XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books
From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net
On Tue, 27 Aug 2013 02:31:31 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"
wrote:
>On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 18:49:12 +0200, Steve Hayes
> wrote in
> in
>rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.books:
>
>> On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 02:31:13 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"
>> wrote:
>
>>>On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 07:00:36 +0200, Steve Hayes
>>> wrote in
>>> in
>>>rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.books:
>
>>>[...]
>
>>>> That misuse of "momentarily" by *airline* staff, of all
>>>> people, is the most stupid and irresponsible language
>>>> error I have ever heard. The airlines really ought to
>>>> train their staff better.
>
>>>Ah, a follower of Miss Thistlebottom. There is perhaps some
>>>excuse for that if one is in the business of teaching formal
>>>writing, but from a linguistic point of view it’s nonsense.
>
>>>Languages change, and usage ultimately determines what is
>>>and is not an error. This sense is sufficiently widespread
>>>in U.S. usage that its use in U.S. varieties of English can
>>>no longer be considered an error.
>
>> When I first visited the US (in 1995) I had never heard of
>> that usage. Fortunately I went there on a Russian
>> airline, and not a US one, or I might have been unduly
>> alarmed.
>
>Only if you were likely to be unduly stupid. Were you?
No, only if the airline wrere sufficiently stupid to allow their staff to say
such unduly stupid things.
But fortunately Russian airlines teach their staff to speak unambiguous
Englisn.
--
Steve Hayes
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/LITMAIN.HTM
http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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