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Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:37:53 +1100
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Subject: Re: The devolution of English language and slothful c.l.p behaviors exposed!
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Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.python:19455

On Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:38:12 -0800
Chris Kaynor <ckaynor@zindagigames.com> wrote:

[...]
> >
> 
> Would you prefer the Oxford or Merriam-Webster dictionaries. They are
> a bit more established than dictionary.com in terms of standardizing
> the languages.
> 
> Definition 4 of the Merriam-Webster dictionary for "pretty" as an
> adjective says:
> 
> moderately large *:*
> considerable<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/considerable>
>  <a very *pretty* profit><cost a *pretty* penny>
> 
> See:  http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pretty
> 
> 
> The only definition for "pretty" as an adjective in the Oxford
> dictionary says:
> 
> *[*as submodifier] *informal*
> to a moderately high degree; fairly:
> he looked pretty fit for his age
> 
> See:  http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/pretty?q=pretty
> 
> As such, I would say using pretty as an adjective for fairly,
> considerably, or other, as in the sentence "That was pretty easy." is
> well established and accepted English. So far there have been three
> dictionary entries saying it is valid English, including one of the
> most widely accepted.
> 

No doubt His Rantingness has already widened the scope of his spampaign to include the world's lexicographers and the billion or so English speakers they represent, with the aim of liberating them all from their sad misapprehensions about what constitutes valid colloquial English, and by example, their burdensome preoccupations with spelling and punctuation, and their crippling fear of malapropisms and homonyms.


John