Stupid Guest Tricks

Zazu wrote:This is an issue my grandfather fought his entire professional career. Given that he was in charge of safety for a major west cost refiner, you'd think that a single memo would have been enough to prevent gasoline tankers from being marked Inflammable but he tagged about one a month to go get repainted before he'd let them out on the road. Even going to the paint shop and demanding all of the stencils failed to do the job.

He never actually got the authority to fire anyone over it, but every time somebody groused to his boss, he was backed to the hilt.

Today, 40 years after his death, this battle is still being waged, this time with dictionary editors chiming in on both sides.

Nobody reads anymore. <sigh>

I think the contradiction came from a mistaken misspelling. Enflame is to set something on fire. So Enflameable would be the ability for something to be set on fire. But with many english words, the word or phrase came into use verbally well before it was written. So enflamable became inflameable and then inflammable.

JMHO

Randy

Wanted...........

Someone to clean the living room by tonite. Will pay you very well in left over birthday cake tomorrow evening. No need to do windows but doing dishes is a plus in this position. Anyone who is interested in the position leave me a PM with your coordinates and I will beam you right over.

vixen101485 wrote:Wanted...........

Someone to clean the living room by tonite. Will pay you very well in left over birthday cake tomorrow evening. No need to do windows but doing dishes is a plus in this position. Anyone who is interested in the position leave me a PM with your coordinates and I will beam you right over.

Wouldn't it be easier to go to the local builders supply and get several packages of painters plastic drop cloths and several rolls of tape? Just cover every surface of the floor, walls, and ceiling with plastic. Not only will the plastic make cleanup easier but will obscure any pre-existing imperfections. :D:

Randy

I've had the same problem with Valuable and Invaluable. They mean the Same Thing... so dumb..

Tara_Lee3 wrote:I've had the same problem with Valuable and Invaluable. They mean the Same Thing... so dumb..

That one's easy. Valuable is something that a value can be placed on (generally of high value). But Invaluable is something that you can not put a value to (as in impossible to put a value to because of extreme rarity). So tho they are opposite (able to value vs not able to value) the result is similar. It is just the degree of value that makes the difference.

Again JMHO.

I have made a hobby out of studying words and word origins and like to speculate on the origins of some of the more odd words and phrases in common "american" english. :D:

Randy

breakfast time :D:

Randy B wrote:That one's easy. Valuable is something that a value can be placed on (generally of high value). But Invaluable is something that you can not put a value to (as in impossible to put a value to because of extreme rarity). So tho they are opposite (able to value vs not able to value) the result is similar. It is just the degree of value that makes the difference.

Again JMHO.

I have made a hobby out of studying words and word origins and like to speculate on the origins of some of the more odd words and phrases in common "american" english. :D:

Randy

I love etymology myself. I took several classes many moons ago in college. I was of course, an ENGLISH major! I love words, and one course I took was actually called "Words! Words! Words!". :D: It was taught by a very passionate English Professor who loved language and words. Needless to say, it was one of the most animated English courses I have ever taken and I learned so much! It ignited a passion in me to continue to look up words I did not know and to always enlarge my vocabulary.

To this day, one of my favorite *games* is *Dictionary*, where at least two people have a dictionary and one opens it up and gives the other an uncommon word and three tries to guess it's meaning. If the other person guesses, it is their turn. If not, the original person continues on until the other guesses. Ralph and I like to play Dictionary often! It really does increase the words in your vocabulary and makes your mind work so you are getting great mental exercise!

I also had a great love for Olde English and wanted to go to Berkeley to study the lost languages. Life took me in a different direction when I discovered Radio Broadcasting and I made a career out of that! I still would love to study the *lost* languages such as Olde English and Latin. I am fascinated by words and their origins. The English language is made up of so many other languages and to find the roots of it, takes you all over what is now known as Europe, but was a much different world when language was *exported* in a sense. So much of our language comes from Germanic roots, but we also see much of the French language, as well as Greek and Latinate roots.

Words are always changing and the language comes to suit the society. It is interesting to pick up a dictionary from the 1950's or 1960's and compare it with today's most current editions! It is amazing how language morphs and words change meaning over time and with individual societal groups. Ir is such fun to go through a dictionary!!!! It is also why I am sad in many ways that more and more of our young people speak in *text* or computerese *acronyms*. It is sad to see the ever widening gap between teaching computer more often in schools and less and less reading actual books.

If I were a professor, I would insist that my students use the LIBRARY and look up information in BOOKS to do reports, rather than logging on and finding a site to get all the info they need.

Sad that so many don't even know who Mark Twain is anymore. Many kids could not relate to Tom Sawyer's Island, they had no idea who he was! Very sad indeed! :(
I swear Randy, we are sister and brother of two different mothers. :)
sues

susislicker wrote:I love etymology myself. I took several classes many moons ago in college. I was of course, an ENGLISH major! I love words, and one course I took was actually called "Words! Words! Words!". :D: It was taught by a very passionate English Professor who loved language and words. Needless to say, it was one of the most animated English courses I have ever taken and I learned so much! It ignited a passion in me to continue to look up words I did not know and to always enlarge my vocabulary.

To this day, one of my favorite *games* is *Dictionary*, where at least two people have a dictionary and one opens it up and gives the other an uncommon word and three tries to guess it's meaning. If the other person guesses, it is their turn. If not, the original person continues on until the other guesses. Ralph and I like to play Dictionary often! It really does increase the words in your vocabulary and makes your mind work so you are getting great mental exercise!

I also had a great love for Olde English and wanted to go to Berkeley to study the lost languages. Life took me in a different direction when I discovered Radio Broadcasting and I made a career out of that! I still would love to study the *lost* languages such as Olde English and Latin. I am fascinated by words and their origins. The English language is made up of so many other languages and to find the roots of it, takes you all over what is now known as Europe, but was a much different world when language was *exported* in a sense. So much of our language comes from Germanic roots, but we also see much of the French language, as well as Greek and Latinate roots.

Words are always changing and the language comes to suit the society. It is interesting to pick up a dictionary from the 1950's or 1960's and compare it with today's most current editions! It is amazing how language morphs and words change meaning over time and with individual societal groups. Ir is such fun to go through a dictionary!!!! It is also why I am sad in many ways that more and more of our young people speak in *text* or computerese *acronyms*. It is sad to see the ever widening gap between teaching computer more often in schools and less and less reading actual books.

If I were a professor, I would insist that my students use the LIBRARY and look up information in BOOKS to do reports, rather than logging on and finding a site to get all the info they need.

Sad that so many don't even know who Mark Twain is anymore. Many kids could not relate to Tom Sawyer's Island, they had no idea who he was! Very sad indeed! :(
I swear Randy, we are sister and brother of two different mothers. :)
sues

When I assign term papers, my students are not allowed to use any on-line references, and the only internet subject must be about the producer of the software, if that is the subject of the paper.

Now, that Dictionary game sounds like good fun. I love an ever-augmenting vocabulary, though it has slowed down for me in recent years.

Hmm...

Big Wallaby wrote:Now, that Dictionary game sounds like good fun. I love an ever-augmenting vocabulary, though it has slowed down for me in recent years.

Hmm...

So are you saying that you prefer augmentation? :p: