Pedants' Paradise

[subcontrabass]

So how did that make him Austrian by birth, with or without a [sic]?

It doesn't. I thought that was the point of the [sic] - to quote something but point out that it is (at least) questionable.

[french frank]

I thought that was the point of the [sic] - to quote something but point out that it is (at least) questionable.

I see. I realise teamsaint was quoting something, but the [sic] means, then, that the quote was quoting something else, and was thus indicating that that was questionable.

[teamsaint]

just to clarify: (hopefully...)

the piece I quoted was part of a large piece that Alex Ross was quoting in the book.

Its not clear if the [sic] was originally part of the quote, or was a Ross/editorial addition.

[french frank]

Its not clear if the [sic] was originally part of the quote, or was a Ross/editorial addition.

I think we've got to the bottom of that one, then. At least, as far as we can go.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Why is everyone being so pedantic?

[Serial_Apologist]

Why is everyone being so pedantic?

Because the English language is so richly nuanced it has infinite words for infinite shades of meaning? Or because pedantry is so much fun!

[Don Petter]

Or because pedantry is so much fun!

You might be suffering from anoraxia!

[Pabmusic]

Because the English language is so richly nuanced it has infinite words for infinite shades of meaning? Or because pedantry is so much fun!

I have to take issue, SA. By the very nature of languages they must be finite. I can think of things we cannot easily speak about in English because we don't have the vocabulary. Think of trying to distinguish 'hot' (the weather) from 'hot' (a curry). Other languages can (variations on 'piquant' are common).

Now, Arthur Baughring-Goldpharte comments in the third sub-footnote to the sixth footnote on page 94 of his seminal Fifteen-Hundred Tightly-Packed Pages About Something-Or-Other that (assuming there's an R in the month) … [contd. p.94]

[Don Petter]

Now, Arthur Baughring-Goldpharte comments in the third sub-footnote to the sixth footnote on page 94 of his seminal Fifteen-Hundred Tightly-Packed Pages About Something-Or-Other that (assuming there's an R in the month) … [contd. p.94]

Now, that's not anoraxia, it's verbesity.

[Lento]

Mr Rafferty referred to Heinrich Barman in today's clarinet-centric lunchtime concert. I'll drink to that!

[Roehre]

Mr Rafferty referred to Heinrich Barman in today's clarinet-centric lunchtime concert. I'll drink to that!

[LeMartinPecheur]

Did anyone else shudder when Mr Rafferty pronounced 'apostle' with a very audible 't' this morning?

[Bryn]

Did anyone else shudder when Mr Rafferty pronounced 'apostle' with a very audible 't' this morning?

What an apostate!

[ahinton]

Because the English language is so richly nuanced it has infinite words for infinite shades of meaning?

Does it strike anyone as odd that the person widely credited as having claimed that "language was give to man to conceal his thoughts" - namely François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (1630-1680) - was French, when his maxim seems to apply so much more appropriately to the English language?...

[french frank]

Does it strike anyone as odd that the person widely credited as having claimed that "language was give to man to conceal his thoughts" - namely François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (1630-1680) - was French, when his maxim seems to apply so much more appropriately to the English language?...

Was La Rochefoucauld the first to say that? It seems to have been attributed to various people: Talleyrand, Stendhal and Malagrida in the form:

"La parole a été donnée à l'homme pour qu'il trahisse/pour déguiser/cacher/dissimuler sa pensée."