Is this bad form? - posting YOUR coordinates for a cache.

[+Sissy-n-CR]

On the page where you log a find there are places for entries for coordinates, "If you would like to assign coordinates to this log entry, fill out the information below."

 

I know there is a place for it and if the cache is 40 feet off, but if the cache owner hasn't requested for corrections or feedback...

 

Is that kind of like correcting someone's grammer or spelling?

 

...or do (most) cache owners know it's just the coordinates that hunter got with their unit and doesn't worry about to unless it shows significant error?

 

Thanks

CR

[+brdad]

I think you'll find some take it as criticism and some that don't. I've only posted it on one, only because it was 40 feet off and I went back once again just because I second guessed myself, and the coordinates took me to the same spot 40 feet away.

 

Unless the owner asks, I would not post unless I was pretty sure the coordinates were off, which can be hard to determine if it's the first time you've been there and the error is not substancial.

 

I would hope owners would take note of the postings and recheck their numbers if a lot of them are similar.

 

Some days you're the dog, and some days you're the hydrant.

[+briansnat]

It could be helpful to other geocachers. So I don't see a problem with it. As a cache owner, if someone had a problem with my coordinates and published their own, I'd thank them. It would save me a trip out there to take another reading. If it turns out that the new coordinates are more accurate than mine, I'll update my cache page with them.

 

"Life is a daring adventure, or it is nothing" - Helen Keller

[+worldtraveler]

The recommendations of the following long post are probably intuitive to you experienced cachers but possibly not so for our enthusiastic friends who are new to the sport.

 

If the coords posted by the owner were intended to lead the searcher to the cache, it can be helpful for finders to post the coords their own GPS receivers were showing at the location. If the owner has done a good job of averaging the position before posting the coords, it shouldn't differ much from what the finders post. But if the owner's coords are inaccurate, then enough posts by finders should result in a more accurate "average" position.

 

But...

If the owner intended for the final coords to be known only after solving a puzzle of some sort (as with this cache or this one, then it would be inappropriate to post "corrections" in a way that nullifies the challenge.

 

The solution to the puzzle in the second cache mentioned above produced coords slightly different from what my GPSr showed when I averaged the location at the cache. Because the undergrowth was so dense, the difference was significant; at least one searcher had failed to find it, and I was about to give up until I recalled that a previous finder had noted that his coords had differed from the solution. In the interest of preventing a lot of unneccessary trampling of the undergrowth, I encrypted the difference between the solution coords and my averaged coords. That enables future cachers to apply the "correction" only after they solve the puzzle.

 

Worldtraveler

[+ApK]

quote:

---

 

Is that kind of like correcting someone's grammer or spelling?

---

 

I'd correct grammer, too.

[+Dekaner]

I'd correct coordinates, spelling, grammer, etc. as well. The difference is that I'd send it to the cache owner first.

 

- Dekaner of Team KKF2A

[+Rocky Balboa]

I wouldnt take other coords being posted as an insult as sometimes coords can be way off on cache pages, this can prove very helpfull to other cachers. However i think i would take someone correcting my spelling and grammar badly. i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

 

Dan Wilson - www.Buckscaching.co.uk

[+Kodak's4]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sissy-n-CR:

Is that kind of like correcting someone's grammer or spelling?

 

CR

---

 

No, not really, since generally even with spelling errors, people can figure out what's meant, but with the coordinates, the point is to be as accurate as possible, and even a minor error can be confusing to searchers.

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

[+Kodak's4]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sissy-n-CR:

Is that kind of like correcting someone's grammer or spelling?

 

CR

---

 

No, not really, since generally even with spelling errors, people can figure out what's meant, but with the coordinates, the point is to be as accurate as possible, and even a minor error can be confusing to searchers.

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

[+ApK]

quote:

---

i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

---

 

The problem is the pollution of the language into an ugly, inelegant, imprecise muddle of new-speak.

 

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

 

[Wow...the off-topic branches are getting more and more interesting lately]

 

ApK

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kodak's4:

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

---

 

I love it!

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kodak's4:

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

---

 

I love it!

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geo Badger:

I wouldnt take other coords being posted as an insult as sometimes coords can be way off on cache pages, this can prove very helpfull to other cachers. However i think i would take someone correcting my spelling and grammar badly. i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

 

Dan Wilson - http://www.Buckscaching.co.uk

 

Dan,

You should never take corrections of spelling or grammar badly. Those who would correct you would seldom do it in a malicious manner. I make these corrections to be constructive. They are made to help you become more articulate and a better communicator. If you prefer to not get this kind of help, construct your posts in a word processor then cut & paste to the posting. At the risk of offending you, I will only mention that you have better than a half-dozen such errors in the post above. I will let you find them.

Ray

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geo Badger:

I wouldnt take other coords being posted as an insult as sometimes coords can be way off on cache pages, this can prove very helpfull to other cachers. However i think i would take someone correcting my spelling and grammar badly. i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

 

Dan Wilson - http://www.Buckscaching.co.uk

 

Dan,

You should never take corrections of spelling or grammar badly. Those who would correct you would seldom do it in a malicious manner. I make these corrections to be constructive. They are made to help you become more articulate and a better communicator. If you prefer to not get this kind of help, construct your posts in a word processor then cut & paste to the posting. At the risk of offending you, I will only mention that you have better than a half-dozen such errors in the post above. I will let you find them.

Ray

[+SimonG]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

---

 

You mean 'thEIr percEIved right', of course.

Remember the golden rule - 'I before E, except when it isn't.'

[+SimonG]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

---

 

You mean 'thEIr percEIved right', of course.

Remember the golden rule - 'I before E, except when it isn't.'

[+Sissy-n-CR]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kodak's4:

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

---

 

DOH! LOL!

[+Sissy-n-CR]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kodak's4:

 

And 'grammer' should be spelled 'grammar'.

---

 

DOH! LOL!

[+Rocky Balboa]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

quote:

---

i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

---

 

The problem is the pollution of the language into an ugly, inelegant, imprecise muddle of new-speak.

 

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

ApK

---

 

I would see your point if the problem of bad spelling effected anyone, but in this case people are writing on a geocaching page where bad spelling causes absolutly no problem. If we were writing essays for examination i would see point in correcting myself and worrying if i made a mistake. I think the percentage of people who care about the mistakes i am just bound to have made in this post is minimal. Lets just cache we aren't here to get an english lesson

 

Dan Wilson - www.Buckscaching.co.uk

[+Rocky Balboa]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

quote:

---

i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

---

 

The problem is the pollution of the language into an ugly, inelegant, imprecise muddle of new-speak.

 

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

ApK

---

 

I would see your point if the problem of bad spelling effected anyone, but in this case people are writing on a geocaching page where bad spelling causes absolutly no problem. If we were writing essays for examination i would see point in correcting myself and worrying if i made a mistake. I think the percentage of people who care about the mistakes i am just bound to have made in this post is minimal. Lets just cache we aren't here to get an english lesson

 

Dan Wilson - www.Buckscaching.co.uk

[el10t]

I think the only reason you are able to enter coordinates alongside your cache log is for the purposes of logging locationless/reverse/whatever they-are-called caches that have a potenially infinite number of locations associated with them.

The field is not really there to be filled in with your version of coordinates of a conventional cache - if you think the published ones are incorrect you should probably contact the cache owner via email.

 

Rich

mobilis in mobili

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geo Badger:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

quote:

---

i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

---

 

The problem is the pollution of the language into an ugly, inelegant, imprecise muddle of new-speak.

 

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

ApK

---

 

I would see your point if the problem of bad spelling effected anyone, but in this case people are writing on a geocaching page where bad spelling causes absolutly no problem. If we were writing essays for examination i would see point in correcting myself and worrying if i made a mistake. I think the percentage of people who care about the mistakes i am just bound to have made in this post is minimal. Lets just cache we aren't here to get an english lesson

 

Dan Wilson - http://www.Buckscaching.co.uk

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Geo Badger:

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

quote:

---

i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?

---

 

The problem is the pollution of the language into an ugly, inelegant, imprecise muddle of new-speak.

 

I'm about the worst speller there is, but my attitude toward that is that I should try to improve my spelling.

 

Why are so many people so eager to defend thier percieved right to ignorance and error, rather than working to improve themselves?

ApK

---

 

I would see your point if the problem of bad spelling effected anyone, but in this case people are writing on a geocaching page where bad spelling causes absolutly no problem. If we were writing essays for examination i would see point in correcting myself and worrying if i made a mistake. I think the percentage of people who care about the mistakes i am just bound to have made in this post is minimal. Lets just cache we aren't here to get an english lesson

 

Dan Wilson - http://www.Buckscaching.co.uk

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

[BassoonPilot]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Sissy-n-CR:

On the page where you log a find there are places for entries for coordinates, "If you would like to assign coordinates to this log entry, fill out the information below."

---

 

The space is there for adding the coordinates you logged at the site; go ahead and use it except in cases like intermediate/final stages of multicaches, and as worldtraveler noted:

 

quote:

---

originally posted by worldtraveler:

If the owner intended for the final coords to be known only after solving a puzzle of some sort, then it would be inappropriate to post "corrections" in a way that nullifies the challenge.

---

 

[This message was edited by BassoonPilot on September 12, 2002 at 10:00 AM.]

[+Goondong]

Go Hard Danno, your not alone mate !

Gotta keep the Sepos Honest.

[+worldtraveler]

Reminds me of yesterday's Dilbert desktop calendar comic -

 

Pointy-haired boss at computer calling to secretary: "Carol, Come here! All of my words have squiggles under them!"

 

Carol: "The software is telling you that every sentence you wrote has bad grammar. Press F1 for help and..."(presses F1) "it's a third grade enrollment form."

 

The communication medium here is the written word, and you paint a mental portrait of yourself in the minds of others by the way you use or abuse the medium. The portrait may not be accurate, and you may not care, but your credibility in the minds of others is largely determined by it.

 

For my comments on the real topic, you'll have to scroll back to the fourth post - just before the discussion got diverted. Shall we return there before the flames melt all our monitors?

 

Worldtraveler

[+worldtraveler]

Reminds me of yesterday's Dilbert desktop calendar comic -

 

Pointy-haired boss at computer calling to secretary: "Carol, Come here! All of my words have squiggles under them!"

 

Carol: "The software is telling you that every sentence you wrote has bad grammar. Press F1 for help and..."(presses F1) "it's a third grade enrollment form."

 

The communication medium here is the written word, and you paint a mental portrait of yourself in the minds of others by the way you use or abuse the medium. The portrait may not be accurate, and you may not care, but your credibility in the minds of others is largely determined by it.

 

For my comments on the real topic, you'll have to scroll back to the fourth post - just before the discussion got diverted. Shall we return there before the flames melt all our monitors?

 

Worldtraveler

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

---

 

You know, I didn't even realize that Dan was from the UK. I almost said "I don't know why so many Americans are so eager..." because I'm usually on the other side of this issue, defending American English against Brits who accuse us of polluting the language!

 

Reminds me of a funny story, every bit as off topic as the rest:

 

During the Clinton administration, John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) was asked in a TV interview what he saw as the major differences between the British and the Americans:

 

His reply:

 

1. We speak English and you don't.

 

2. When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries.

 

3. When you meet the head of state in England, you only have to go down on one knee.

 

ApK

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

---

 

You know, I didn't even realize that Dan was from the UK. I almost said "I don't know why so many Americans are so eager..." because I'm usually on the other side of this issue, defending American English against Brits who accuse us of polluting the language!

 

Reminds me of a funny story, every bit as off topic as the rest:

 

During the Clinton administration, John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) was asked in a TV interview what he saw as the major differences between the British and the Americans:

 

His reply:

 

1. We speak English and you don't.

 

2. When we hold a World Championship for a particular sport, we invite teams from other countries.

 

3. When you meet the head of state in England, you only have to go down on one knee.

 

ApK

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SimonG:

Originally posted by ApK:

 

You mean 'thEIr percEIved right', of course.

Remember the golden rule - 'I before E, except when it isn't.'

---

 

Thank you! "Their" will just never look right to me...I said I TRY to improve my spelling, I didn't say I'd ever succeed.

 

And I thought the rule was "I before E except for February, which has 28 and 29 in leap year."

 

ApK

 

[This message was edited by ApK on September 12, 2002 at 10:49 AM.]

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SimonG:

Originally posted by ApK:

 

You mean 'thEIr percEIved right', of course.

Remember the golden rule - 'I before E, except when it isn't.'

---

 

Thank you! "Their" will just never look right to me...I said I TRY to improve my spelling, I didn't say I'd ever succeed.

 

And I thought the rule was "I before E except for February, which has 28 and 29 in leap year."

 

ApK

 

[This message was edited by ApK on September 12, 2002 at 10:49 AM.]

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

---

 

All right, I have had lunch and had time to regain my composure.

 

Dan, I apologize for my impatience.

 

Geocachers, I apologize for getting so far off subject.

 

Dan,

 

Life is a continuing education process. Geocaching teaches us to be attentive to details such as coordinates and their accuracy or inaccuracy. Posts are a place where geocachers can communicate ideas such as the necessity for accuracy in posted longitude and latitude. To effectively communicate ideas we must strive to reach a certain level of mastering our communication tools.. the language, just as we strive to master the skill of using our GPS tools. When we refuse to learn, to refine and perfect our skills we settle for mediocrity.

 

About your ambassadorship, you represent the geocaching community as well as your countrymen and any other group that you might be identifiable with. Your mastery of the tools that you use reflects on each of these groups.

 

Keep on caching,

 

Ray

[+Trudy & the beast]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

---

 

All right, I have had lunch and had time to regain my composure.

 

Dan, I apologize for my impatience.

 

Geocachers, I apologize for getting so far off subject.

 

Dan,

 

Life is a continuing education process. Geocaching teaches us to be attentive to details such as coordinates and their accuracy or inaccuracy. Posts are a place where geocachers can communicate ideas such as the necessity for accuracy in posted longitude and latitude. To effectively communicate ideas we must strive to reach a certain level of mastering our communication tools.. the language, just as we strive to master the skill of using our GPS tools. When we refuse to learn, to refine and perfect our skills we settle for mediocrity.

 

About your ambassadorship, you represent the geocaching community as well as your countrymen and any other group that you might be identifiable with. Your mastery of the tools that you use reflects on each of these groups.

 

Keep on caching,

 

Ray

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

 

All right, I have had lunch and had time to regain my composure.

 

Dan, I apologize for my impatience.

 

Geocachers, I apologize for getting so far off subject.

 

Dan,

 

Life is a continuing education process. Geocaching teaches us to be attentive to details such as coordinates and their accuracy or inaccuracy. Posts are a place where geocachers can communicate ideas such as the necessity for accuracy in posted longitude and latitude. To effectively communicate ideas we must strive to reach a certain level of mastering our communication tools.. the language, just as we strive to master the skill of using our GPS tools. When we refuse to learn, to refine and perfect our skills we settle for mediocrity.

 

About your ambassadorship, you represent the geocaching community as well as your countrymen and any other group that you might be identifiable with. Your mastery of the tools that you use reflects on each of these groups.

 

Keep on caching,

 

Ray

---

 

Wow...Bravo, Sir! Maybe we can team up your kind and courteous style with my argumentative pseudo-flames and put together a good cop/bad cop routine that will save the English language!

 

Did you happen to see my "attention to detail" post that's somwhere here in another thread?

 

ApK

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

 

All right, I have had lunch and had time to regain my composure.

 

Dan, I apologize for my impatience.

 

Geocachers, I apologize for getting so far off subject.

 

Dan,

 

Life is a continuing education process. Geocaching teaches us to be attentive to details such as coordinates and their accuracy or inaccuracy. Posts are a place where geocachers can communicate ideas such as the necessity for accuracy in posted longitude and latitude. To effectively communicate ideas we must strive to reach a certain level of mastering our communication tools.. the language, just as we strive to master the skill of using our GPS tools. When we refuse to learn, to refine and perfect our skills we settle for mediocrity.

 

About your ambassadorship, you represent the geocaching community as well as your countrymen and any other group that you might be identifiable with. Your mastery of the tools that you use reflects on each of these groups.

 

Keep on caching,

 

Ray

---

 

Wow...Bravo, Sir! Maybe we can team up your kind and courteous style with my argumentative pseudo-flames and put together a good cop/bad cop routine that will save the English language!

 

Did you happen to see my "attention to detail" post that's somwhere here in another thread?

 

ApK

[troutlvr]

"However i think i would take someone correcting my spelling and grammar badly. i know i cant spell very well but aslong as people understand what you are trying to say whats the problem?"

 

The spelling and/or grammar only really become a problem when the meaning is lost or hard to discern. That's why it's important to be as accurate as possible, IMHO. Sorry, but I had to check in on this issue, having grown up in a house where my father was an English teacher.

 

Dan

[BassoonPilot]

So who objected to someone's posting the coordinates of their dictionary, and why?

[+Sissy-n-CR]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ApK:

 

1. We speak English and you don't.

 

ApK

---

 

I recently come across a copy of "Webster's Dictionary of the American Language."

 

As for grammar (note correct spelling this time) and spelling, I've always been of the opinion, in an informal setting like this, it's okay to have misspellings and sometimes odd grammar as long as you are getting point across. I'll even use colloquialisms (hey, I spelt that right on the first try!) like gonna, nuttin', etc. even though the kind wife doesn't like it, but hey, that's the way I talk.

 

Now, in more formal settings, it's a different story. Sissy gets to proofread.

 

[All typographical, grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors are the result of failures of cyberspace to correctly transmit the author's text. The author claims no responsiblity for said errors. Aight?]

[+Planet]

Not to get off the subject here, but how about just e-mailing your new coordinates to the cache hider, so he/she can go re-check for him/her self? Then the cache hider can update the cache as he/she sees fit.

 

I before E except after C and when it sounds like A.

 

Cache you later,

Planet

[azog]

#1 - there's no such thing as a language degenerating. Spelling is a different story. Spelling != language. Find a living language which has not changed in the past 100 years, and you'll find a language on the verge of extinction. You may not like some of the changes, but that does not lessen the complexity of the grammar, regardless of the language at hand (English, on both sides of "the pond").

 

#2 - as for posting coordinates, I don't have a problem. I've found several caches which were wildly off in their coordinates. Not just your margin of error, but like several hundred feet off. I've only hidden two traditional caches, but I'd like to know if I was grossly off, and would fix the posted coordinates in such a case.

 

----------

One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

[BassoonPilot]

quote:

---

Originally posted by azog:

#1 - there's no such thing as a language degenerating. Spelling is a different story. Spelling != language.

---

 

I disagree. English has myriad words with very specific meanings. When the differentiation between these (sometimes subtle) meanings is lost, and the words begin to be used as synonyms, the language has been degraded. Degradation leads directly to degeneration.

 

Now, will you please start a separate "Ask Mr. Language Person" thread.

[BassoonPilot]

quote:

---

Originally posted by azog:

#1 - there's no such thing as a language degenerating. Spelling is a different story. Spelling != language.

---

 

I disagree. English has myriad words with very specific meanings. When the differentiation between these (sometimes subtle) meanings is lost, and the words begin to be used as synonyms, the language has been degraded. Degradation leads directly to degeneration.

 

Now, will you please start a separate "Ask Mr. Language Person" thread.

[azog]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

I disagree. English has myriad words with very specific meanings. When the differentiation between these (sometimes subtle) meanings is lost, and the words begin to be used as synonyms, the language has been degraded. Degradation leads directly to degeneration.

---

 

Then the next question I would have is to define the period in which English existed in it's most purest and uncorrupted form?

 

quote:

---

Now, will you please start a separate "Ask Mr. Language Person" thread.

---

 

I'd love to. But alas, there's no "off topic" room. Historical linguistics is an area of personal study of mine, as well as language change (things like The Great Vowel Shift give me endless hours of occupation).

 

----------

One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

[azog]

quote:

---

Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

I disagree. English has myriad words with very specific meanings. When the differentiation between these (sometimes subtle) meanings is lost, and the words begin to be used as synonyms, the language has been degraded. Degradation leads directly to degeneration.

---

 

Then the next question I would have is to define the period in which English existed in it's most purest and uncorrupted form?

 

quote:

---

Now, will you please start a separate "Ask Mr. Language Person" thread.

---

 

I'd love to. But alas, there's no "off topic" room. Historical linguistics is an area of personal study of mine, as well as language change (things like The Great Vowel Shift give me endless hours of occupation).

 

----------

One banana, two banana, three banana, four.

Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.

[+ApK]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Planet:

 

I before E except after C and when it sounds like A.

 

Planet

---

 

Spelling is such a weird science.

[BassoonPilot]

... too far off topic.

[+ApK]

quote:

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Originally posted by azog:

quote:

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Originally posted by BassoonPilot:

I disagree. English has myriad words with very specific meanings. When the differentiation between these (sometimes subtle) meanings is lost, and the words begin to be used as synonyms, the language has been degraded. Degradation leads directly to degeneration.

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Then the next question I would have is to define the period in which English existed in it's most purest and uncorrupted form?

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You can ask, but the question doesn't need to be answered for degredation to be a fact.

 

If a language changes to become more expressive, more useful, etc, then those changes are a good thing -- an improvement.

 

Neutral changes occur through simple evolution of a living language, it's an historical footnote and fodder for new English books.

 

If a language changes through laziness and ignorance, and the changes result in, as BP said, a loss of subtley, clarity and an increase of ambiguity and confusion, then those changes are a bad thing -- a degradation.

 

It's a relative change, there doesn't need to have been an idealic state at the beginning.

 

ApK

[+Rocky Balboa]

quote:

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Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

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This is pathetic, i can't believe we come here to find lunchboxes and get shouted at because we mix up where our i's and e's go. GROW UP! and quit the racism. Just because you have the idea that english people critisise american peoples english doesn't mean i do, thats very stereotypical and unfair. Next time you find spelling mistakes hold your breath and count to ten, i know they are a terrible sin poluting the world, but there are far more important things to get angry about! oh, and if you can't understand what i'm trying to get across you wont be able to reply to this message either.

 

Dan Wilson - www.Buckscaching.co.uk

[+Rocky Balboa]

quote:

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Originally posted by Trudy & The Beast:

Dan, I think you just tripped my wire... I need to side with ApK.

I checked your web page and found enough errors to make me wonder if you really want the rest of the world to know how ignorant you are. This post convinces me that you do. I find it hard to believe that Americans have to defend the language while a Brit abuses it!

 

Clean it up, you are an ambassador of all those who you represent.

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This is pathetic, i can't believe we come here to find lunchboxes and get shouted at because we mix up where our i's and e's go. GROW UP! and quit the racism. Just because you have the idea that english people critisise american peoples english doesn't mean i do, thats very stereotypical and unfair. Next time you find spelling mistakes hold your breath and count to ten, i know they are a terrible sin poluting the world, but there are far more important things to get angry about! oh, and if you can't understand what i'm trying to get across you wont be able to reply to this message either.

 

Dan Wilson - www.Buckscaching.co.uk

[+ApK]

I have created a seperate SPELLING and GRAMMAR thread.

 

Follow if you dare.

 

ApK