Rune Allnor wrote:> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> wrote in message news:<41572112$0$4039$61fed72c@news.rcn.com>... > >>Martin Blume wrote: >> >> ... >> >> >>>>Where can I get one 'ocular' as in 'binoculars'? >>> >>>Ehhm, what are these things called Admiral Nelson had when he >>>looked out for the French fleet? Monooculars? >> >>You mean those contraptions of nesting brass tubes that (ahem) telescope >>for storage? > > > That's another word I never understood. What does "scope" in > "Telescope" refer to? Visual aid (as in oscilloscope, microscope) > or "extension", i.e how one operated the early versions? Does "telescope" > refer to operateion, so that any later conjunctions between '-scope' > and 'visual aide' are derived from the 'telescope'? The name should, > ideally, refer to function, what the thing helps you do. One "sees far" > with it, hence it should be named "television", shouldn't it? > > >>The things we call monoculars don't do that. > > > Right, that one slipped my mind. The Norwegian 'monokkel' refers to > the one-glass spectacles that mostly are seen in charicature cartoons > of 19th-century gentlemen. 'Lorgnett' is another word that is (was) > used for the same thing; I guess it has some French origin. > > RuneThe root "scope" is from Greek "skopien", to view. The scope of a problem is all there is to be seen of it. The Episcopal Church is governed by a group of episcopes, or overseers. (Isn't it odd that "oversee" and "overlook" are nearly antonyms?) An oscilloscope allows one to see oscillations. A telescope allows one to see objects at a distance. Television, with the vision part derived from Latin and the tele part from Greek means the same thing, but is applied to a different use. (Mixing Greek and Latin roots in the same word is considered an abomination by fuddy-duddy linguists.) A monocle is usually held in place by the muscles and flesh around the eye socket. A lorgnette has a handle. Ladies use it so as not to scrunch up their faces. The thought is that they don't need their hands free anyway. Jerry -- ... they proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, ... and that therefor ... they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one ... A. H. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Plural Hertz.
Started by ●September 26, 2004
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Rune Allnor wrote: ...> Which reminds me, is 'data' singular or plural?Plural. And don't you forget it! :-) Jerry -- ... they proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, ... and that therefor ... they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one ... A. H. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
"Rune Allnor" <allnor@tele.ntnu.no> wrote in message news:f56893ae.0409262342.60ebedab@posting.google.com...> > Which reminds me, is 'data' singular or plural? >Rune, Data - plural Datum - singular Now a confusing difference between American and Imperial English is the treatment of collective nouns. American English treats collective nouns as singular, so we would say "The data is ....." And the other guys will say "The data are ......" Clay
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Clay Turner wrote:> A monocle as you have stated is for correcting bad vision where only one eye > has a problem. A famous (in American TV) character with a moncle was Colonel > Clink portrayed by Werner Klemperer. The folowing link has some pictures. > Scroll down the page and you will see his monocle. He even showed up on the > cartoon show the Simpsons.This is a good one!!! bye, -- Piergiorgio Sartor
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Jerry Avins wrote:>> Which reminds me, is 'data' singular or plural? > > > Plural. And don't you forget it! :-)BTW, also "people" is plural, isn't it? bye, -- Piergiorgio Sartor
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Rune Allnor wrote:> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> wrote in message news:<41571f1f$0$4044$61fed72c@news.rcn.com>... > >>Rune Allnor wrote: >> >> >>>Jerry Avins wrote: > > >>>>>If 7 troops is the same as 7 soldiers, why can't we write of 1 troop? >>> >>> >>>I've always been confused 'bout that one. I norwegian, "1 tropp" >>>is what the English would designate "1 platoon". It could be >>>that some ancient etymology is involved? >> >>Not ancient. Modern news-reporter PC speak. A group of Boy Scouts is a >>Troop. "Soldier" is specifically army and implicitly male. "Troops" was >>adopted as an inclusive term. The inherent idiocy of that use is >>revealed by the singular. > > > Yes, I know. I meant the root of the word 'troop/tropp/trupp' might > be found in ancient times. Scouts are military-inspired, right? Didn't > Baden-Powell use the scout movement as some sort of bre-boot camp > preparation of soon-to-be military recruits? On the other hand, > at least in the Scandinavian languages, a 'trupp' (slightly different > from the military 'tropp') refers to teams of e.g. circus artists, > like acrobates. The word seems to refer to a small group of people who > are trained to cooperate to do difficult things. Or they are just > 'scandinavifications' of other languages' uses of the term.In English too, only we spell it "troupe". To wander on foot is to go trooping around.>>>What should you always have over your car? >> >>What? > > > 'Control'. Persistent rumours indicate that this question (it works in > Norwegian, I don't know if the preposition 'over' is correct in > English), formulated exactly as above, was given during an examination > for the driver's licence some time during the 1960ies. I haven't been > able to find confirmations, though.That's a damnable trick question if the answer counts for something. A fire engine is allowed to break any traffic law if that is necessary for fighting a fire (and safe for bystanders). A question on an exam for fire lieutenant: "What piece of fire apparatus can't go the wrong way on a one-way street?" Someone who answered "A fire boat" was marked wrong. Book answer: "None." He sued and got his lieutenancy. The court ruled that the difference between "can" and "may" made the applicant's answer the only correct one. Jerry -- ... they proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, ... and that therefor ... they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one ... A. H. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Jerry Avins wrote:> That's a damnable trick question if the answer counts for something. A > fire engine is allowed to break any traffic law if that is necessary for > fighting a fire (and safe for bystanders). A question on an exam for > fire lieutenant: "What piece of fire apparatus can't go the wrong way on > a one-way street?" Someone who answered "A fire boat" was marked wrong. > Book answer: "None." He sued and got his lieutenancy. The court ruled > that the difference between "can" and "may" made the applicant's answer > the only correct one.I'm always astonished by this kind of exam questions. I mean, the answer given is not wrong, it's only different from the expected one and shows how stupid was who made the question... :-) Once there was a lazy professor of history, which gave, as question for an exam, the following: "State a question for this course and answer it". Now, a good answer would be to write an twice the same sentence. Would it really be? bye, -- Piergiorgio Sartor
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
<snip>> > Which reminds me, is 'data' singular or plural? > >I was always taught that Data was plural, straight from the latin, the singular being datum. We can now have great transatlantic arguments about the plurals of :- Forum -> Fora Referendum -> Referenda S-V
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Piergiorgio Sartor wrote:> Jerry Avins wrote: > >>> Which reminds me, is 'data' singular or plural? >> >> >> >> Plural. And don't you forget it! :-) > > > BTW, also "people" is plural, isn't it? > > bye,Yes and no. When referring to a collection of individuals, yes. When referring to an ethnic group, "a people" is OK and gives rise to "peoples". "Fish" is both singular and plural foe any one species, but "fishes" is properly used to denote more than one species. Jerry -- ... they proceeded on the sound principle that the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, ... and that therefor ... they more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one ... A. H. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●September 27, 20042004-09-27
Jerry Avins wrote:> Rune Allnor wrote: > >> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> wrote in message >> news:<41572112$0$4039$61fed72c@news.rcn.com>... >> >>> Martin Blume wrote: >>> >>> ... >>> >>> >>>>> Where can I get one 'ocular' as in 'binoculars'? >>>> >>>> >>>> Ehhm, what are these things called Admiral Nelson had when he looked >>>> out for the French fleet? Monooculars? >>> >>> >>> You mean those contraptions of nesting brass tubes that (ahem) >>> telescope for storage? >> >> >> >> That's another word I never understood. What does "scope" in >> "Telescope" refer to? Visual aid (as in oscilloscope, microscope) >> or "extension", i.e how one operated the early versions? Does >> "telescope" refer to operateion, so that any later conjunctions >> between '-scope' and 'visual aide' are derived from the 'telescope'? >> The name should, ideally, refer to function, what the thing helps you >> do. One "sees far" with it, hence it should be named "television", >> shouldn't it? >> >> >>> The things we call monoculars don't do that. >> >> >> >> Right, that one slipped my mind. The Norwegian 'monokkel' refers to >> the one-glass spectacles that mostly are seen in charicature cartoons >> of 19th-century gentlemen. 'Lorgnett' is another word that is (was) >> used for the same thing; I guess it has some French origin. >> >> Rune > > > The root "scope" is from Greek "skopien", to view. The scope of a > problem is all there is to be seen of it. The Episcopal Church is > governed by a group of episcopes, or overseers. (Isn't it odd that > "oversee" and "overlook" are nearly antonyms?) An oscilloscope allows > one to see oscillations. A telescope allows one to see objects at a > distance. Television, with the vision part derived from Latin and the > tele part from Greek means the same thing, but is applied to a different > use. (Mixing Greek and Latin roots in the same word is considered an > abomination by fuddy-duddy linguists.) > > A monocle is usually held in place by the muscles and flesh around the > eye socket. A lorgnette has a handle. Ladies use it so as not to scrunch > up their faces. The thought is that they don't need their hands free > anyway. > > JerryLorgnettes can be for one or two eyes. See www.ibelgique.ifrance.com/photocam/3dview.htm and www.oneofakindantiques.com/catalog/2693_antique_14_karat_gold_lorgnette_1.htm
