tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post3212268741564473977..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: Book week: Word Drops; But can I start...lynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-4616639256559679112016-06-07T20:42:46.624+01:002016-06-07T20:42:46.624+01:00Lynne: your reference to "a certain small roo...Lynne: your reference to "a certain small room" reminds me of a famous response once written to a negative review:<br /><br /><i>I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me!</i><br /><br />According to Wikipedia, it turns out this response was originally written in German by a composer and music educator named <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Reger" rel="nofollow">Max Reger</a> (1873-1916).<br /><br />Memorable, no?Dick Hartzellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07065924271517452841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-48140674028750903842016-06-07T16:46:23.907+01:002016-06-07T16:46:23.907+01:00I'm curious to see "alphabeti{s/z}e"...I'm curious to see "alphabeti{s/z}e" carefully marked up in its variant forms. I have never knowingly come across alphabetise in BrE - I would use 'put in alphabetic order' or 'sort alphabetically'. And it turns out that I am both right and wrong: according to Ngram,there is BrE usage of the verb, though AmE usage is more than four times greater. But in both the BrE and AmE corpuses, 'alphabetize' is strongly dominant, and 'alphabetise' is vanishingly rare - barely over 10% of occurrences even in the BrE corpus.<br /><br />So the spelling is a very weak marker of difference in this instance - which doesn't stop 'alphabetize' sounding infelicitous to my ear, whether or not there is any rational justification for it.<br /><br />mareknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-58758040729386978512016-06-07T16:30:10.489+01:002016-06-07T16:30:10.489+01:00The interrobang was also discussed on QI, in some ...The interrobang was also discussed on QI, in some episode or other.<br /><br />I first learned about it when I was about ten years old, in an article in Children's Digest. I loved the idea and kept waiting for interrobangs to hit the mainstream.Robbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817438530048331339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-57961038552252772472016-06-07T00:48:21.924+01:002016-06-07T00:48:21.924+01:00Zouk
Yes, thanks. I knew I'd recently heard ...Zouk<br /><br />Yes, thanks. I knew I'd recently heard an explanation of the <b> name </b><i> interrobang </i>, but I couldn't remember where.<br /><br />Sure enough Keith Houston discusses it twice — the second time in the context of <b>marking irony</b>. However neither time does he deal with the <i>inverted interrobang</i>. What he does discuss is an <i>inverted exclamation mark</i>.<br /><br />I resorted to googling, and discovered that my guess was right: the symbol was invented and Unicoded to allow Spanish-language bloggers to introduce ironic/surprised questions.<br /><br />The Wikipedia section of the <b>Interrobang</b> entry illustrates the simplicity an inverted symbol adds to a <b> querying exclamation/exclamative question</b>.<br /><br />⸘Verdad‽ (Really‽) <br /><br />may replace earlier efforts:<br /><br />¿¡Verdad!?<br />¡¿Verdad?!<br />¿Verdad!<br />¡Verdad?David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-7942225973484769272016-06-06T21:20:28.489+01:002016-06-06T21:20:28.489+01:00David
The interrobang, right and inverted, was d...David<br /><br />The interrobang, right and inverted, was discussed in the recent BBC Radio4 <i>Word of Mouth</i> episode, <i><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07bzdbz" rel="nofollow">Punctuation</a></i>. (Content may be unavailable or behind paywall outside the UK).Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-30872264586018710112016-06-06T21:12:42.310+01:002016-06-06T21:12:42.310+01:00In this inter-connected world, UK editors need CMo...In this inter-connected world, UK editors need CMoS as well, for when we are editing US English.Joannanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-65979777215282154522016-06-06T20:55:43.437+01:002016-06-06T20:55:43.437+01:00Oops! Sorry, Lynne. I plead super-praeternatural l...Oops! Sorry, Lynne. I plead super-praeternatural laziness (too lazy even to look up preternatural).<br /><br />Thanks for the link and may I also wish you a belated blogiversary (I reckon I can still spell that one however I wish).Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-73371992373481611802016-06-06T20:50:00.626+01:002016-06-06T20:50:00.626+01:00Lynne, surely, Zouk?!?!?!?!?!
When even Oxford dr...Lynne, surely, Zouk?!?!?!?!?!<br /><br />When even Oxford drops the 'a', I don't bother with it, but<br /><a href="http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/ae-oe-and-e.html" rel="nofollow">here's my old post about æ</a>.lynneguisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-13577362937056556762016-06-06T20:30:29.850+01:002016-06-06T20:30:29.850+01:00Praeternaturally, surely, Lynn?!
For more about t...Praeternaturally, surely, Lynn?!<br /><br />For more about that longing we have no name for (and how to express it in song) see <a href="http://idiotic-hat.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/saudade.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>.Zouk Delorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07983226210415857258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-68990494339114372942016-06-06T16:03:35.929+01:002016-06-06T16:03:35.929+01:00David Crystal makes a good case in Making a Point....David Crystal makes a good case in <b>Making a Point.</b><br /><br /><i> One of the main indications of the ambiguity surrounding the use of the exclamation mark is its overlap with the question mark. It's an ambiguity within grammar as well as punctuation, and in speech as well as writing, reflected in such sentences as 'Are you asking or telling me? Sometimes the answer is 'both'; a person can query and be surprised at the same time.</i><br /><br />Apparently copy editors have used both <b>?!</b> and <b>!?</b>, leading one Martin K Specker to invent the <i>interrobang</i><br />‽<br />I looked this up in my Mac character viewer and discovered that loads of fonts include the character. So it should should show up in this posting. If not, imagine of the top parts of a question mark and an exclamation mark sharing the same lower dot.<br /><br />It's UNICODE 203D and has a relation which David Crystal doesn't consider: the <b>inverted interrobang</b><br />UNICODE 2E18<br />⸘<br />Far fewer fonts include this character, so it may not show up. In that case, just imagine an interrobang turned upside down.<br /><br />I presume this was invented for Spanish language users. Unless it has some esoteric value known only to internet geeks.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-18435188984223590762016-06-06T14:58:08.415+01:002016-06-06T14:58:08.415+01:00Only when physically assaulted when writing?! That...Only when physically assaulted when writing?! That's just wrong!<br /><br />(And there I've used up two of my lifetime quota of eight exclamation points. Do you see what you've done to me?!)<br /><br />And the humorless response is that it's clear that the CMoS (not to be confused with CMOS, btw) does not apply to chess writing.Doug Sundsethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12416285410276713188noreply@blogger.com