Facebook Follies of Friends and Families

[garbon]

thanks for the explanations, CM, will go through and check it out later when I've got time.

Make sure to also reply, phrase by phrase.

[Razgovory]

I really hope the sign is fake, or otherwise Valmy needs explain how this happened.

Actual quote:

Among the many interesting objects, which will engage your attention, that of providing for the common defence will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; to which end a Uniform and well digested plan is requisite: And their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories, as tend to render them independent on others, for essential, particularly for military supplies.

    The proper establishment of the Troops which may be deemed indispensible, will be entitled to mature consideration. In the arrangements which may be made respecting it, it will be of importance to conciliate the comfortable support of the Officers and Soldiers with a due regard to economy.

It's from the first annual address to Congress

[Valmy]

Huh. I have never seen a sign like that before. It does kind of look like a state historical marker:



So I vote for a photo shop of one. I am not sure where we would post such a marker.

It does sound like something Washington and Jefferson might say if one put both brains in the same body or something.

[Razgovory]

It didn't occur to me at the moment, but the fact that they put the second amendment with a doctored quote and then attributed it to George Washington it implies that the entire thing is part of the 2nd amendment and the US constitution was written (at least in part) by George Washington.

[PDH]

You are right, there are several standard English norms - what I was referring to was within these norms there are standardized grammars, spellings, syntax, etc.  Think here, textbook (American) English, for example.

and within american english, there's no standard by which all must follow. for example, consider punctuation: authors frequently abandon those rigid laws. one could, conceivably, correctly, use punctuation, and, therefore, it would, for sure, be correct, but it's really pretty awful, for the reader, to slog through, and, I don't think, it's reasonable to demand everyone to conform absolutely

What part of "standardized grammars, spelling, syntax, etc." would lead you to believe I said there were rigid rules that must be followed?  My whole argument was that there were many versions of English, all of them linguistically correct, but there is still an educational norm of "Standard English" which (others have pointed out better than I) are often required to succeed due to basic human societal factors.

Note - I could add a few commas if you wish.

[Razgovory]

I like the fact the English never standardized their language like the French.  It creates such beautiful chaos.

[Oexmelin]

Please, give me an example of how the French standardized their language.

[Barrister]

Please, give me an example of how the French standardized their language.

I would assume he was talking about the Académie française.  Which without any profound knowledge of the topic, sounds like a pretty good attempt at standardization.

[Valmy]

I like the fact the English never standardized their language like the French.  It creates such beautiful chaos.

Oh FFS. You just will not stop talking trash will you?

[11B4V]

 

[Valmy]

Um...ok 

[11B4V]

Um...ok 

The whole article is in Berkut's shrilly gun thread.

[Oexmelin]

I would assume he was talking about the Académie française.  Which without any profound knowledge of the topic, sounds like a pretty good attempt at standardization.

Of course that is what he is thinking about. But, as you indicated, the problem is "without any profound knowledge of the topic". It just presumes a bunch of stuff stemming from a crude set of vague ideas about "the French".

How, exactly, did the Académie française "standardized" the French language in ways that various other institutions in English-speaking countries, did not? Was there no process of standardization of English? I thought the whole point of the previous discussion was indeed that there are standards of English - indeed, anyone opening a variety of books from the 16th century will realize quite quickly, that the variations in punctuation, in spelling, in letter choices ("u" for "v") have all been standardized. It is, in fact, a process that is quite well studied, in increasingly fine detail thanks to digitized books.  So, I want to know, what it is that the Dictionnaire of the Académie did that the OED, the Webster, or Samuel Johnson's dictionary, did not.

[Valmy]

He just hates the French and takes every innocuous thing as a sign of their ethnic inferiority to the glories of Missouri.

[Oexmelin]

Perhaps he had a bad time in Bonne Terre, MO. Or was swindled by the Laclède Gaz Company. Or fell in the River Des Pères.