HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: prener@watson.ibm.com (Dan Prener)
Subject: Re: Adjective needed for the following scene.
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 05:03:12 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Hawthorne, New York

In article <1992Oct06.205057.128466@watson.ibm.com> yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo) writes:

>Describe the following scene with a one word adjective:
>==========
>You are riding your bicycle along a country dirt road and up ahead you
>see the massive concrete pillars  and steel girders of a interstate highway
>bridge. At that moment, enormous tractor-trailers are passing overhead.  
>The stench and the roar of the highway is overwhelming.

>Then, suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you notice cattle peacefully
>grazing in a meadow not too far from the road.
>===========

>You want a word that describes the rider's bewilderment at the striking
>contrast of the peaceful nature scene juxtaposed with the tumult of the
>industrial age.

>Some of the words that I am considering are: anachronous, paradoxical,
>contradictory.

>Can someone come up with a better word to describe the situation?

"jarring"?

One of the definitions of "jar" as an intransitive verb has something to do
with being out of harmony.

I think that "anachronous" would be a bit misleading, since the bucolic
portion of the scene isn't really of a different time from the industrial
part, even though it might be considered more typical of a different time.
--
                                   Dan Prener (prener@watson.ibm.com)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Bee sting or Bee bite?
From: thayes@desire.wright.edu
Date: 3 Oct 92 16:05:17 EST
Organization: Wright State University 




> Yes, to bite involves teeth, mouth parts, mandible or something of that sort,
> certainly not something attached to the bum.

I don't know about that -- it gives the lyric "Jack Frost nipping 
at your nose" a whole new twist!

> Hmm, "Serpent, where is thy sting?"

"Death," too?

-----ted hayes
From: miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Miscellaneous items
Date: 1 Oct 92 12:13:42 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

In article <1992Sep30.134456.7138@mcnc.org>, key@mcnc.org (Kathy E. Yount) writes:
> 
> 1.  According to the McGraw_Hill College Handbook, foreign
>     words should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
>     Raison d'etre is specifically cited as being pretentious.
>     You should probably consider whether or not your audience
>     will know its meaning before using it.

Note that the advice is (presumably) for college students.  In general
it makes sense to me to refrain from using a foreign word or
expression if an English one will do as well, as in the case of
"raison d'etre."  But there are plenty of useful words that have not
yet been fully nativized for which there is no English equivalent,
such as "genre" or "faux pas."  I don't think these are pretentions,
but they are a bit of a problem because a speaker is never sure just
how good an approximation of the French pronunciation he should be
able to come up with.

I also don't think it's *always* a bad idea to send your reader to the
dictionary.  If Spenser or Lamb had followed that principle, they
wouldn't be nearly as much fun as they are.  We also might ask: what's
the point of acquiring a rich vocabulary if we aren't ever supposed
to use any of it?

[...]

> 3.  I keep seeing "IMHO" in postings to this newsgroup.  What
>     does that mean?

In my humble opinion.
	(Q: How is one's opinion like one's home?
	A: Be it ever so humble, there's nothing like it.)

-Ken
From: cen@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: uk slang dictionary
Date: 28 Sep 92 23:48:02 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

>   The "bible" is Eric Partridge's _The Dictionary of Slang and
>   Unconventional English_, originally published in 1937.  Revised
>   and enlarged editions came out over the years, the last in 1961. A
>   version abridged by Jaqueline Simpson, _The Penguin Dictionary of
>   Historical Slang_, was published in 1972 with frequent reprints
>   since then. My edition is from 1986: ISBN 0-14-051046-X.

Well, I don't use a "bible". I prefer a fun reference manual, and I plump
for Jonathon (-an?) Green's _Dictionary of Slang_.

Tanaqui
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: steven@syacus.acus.oz.au (Steven Malikoff)
Subject: Re: log in to vs. log into
Organization: ACUS Australian Centre for Unisys Software, Sydney
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 00:06:19 GMT

koepp@cc1.unt.edu (Cynthia Koepp - Computing Center) writes:
: Hi. This is my first posting to your group.
                                  ^^^^^^^^^^
It's anarchistic. You can be as infuential as anyone else, if you so wish.
:  Does one "log into" a computer or "log in to" a computer? I had always gone 
:  with the latter, but now I am not so sure.
:  Thanks for any insight.
:  Cynthia Koepp

I guess it depends what sort of system you use - Unix just about always
uses 'login', while PICK users may prefer to 'LOGON'. I tend to use 'log
in' to a computer. (And if I want to save a session when I'm on my home PC
and modem, I'd say 'Log: ON' :-) :-) )

Steve Malikoff.
steven@syacus.acus.oz.au
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader)
Subject: Re: seconded
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, Canada
Distribution: alt
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 22:26:28 GMT

> Can someone tell me how the word 'seconded' is pronounced?  I'm thinking
> of its use in sentences like: Major Smythe-Jones was seconded to the
> Royal Fusiliers. ...  I thought it prudent to check with the net.

I think it rude and imprudent to check with the net something that you
could as easily check in a dictionary.  Please read the articles regularly
posted to news.announce.newusers.

However, it turns out that in this case it was lucky to do so.

See, I recently proofread for the rec.puzzles FAQ list a list of words
which sometimes or always have different pronunciations, but the same
spelling, for different meanings, and this is one of them.  I looked
up some of the words in as many as three dictionaries (Random House,
"Webster's" New World, Chambers).  It turns out that in this case the
latter two agree that seCONDed is right, while Random House claims
SEConded.

In doing this proofing, I noticed the following.  There are a number of
words of two syllables where the accent shifts from the first to the
second syllable when the word is used as a verb, such as "record" and
"present".  This shift is *more* likely to occur in British usage than
in American usage; for example, at least one of the dictionaries mentioned
conTACT as one British pronunciation of the verb, whereas it's CONtact
in American usage for both noun and verb.  Now, the cited meaning of
"seconded" is as a verb and is principally British; I would expect that
it's always "seCONDed" there, but that at least some Americans who do
use it say "SEConded", as recorded in the Random House.
-- 
Mark Brader		   "... there is no such word as 'impossible' in
SoftQuad Inc., Toronto	    my dictionary.  In fact, everything between
utzoo!sq!msb		  'herring' and 'marmalade' appears to be missing."
msb@sq.com	    -- Douglas Adams:  Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

This article is in the public domain.
From: shakib.otaqui@almac.co.uk
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: uk slang dictionary
Date: 27 Sep 92 12:01:55 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: ALMAC BBS Ltd

AL>   Over the years, I have enjoyed and learned from _Dictionary
  >   of American Slang_, compiled by Wentworth and Flexner
  >   (Thomas Y. Crowell Company: New York, 1975--probably more recent
  >   editions).  I would appreciate any recommendations of
  >   a good UK English counterpart, not necessarily limited to
  >   usage in the British Isles proper.

AL>   Would anyone care to venture a title or two?

  The "bible" is Eric Partridge's _The Dictionary of Slang and
  Unconventional English_, originally published in 1937.  Revised
  and enlarged editions came out over the years, the last in 1961. A
  version abridged by Jaqueline Simpson, _The Penguin Dictionary of
  Historical Slang_, was published in 1972 with frequent reprints
  since then. My edition is from 1986: ISBN 0-14-051046-X.

  Shakib


---
 ~ PQ 2.15 189 ~ Internet: shakib.otaqui@almac.co.uk
--
ALMAC BBS Ltd. 0324-665371
Dos based USENET access,  call for details!
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: Nico Tranquilli
Subject: nasty words
X-Xxmessage-Id: <A716EBFF86010B1C@mac3.di.unipi.it>
X-Xxdate: Fri, 30 Oct 92 17: 41:19 GMT
Organization: Dipartimento di Informatica, Universita' di Pisa
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d9
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 12:11:03 GMT

I would like to be more active on alt.sex, but infortunately I've a very
limited dictionary. Can anyone post a list of dirty words ?
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: roger@crux.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Subject: Re: What is a sheeny?
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig)
Organization: Princeton University
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 18:02:18 GMT

In article <27691@nntp_server.ems.cdc.com> rhemler@ems.cdc.com writes:

>	Twice in the past week I heard the word "sheeny" (sp?).

That's the usual spelling.

>	I couldn't find the word in my dictionary.  The first person
>	using it was calling himself a sheeny because of his great
>	skill at bartering and deal-making.  (You can get 15,000 fish
>	hooks from him if you have something good to trade.)  The 

Well, unless he's Jewish and being ironic, he's being a jerk.  It's
an offensive term, equating 
 (in his case) Jewishness and its supposed negative attributes with
innate business acumen (hooked nose to smell money with and all that).

>	second reference was on Minnesota Public Radio in a story
>	about anti-Semitism in Minneapolis.  "Sheeny" was used as an 
>	insulting name for a Jewish person.  If you know more about
>	this word, I'd love to hear it.  Thanks.

Sounds like the same thing both times.  It may come from the Yiddish
expression "A shayner Yid" (with 'Yid' pronounced to rhyme with 'feed');
this is a compliment one Jew would pay another, meaning, "a good/nice/
beautiful Jew."  However, the abstraction of "sheeny" from that has
always been used as an insult of the same type as "kike," "mocky,"
"yid" (rhymes with kid), etc.

Roger (a shayner Yid, or so they tell me...)
>
>	Bob Hemler


Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: andrew@utopia.resntl.bhp.com.au (Andrew Lewis)
Subject: Re: log in to vs. log into
Organization: BHP Research - Newcastle Laboratories
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 02:50:31 GMT

In article <1992Sep28.214526.7945@morrow.stanford.edu>, liza@pangea.Stanford.EDU (Liza Miller) writes:
|> In article <1a7q5lINN43m@bigboote.WPI.EDU> padutton@wpi.WPI.EDU (Peter Alan Dutton) writes:
|> >In article <koepp.6.717699787@cc1.unt.edu> koepp@cc1.unt.edu (Cynthia Koepp - Computing Center) writes:
|> >
|> >>Does one "log into" a computer or "log in to" a computer? I had always gone 
|> >>with the latter, but now I am not so sure.
|> >
|> >I always "log on to" a computer. Sorry to put another choice in there for
|> >you...
|> 
|> 	Or you could "login to" or "logon to" a computer, perhaps, since my
|> computer asks me to "logoff" and others ask me to "logout".
|> 
I tend to go with "log in" as you are making an entry in a log of who has accessed
the system. This gets fused with the idea of "entering" and "leaving" a
computer system so the "entry" feeling of "log in" still appeals. Confusion
arises from idiomatic phrases such as "I am on node XYZ" but perhaps
we can keep this separate from the act of "log-in".

To accommodate such phrases as "I logged in at 9 am" the compound verb "log in"
appears intransitive so a preposition must be used when associated with an object.
Hence, "log in to" or "log in on" a computer, "log in at" a site, "log in under" a
username etc. I think it is still a compound verb, not the fused "login" or 
"log-in" (though these terms may be used in a nominal sense to describe the act)
as I have yet to hear anyone familiar with the jargon say "I loginned to XYZ".

Why not "log into"? This would give an alternative, intransitive meaning to the
transitive verb "log" and flies in the face of constructions shown above ("I
logged at 9am"? Sounds like a lumberjack.)

As to whether it is "to" or "on" a computer - to which surface of the computer
do you normally attach yourself? :-)

Andrew
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov (Daniel A. Asimov)
Subject: Re: log in to vs. log into
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 92 20:49:47 GMT

In article <koepp.6.717699787@cc1.unt.edu> koepp@cc1.unt.edu (Cynthia Koepp - Computing Center) writes:
>Hi. This is my first posting to your group.
>
>Does one "log into" a computer or "log in to" a computer? I had always gone 
>with the latter, but now I am not so sure.
>
>Thanks for any insight.
>
>Cynthia Koepp

My own preference is for either "log in to" or even "login to" since
"login" often appears as a prompt for the user to enter their user ID.

To "log into" involves, IMHO, an erroneous fusion of "in" and "to,"
similar to the use of "hold onto" in lieu of "hold on to."

--Daz
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: eepjm@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (Peter Moylan)
Subject: Re: log in to vs. log into
Followup-To: alt.usage.english
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA
Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1992 00:09:10 GMT

In article <casseres-300992094221@kip2-34.apple.com>, casseres@apple.com (David Csseres) writes:
> In article <1992Sep28.204947.23817@nas.nasa.gov>, asimov@wk223.nas.nasa.gov
> (Daniel A. Asimov) wrote:
>> 
>> My own preference is for either "log in to" or even "login to" since
>> "login" often appears as a prompt for the user to enter their user ID.
> 
> But "login" is a noun, not a verb.  If it were a verb you could conjugate
> it, but you can't.  "Log" is a regular verb, "in" and "to" are
> prepositions, and "login" is a noun like "payback" or "takeoff."

A simple test: do you say "I logged in to the computer" or
"I loginned to the computer"?

-- 
Peter Moylan                      eepjm@wombat.newcastle.edu.au
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: baron@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Dennis Baron)
Subject: Re: Cincinnati dialect in AHD3
Organization: University of Illinois
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 14:22:59 GMT

In article <16875D866.BGRISSOM@UKCC.UKY.EDU> BGRISSOM@UKCC.UKY.EDU writes:
>Path: news.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!news.Brown.EDU!noc.near.net!hri.com!ukma!news
>From: BGRISSOM@UKCC.UKY.EDU
>Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
>Subject: Cincinnati dialect in AHD3
>Message-ID: <16875D866.BGRISSOM@UKCC.UKY.EDU>
>Date: 3 Oct 92 19:23:18 GMT
>Sender: news@ms.uky.edu (USENET News System)
>Organization: University of Kentucky
>Lines: 13
>Nntp-Posting-Host: ukcc.uky.edu
>In the new 3rd edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, the
>front matter explains the dialect labels and mentions that some of
>them are quite specific, giving as an example Cincinnati.
> 
>My question is: what word or words in AHD3 are labeled as Cincinnati
>dialect.  Perhaps someone has an electronic version that allows
>keyword searching.
> 
>Thanks in advance,
>Brad Grissom
>University of Kentucky
> 
>bgrissom@ukcc.uky.edu


I don't know about AHD3, but DARE, the Dictionary of American Regional
English, has only 1 entry labeled unique to Cincinnati, _goetta_. I only
have the index to DARE here, so I can't tell you what that means.  But
it is not in AHD3.

Dennis


debaron@uiuc.edu               (\                   217-333-2392
                               \'\             fax: 217-333-4321
Dennis Baron                    \'\           __________
Department of English           / '|         ()_________)
Univ. of Illinois               \ '/          \ ~~~~~~~~ \
608 S. Wright St.                 \             \ ~~~~~~   \
Urbana IL 61801                   ==).            \__________\
                                 (__)             ()__________)
From: wilcox@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: seconded
Date: 1 Oct 92 08:39:41 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Oxford University VAX 6620

In article <1992Sep30.222628.8658@sq.sq.com>, msb@sq.sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
>> Can someone tell me how the word 'seconded' is pronounced?  I'm thinking
>> of its use in sentences like: Major Smythe-Jones was seconded to the
>> Royal Fusiliers. ...  I thought it prudent to check with the net.
> 
>  There are a number of
> words of two syllables where the accent shifts from the first to the
> second syllable when the word is used as a verb, such as "record" and
> "present".  This shift is *more* likely to occur in British usage than
> in American usage; for example, at least one of the dictionaries mentioned
> conTACT as one British pronunciation of the verb, whereas it's CONtact
> in American usage for both noun and verb.  Now, the cited meaning of
> "seconded" is as a verb and is principally British; I would expect that
> it's always "seCONDed" there, but that at least some Americans who do
> use it say "SEConded", as recorded in the Random House.

Almost, but not quite. In the meaning of "second" cited, the British
pronunciation is "se-COND"---"He was se-COND-ed to IBM to advise them how best
to implement job cuts." But in the other verbal meaning of "second"---in the
sense of seconding a motion---the pronunciation is always "SE-cond"---"He
SE-cond-ed the motion calling for Norman Lamont's resignation."

I suspect that this difference might be something to do with a difference in
etymology. Second 2nd certainly caomes from Latin secundus; does second se-COND
come from something else?
-- 

Stephen Wilcox             |   Remember what happened to the dinosaurs!
wilcox@maths.oxford.ac.uk  |    I did---and look what happened to me.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Subject: Re: MORE LIKE?
Reply-To: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 03:08:45 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.221636.16011@Princeton.EDU>, roger@crux.Princeton.EDU
(Roger Lustig) writes:
>                                [...deleted...] 
> As it is used? Ralph left off the context.  Clearly there was another
> (probably official) analogy preceding it.  "More like" means the writer
> feels that this analogy is closer.
>                                [...deleted...]

That there was another analogy preceding it is clear only to one who neither
reads newspapers nor listens to the "official" pronouncements issued from 
Washington.  The construction "It's more like A."  with no referent for "more" 
is actually quite common, in every sense of the word.

Marie Coffin
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: What is a sheeny?
From: thayes@desire.wright.edu
Date: 2 Oct 92 16:43:58 EST
Distribution: usa
Organization: Wright State University 


Not to get us too much off the a.u.e. subject, but...

RL> (Sheeny) may come from the Yiddish
> expression "A shayner Yid" (with 'Yid' pronounced to rhyme with 'feed');
> this is a compliment one Jew would pay another, meaning, "a good/nice/
> beautiful Jew."  

Is this term equivalent in essence to "A shania maidl"? 
(deep apologies for misspellings)  This was a play a few years ago.

>However, the abstraction of "sheeny" from that has
> always been used as an insult of the same type as "kike," "mocky,"
> "yid" (rhymes with kid), etc.

"Mocky"?  Somehow I feel better that I don't know that one.

> Roger (a shayner Yid, or so they tell me...)

Roger!  Shameless self-promotion during the Holy Days!
(A good new year anyway for you, Roger!)

-----ted hayes

Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Subject: Re: MORE LIKE?
Reply-To: mcoffin@IASTATE.EDU (Marie Coffin)
Organization: Iowa State University
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 18:27:30 GMT

In article <1992Sep30.150209.126936@watson.ibm.com>, yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph
Yozzo) writes:
> In a quote from a major newspaper discussing the Bush taxpayer option
> to check a box on their tax return to direct a part of their tax payment
> towards reducing the deficit, the paper states:
> 
>  "We believe it would be more
>  like trying to fly a jumbo jet by letting everybody on board operate the
>  controls at the same time."
> 
> Is the phrase "more like" considered proper in the English language?
> 
> -- 
> Ralph Yozzo (yozzo@watson.ibm.com)  
> From the beautiful and historic Mid-Hudson Valley area of NY state

Interesting question.  I don't know if it's proper or not; in your quote it 
doesn't seem to make much sense.  It makes sense to me to say "We believe it
would be more like A than (it would be like) B".   As it is used, the "more"
seems needless.  

Anyone who wants to write and tell me to stop applying logic to the English 
language:  please don't bother.  I've heard it before, and I'm still not
convinced.  

Marie Coffin
From: miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Meanings of "log on/in"
Date: 4 Oct 92 07:59:08 CDT
Organization: University of Kansas Academic Computing Services

I haven't followed all the discussion on these terms, but maybe this
hasn't come up: has to do with what the terms mean.

When you use your mainframe, a bbs, &c you "log in/on."  That seems to be
the main meaning.  But I've also seen "log on" (but not "log in") to
describe what you do when you cd to a different directory on your PC.
For example: "to run Thelma, log on to the directory it's in and type
Thelma." 

I can't find this meaning in any dictionary of computer jargon, and I
wonder whether it is really standard.  (While I'm at it: *is* there or
*can* there be, considering the rapid change, a really adequate comp
jargon dictionary?)
-- 
********************************** +.............................+
*- Ken <miner@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu>* :All opinions expressed herein:
*There is no privileged position.* :are my own and are not to be :
*	-God, Derrida, others    * : attributed to my employer   :
********************************** +.............................+

Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: dschlow@epas.utoronto.ca (Deborah Schlow)
Subject: cockney slang
Organization: University of Toronto - EPAS
Date: Mon, 5 Oct 1992 04:12:33 GMT


Does anyone have any recommendations for source books which might have
lists of cockney rhyming slang expressions and their meanings? I would
appreciate any titles you could supply.


Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo)
Subject: 'A' versus 'An'
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1992 01:06:55 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

What are the rules for using 'a' and 'an'?

I always thought that 'an' was used when followed by
a noun that begins with a vowel.  For example, an apple,
an eagle, an island, an octopus.  But "an unicycle" does 
not sound correct to my ear.

Is "an unicycle" correct?


-- 
Ralph Yozzo (yozzo@watson.ibm.com)  
From the beautiful and historic Mid-Hudson Valley area of NY state
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: Re: Acronyms (Was Re: Articles and acronyms)
Date: 27 Sep 92 00:53:48 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Windows/DOS Users Ed Group

In article <HERMIT.92Sep24125337@am.ucsc.edu> hermit@cats.UCSC.EDU (William R. Ward) writes:
[deletions]
>
>Well, I can't think of anything that ATM might mean besides an
>automated teller machine... Though I know that a lot of people around
[deletion]
>

Adobe Type Manager?

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
	"Well, I'm a little muddled." -- Glinda
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english