commonly committed by Americans and sports journalists should be all you need to know about why it's wrong. Maybe you're happy to hear how olympic atheletes have medalled with other team members but it makes me want to call the police.
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Mike
Member of DD Central
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#204
Nov 25, 2016 23:07:02 GMT
Post by Mike on Nov 25, 2016 23:07:02 GMT
Just because something is common doesn't make it either right or desirable. Just look at commoner mr Mike - case in point
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investibod
Member of DD Central
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#204
Nov 25, 2016 23:44:28 GMT
Post by investibod on Nov 25, 2016 23:44:28 GMT
After fighting against the use of 'to leverage' for 15 years, I noticed myself actually using the term last week. It seems that eventually my resistance has been worn down.
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#204
Nov 26, 2016 12:05:49 GMT
Post by Lep Recorn on Nov 26, 2016 12:05:49 GMT
The only correct English grammar, is English as it is used.
Anything else, is at best an arbitrary convention and most commonly snobbery.
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adrianc
Member of DD Central
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Post by adrianc on Nov 27, 2016 15:11:31 GMT
The only correct English grammar, is English as it is used. Anything else, is at best an arbitrary convention and most commonly snobbery. Hmm. That seems to suggest that absolutely no usage is wrong, since any usage is "as it is used". BTW - does the same apply to punctuation?
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#204
Nov 27, 2016 17:14:55 GMT
Post by lynnanthony on Nov 27, 2016 17:14:55 GMT
The only correct English grammar, is English as it is used. Anything else, is at best an arbitrary convention and most commonly snobbery. Is arbitrary convention such a bad thing? Language has to be understood otherwise there is no point in it. And such arbitrary conventions as, for instance, tenses and verb conjugations, make language understandable. Talking to someone who can't differentiate between past present and future tense is at best confusing and at worst downright dangerous.
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Post by crabbyoldgit on Nov 27, 2016 17:28:15 GMT
Um whats this punctuation thing  |
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 8:43:58 GMT
Post by andrewholgate on Nov 28, 2016 8:43:58 GMT
Cant - noun hypocritical and sanctimonious talk, typically of a moral, religious, or political nature Hmmm. Given that "cant" was preceded by the word "they", your use of nouns is ground breaking . I cant You cant He/she/it cants We cant You (pl) cant They cant I believe I conjugated correctly.
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 8:45:35 GMT
Post by andrewholgate on Nov 28, 2016 8:45:35 GMT
Um whats this punctuation thing It's when your tyres go down full stop
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jonno
Member of DD Central
nil satis nisi optimum
Posts: 2,808
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Post by jonno on Nov 28, 2016 10:18:10 GMT
Ever since my stomach op., I've had my semi-colon removed; which did leave a question mark over my future.
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am
Posts: 1,495
Likes: 601
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 16:27:21 GMT
Post by am on Nov 28, 2016 16:27:21 GMT
The only correct English grammar, is English as it is used. Anything else, is at best an arbitrary convention and most commonly snobbery. Is arbitrary convention such a bad thing? Language has to be understood otherwise there is no point in it. And such arbitrary conventions as, for instance, tenses and verb conjugations, make language understandable. Talking to someone who can't differentiate between past present and future tense is at best confusing and at worst downright dangerous. I think that there is a happy medium between cardboard cutout descriptivists and cardboard cutout prescriptivists.
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happy
Member of DD Central
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 17:44:11 GMT
Post by happy on Nov 28, 2016 17:44:11 GMT
Is arbitrary convention such a bad thing? Language has to be understood otherwise there is no point in it. And such arbitrary conventions as, for instance, tenses and verb conjugations, make language understandable. Talking to someone who can't differentiate between past present and future tense is at best confusing and at worst downright dangerous. as most of the world is going to find out when a certain D J Trump steps into the White House next January . No more God Bless America, more like God Help America 
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agent69
Member of DD Central
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 18:07:30 GMT
Post by agent69 on Nov 28, 2016 18:07:30 GMT
Result of the vote is in
Apathy won by a considerable margin, with the borrower proposal coming a poor second
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registerme
Member of DD Central
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Likes: 6,437
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#204
Nov 28, 2016 19:27:23 GMT
Post by registerme on Nov 28, 2016 19:27:23 GMT
Result of the vote is in Apathy won by a considerable margin, with the borrower proposal coming a poor second Do we know how much was held by GBBA / QAA / (30 Day Access)? If we don't it's hard to say how much was down to apathy. If it's a lot then people are very sanguine about the provision fund, perhaps too much so.
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