[R] OT --- grammar.

[John McKown]

On Sun, Jun 24, 2018 at 8:08 PM Michael Sumner <mdsumner using gmail.com> wrote:

> No it isn't. Your stature is diminished by hateful behaviour.
>

​I will most likely also be labelled "hateful" for saying this, but I found
Rolf's post to be accurate, although phrased in a bit of an elitist way.​
Being a bit of a grammar Nazi (I may as well label myself as others likely
will), I sometimes come across as elitist as well. I am come across this
way because in any scientific endeavour, under which I include programming,
precision and accuracy is the top priority. Because if people think that
_I_ am a grammar Nazi, they haven't run into very many compilers
(especially for the archaic language COBOL) who will simply refuse to
compile something which doesn't make sense according to _its_ rules.

However, unlike Rolf, I do not take offense when people use idiomatic
expressions or even make up phrases on an English speaking mailing list
(English not being any kind of pristine, planned, language). So long as I
can puzzle it out, it is good to me. If I can't puzzle it out, I ignore it.
​
​My apologies to Dr. Sumner for originally sending this to him directly.
That was my error in not double checking that "reply" went to the proper
recipient. ​



>
> Cheers, Mike
>
> On Mon, 25 Jun 2018, 07:26 Rolf Turner, <r.turner using auckland.ac.nz> wrote:
>
> > On 25/06/18 12:03, Bert Gunter wrote:
> > > Ted, et. al.:
> > >
> > > Re: "Data is" vs "data are" ... Heh heh!
> > >
> > > "This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."
> > > (Attributed to Churchill in one form or another, likely wrongly.)
> > >
> > > See here for some semi-authoritative dicussion:
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://www.onlinegrammar.com.au/top-10-grammar-myths-data-is-plural-so-must-take-a-plural-verb/
> >
> > I beg to differ.  "The data was out of date" sounds just plain stupid to
> > my sensitive ears.
> >
> > It's rather like using the phrase "begs the question" to mean "raises
> > the question" or "invites the question" rather than to carry its
> > *correct* meaning of "assumes what is to be proved".  The fact that the
> > phrase is almost always used in its *incorrect* sense these days, and
> > almost never in its *correct* sense, does not diminish the fact that
> > those who use it incorrectly are ignorant scumbags!  The language is
> > weakened and diminished by the encroachment of incorrect usage.
> >
> >
> >
> > cheers,
> >
> > Rolf
> >
> >
> > --
> > Technical Editor ANZJS
> > Department of Statistics
> > University of Auckland
> > Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276
> >
> > ______________________________________________
> > R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> > PLEASE do read the posting guide
> > http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
> >
> --
> Dr. Michael Sumner
> Software and Database Engineer
> Australian Antarctic Division
> 203 Channel Highway
> Kingston Tasmania 7050 Australia
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help using r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>


-- 
There is no such thing as the Cloud. It is just somebody else’s computer.

Maranatha! <><
John McKown

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