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Groups > alt.usage.english > #1145962
| From | Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> |
|---|---|
| Newsgroups | alt.usage.english, alt.english.usage |
| Subject | Re: Receipts |
| Date | 2026-07-01 03:21 -0700 |
| Organization | Dis One |
| Message-ID | <mn.08c97ea70a0344cd.127094@snitoo> (permalink) |
| References | (4 earlier) <111p602$i3jg$1@artemis.inf.ed.ac.uk> <111qgln$3eu94$1@dont-email.me> <naccbnFd0bvU1@mid.individual.net> <mn.e2a67ea602f1d15c.127094@snitoo> <najpr7FjuhuU1@mid.individual.net> |
Cross-posted to 2 groups.
Remember when Hibou bragged outrageously? That was Tuesday:
> Le 01/07/2026 à 03:40, Snidely a écrit :
>> With a quizzical look, Hibou observed:
>>>
>>> The meaning was deducible from context, but the choice of word looked like
>>> an error. Better the mot juste, in this case 'evidence'; better plain
>>> English than a limping attempt at decoration.
>>
>> Much of the choice has to do with the impact you desire. Sometimes plain
>> English does that best, sometimes it doesn't.
>
>
> In this case the statement was a strong one, about armed forces deliberately
> choosing children as targets. It needed no decoration. Trying to enliven it
> with non-standard words risks distracting readers and weakening it. If one
> has evoked an image of soldiers shooting children, does it help to overlay
> that with a picture of a stack of receipts?
You mean a stack of register papers. Try to get it right.
[that's intended to be minor irony. or pointing the petard back at you]
You are acting as if the entire audience had the reaction you're
having. While I'm not claiming they didn't, we both lack the data to
support either claim. I am going to assume that there were enough
people who weren't confused or bothered by the usage that we should
consider it acceptable in the context.
>> There is also the impact the phrase has had on the speaker ... if a bunch
>> of recent usages has moved the phrase to the front, it might have displaced
>> the plain English, and seem clearer to the speaker.
>
>
> Metaphors are dangerous, because they so often die or become clichés or both.
> Standard words generally have a much longer life.
>
> In a world where so many try to ginger up their sentences, plain English has
> great power.
>
>> And there was a time when "evidence" and "proof" weren't plain English.
>> Language evolves despite curmudgeons best efforts. [...]
>
>
> Is it only curmudgeons, surly miserly people, who object to linguistic
> misuse? What about the good people of aue and aeu, who love the language and
> would rather not see it come to harm?
Is it only the curmudgeons that get to decide what is misuse and harm?
> Would it be curmudgeonly to object to someone using our carefully sharpened
> chisels as screwdrivers?
There are times when that is entirely appropriate.
/dps
--
Courage is knowing it might hurt, and doing it anyway.
Stupidity is the same.
And that's why life is hard.
-- the World Wide Web
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Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-26 17:00 +0200
Re: Receipts athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-06-26 15:01 +0000
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-26 19:17 +0100
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 05:02 +0200
Re: Receipts The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 06:10 -0400
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 03:29 +0200
Re: Receipts Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2026-06-29 02:17 -0300
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-06-27 15:47 +1000
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-27 11:15 +0100
Re: Receipts nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-27 13:25 +0200
Re: Receipts Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> - 2026-06-28 08:29 +0100
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 17:09 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:49 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 11:30 -0400
Re: Receipts richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) - 2026-06-27 18:49 +0000
Re: Receipts liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-06-27 21:58 +0100
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-06-28 11:21 +1000
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-28 05:51 +0100
Re: Receipts Ross Clark <benlizro@ihug.co.nz> - 2026-06-28 18:57 +1200
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-28 11:46 +0100
Re: Receipts Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> - 2026-06-30 19:40 -0700
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-07-01 07:19 +0100
Re: Receipts Snidely <snidely.too@gmail.com> - 2026-07-01 03:21 -0700
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-07-01 11:49 +0100
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-07-01 21:16 +1000
Re: Receipts athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> - 2026-07-01 12:57 +0000
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-07-01 15:40 +0100
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-07-02 09:44 +1000
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-07-02 05:16 +0200
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-07-02 06:11 +0100
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-07-03 08:28 +0200
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-07-04 11:55 +0100
Re: Receipts occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-06-27 14:22 +0200
Re: Receipts Phil <phil@anonymous.invalid> - 2026-06-27 18:18 +0100
Re: Receipts ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-06-27 18:35 +0000
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 15:05 -0400
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 04:44 +0200
Re: Receipts nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-27 13:25 +0200
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 03:39 +0200
Re: Receipts nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-28 11:01 +0200
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-06-28 21:21 +1000
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-28 15:48 +0200
Re: Receipts nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-28 21:32 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-29 17:45 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-28 15:42 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-26 18:13 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-26 12:57 -0400
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:40 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 11:01 -0400
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 03:53 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 23:26 -0400
Re: Receipts Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-06-28 11:37 +1000
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-28 05:51 +0100
Re: Receipts nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-28 11:01 +0200
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-26 19:24 +0100
Re: Receipts liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) - 2026-06-27 12:23 +0100
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:41 +0200
Re: Receipts Hibou <vpaereru-unmonitored@yahoo.com.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:39 +0100
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 05:04 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-26 12:46 -0400
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 05:25 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 00:31 -0400
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 19:00 +0200
Re: Receipts The True Melissa <thetruemelissa@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 13:16 -0400
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 19:33 +0200
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 04:09 +0200
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 23:25 -0400
Re: Receipts Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 14:51 -0400
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:58 +0200
Re: Receipts Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 04:16 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-28 10:16 +0200
Re: Receipts "s|b" <me@privacy.invalid> - 2026-06-27 13:31 +0200
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 12:10 +0800
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-27 19:05 +0200
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? Tony Cooper <tonycooper214@gmail.com> - 2026-06-27 15:01 -0400
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 12:54 +0800
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-27 23:10 +0200
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? Steve Hayes <hayesstw@telkomsa.net> - 2026-06-28 04:21 +0200
Re: Receipts ... ignore threads? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 12:53 +0800
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-06-28 09:35 +0200
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 18:19 +0800
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> - 2026-06-28 21:28 +1000
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? occam <occam@nowhere.nix> - 2026-06-29 08:16 +0200
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-29 19:18 +0800
Re: Receipts <-- mis-dictation? cursed? nospam@de-ster.demon.nl (J. J. Lodder) - 2026-06-28 11:01 +0200
Re: Receipts ... forcing delta updates to old NNTP servers? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-06-28 12:46 +0800
Re: Receipts vs Magical Talisman??? "Mr. Man-wai Chang" <toylet.toylet@gmail.com> - 2026-07-01 14:42 +0800
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