What is this trend?

Bobinwales · Post by **Bobinwales** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:07 pm

Avalanches typically follow heavy snowfall

"...anytime there is just too much snow"--National Weather Service

When Dale posted this, I commented on the way that "any time" had become one word. Nobody shared their thoughts then, so I have decided to start a thread, and ask why are perfectly good words being portmanteaued?

(And I reckon that word is going to start an argument as well!)

gdwdwrkr · Post by **gdwdwrkr** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:22 pm

Yeah, whatever happened to separate words!?

dalehileman · Post by **dalehileman** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 5:34 pm

Good q. (1) When I asked Laverne, who is much smarter than I, she replied, "It's just two words that seem to go together"

(2) To minimize keystrokes. In sexual intercourse, naturally, one may wish to prolong the experience. However...

...you will soon achieve 1500 posts, and if you could have avoided only three keystrokes in each one, that's 4500 strokes at this site alone....while it's reasonable to assume from your fecundity (no pun) that you must participate in at least 10 other such, that's 45000 strokes...

russcable · Post by **russcable** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:28 pm

We have a "proper" one-word adverb meaning "at any place" - it's anywhere. We have anyhow and anyway for a random manner, anyone for a random person, anything for a random object,... It seems there even used to be an anywhither (toward a random direction).
Seems like a foolish INconsistency if we don't allow an anytime, anywhen, or anynow, doesn't it?

dalehileman · Post by **dalehileman** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:38 pm

russ, well put. I'm sure it's exactly what Laverne had meant

Erik_Kowal · Post by **Erik_Kowal** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 6:56 pm

But language is inconsistent, just like the people who create it and keep it alive. That's probably why we find it both fascinating and annoying.

Dale, would you mind not telling us any more how much smarter Laverne is than you? We get it by now.

dalehileman · Post by **dalehileman** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:03 pm

But otherwise she gets so little recognition for her herculean efforts on our behalf. Alas, I cannot now accord this deserved accolade without first reading the entire thread to determine unequivocally whether any of its posters are newcomers

Alas, how all the rules, protocol, admonitions, conventions, and punctilio get excessively burdensome; but hereafter I shall endeavour to diligently tow the line

Erik_Kowal · Post by **Erik_Kowal** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 6:48 am

I don't wish to be disagreeable, but we'd be a lot more interested in knowing about Laverne if she made her own contributions to the site, under her own name. Then we could decide for ourselves just how smart she actually is.

FYI, there are currently 18 threads in which you have extolled Laverne's superior smartness. I'd say that was more than adequate!

Bobinwales · Post by **Bobinwales** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 9:47 am

I don’t think that keystrokes come into it Dale, or I would also use American spellings, which always seem to me to be dedicated to your cause. Or otherwise I wud b ritin like this b4 long.

I grudgingly agree that the living language argument is probably the reason. I just hope they make allowances for dinosaurs.

Incidentally Dale you wrote, “tow the line”, I would have said, “toe the line” was this a typo, or is this a usage of which I am unaware?

dalehileman · Post by **dalehileman** » Tue Jan 29, 2008 4:50 pm

Bob: You're quite right

http://grammartips.homestead.com/toetheline.html

Incidentally someone dear and of superior discernment who nonetheless demurs from the strictly academic and deplores my participation in forums but whom I dare not identify for rasons of Umbrage and Conformity, agrees (do I count this as no. 19

It's not everyday I learn something and so, many thanks.
In my own defense "tow" gets almost one-third as many Ghits as "toe"

Wizard of Oz · Post by **Wizard of Oz** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:22 am

.. dale, gentleman Bob gave you the out with /e/ and /w/ being adjacent on the keyboard .. but I say screw Erik and keep letting us know about Laverne .. provided of course that she does give you permission ..

WoZ

Tony Farg · Post by **Tony Farg** » Wed Jan 30, 2008 8:29 am

Yeah. I want to know more too!