HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: roger@crux.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Subject: Re: How're (was Re: The "education" ...)
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig)
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 03:23:51 GMT

In article <10354@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM> mwilson@ncratl.AtlantaGA.NCR.COM (Mark Wilson) writes:
>In <Nov.8.01.27.37.1992.28853@romulus.rutgers.edu> clong@romulus.rutgers.edu (Chris Long) writes:
>
>>In article <1dfu58INNgkh@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, Richard A. Mulac writes:
>
>>> BZZZZT! Wrong.  *We're*, *you're*, *I'm*, *hasn't*, etc. are all "proper" 
>>> English contractions.  *How're* is NOT (pronounced "hower").
>
>>I find it completely bizarre that someone would suggest that "you're"
>>is a valid construct while at the same time claiming that "how're" isn't.

>Contractions are written down as they are, because that is how they are
>pronounced.

English a phonetic language?  First I'd heard.  Contractions are 
*approximations* of pronunciations.

>You try it.
>There is a big difference between "you are" and "you're".  The first takes
>two syllables the second only one.

>Now try "how are" and "how're".  They are pronounced exactly the same.

Unless you accent the second word, in which case they're not.  To
prevent any assumption that this accentuation might be the case,
one can use the contraction.  (Why accent the second word?  Try "How
are the mighty fallen and the fallen mighty.")

>The second is not a valid contraction because it doesn't buy you anything
>when you say it.

Um, where do you get the idea of "valid" contractions? There are contractions
out there, for various reasons and from various sources.  We don't have 
a Bureau of Contractions approving them.

Also, it certainly *does* buy you something in some dialects and in
situations like the one above.

Roger

Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: steven@syacus.acus.oz.au (Steven Malikoff)
Subject: Re: acronyms and full stops
Organization: ACUS Australian Centre for Unisys Software, Sydney
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 02:56:10 GMT

microsoc@black.ox.ac.uk (Microsoc) writes:
<< stuff re abbreviations zapped>>
: Hence it is BBC, not B.B.C., UN not U.N., USA not U.S.A.
                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
During WWII, stencils used for marking military vehicles and the like
were "U.S.A.", not "USA" in every photo I've seen. (And that's a few!) 

Steve Malikoff.
steven@syacus.acus.oz.au
From: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Michael Jackson's Hair (was:re Fro)
Date: 12 Nov 92 20:25:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: PCS-BBS - San Jose, CA - 408-270-4085
Reply-To: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 

TO: rwarren@vax2.concordia.ca (Rosemary A. Warren -- Montreal, Quebec,


   >>|> >"In the early 1970's, Michael Jackson wore his hair in a fro."
   >                                                            ^^^^^
   >the hairstyle is AFRO.

I've heard it called a "fro" (possibly it should be spelled "'fro") for
years, both here on the left coast and in Washington DC.

---
 . QMPro 1.0 07-2042 . ...from San Jose, CA
From: rarosenb@gandalf.rutgers.edu (Robert Rosenberg)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: mnemonics in general
Date: 12 Nov 92 07:12:35 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

Well, I'm jumping into the middle of this, but has anyone offered,
"Oh, be a fine girl kiss me right now SMACK!" an old sexist chestnut,
which a student in my intro astronomy course, upon being challenged to
innovate, converted to "Oh bring a fat green kangaroo; my recipe needs
some."  This is the sequence of starts (hottest to coolest) on the
main sequence (or in the Herzsprung-Russell diagram, as you like).
	Not a course I *taught*--a course I took long ago.
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Subject: Various things
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 04:26:46 GMT

a) The other day, I was talking about a technical design with someone,
and they referred to the pending patent on the device.  However, his
pronunciation of "patent" rhymed with "latent."  I've never heard the
word "patent" pronounced any way other than with the first syllable
pronounced like the name "pat."  Has anyone else encountered "patent"
prounounced with the long a?

b) What areas of the U.S. still call carbonated beverages "pop" and
not "soda" ?

c) I was reading a 1720 mathematics textbook the other day, and I
noticed the voluminous use of the typographical mark "&c." instead of
"etc."  Now, the ampersand obviously comes from a calligraphic "et,"
so how did we move backwards from &c in printing to etc?  You rarely
see &c in typographic form.


--
Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.     "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings 
gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu       to be seriously considered as a means of 
N2GPZ in ham radio circles        communication. The device is inherently of
72355,1226 on CI$                 no value to us." -Western Union memo, 1877
From: s91001ra@sfc.keio.ac.jp (Rie Aizawa)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: question
Date: 9 Nov 92 02:31:43 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Keio University Shonan Fujisawa Campus.

To netters,
 
I had to choose *one* wrong sentence from these: 1 The night began to break.
                                                 2 Morning began to break.
                                                 3 The day began to dawn.
                                                 4 It began to dawn.

I don't know which one to choose, and why.  Please explain, anyone?

Also choose *one* wrong sentence from these: 1 It doesn't concern me.
                                             2 I don't concern it.
                                             3 It has nothing to do with me.
                                             4 I'm not concerned with it.

And the same from these: 1 This book is easy to be read.
                         2 This book is easy to read

If you have enough time for these, please e-mail to me!
Thank you very much! :)

-----
Rie Aizawa * Keio University * s91001ra@sfc.keio.ac.jp
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: cochran@spam.rtp.dg.com (A. Jing Hippy)
Subject: Re: mnemonics in general
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 04:34:47 GMT
Organization: A Suffusion of Yellow

eepjm@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (Peter Moylan) writes: 
| In article <29OCT199216261065@adpdp2.lanl.gov>, 108116@adpdp2.lanl.gov (108116) writes:
| > Ok guys!  What mnemonics do you all know?  The more unusual the better, I'll
| > start you off:
| 
| Well, there's the one for remembering the first hundred or so digits
| of pi.  It starts out as "God, I need a drink!"  Can't have been a
| very good mnemonic, though: I've forgotten the rest.

OK, I don't *think* I'm stupid, but how does one use "God, I need a drink"
to remember 3.14159?

+--------------------------------------------------+
|Dave Cochran, Data General Corporation, RTP, NC   |
|cochran@dg-rtp.dg.com                             |
+--------------------------------------------------+
|I daydreamed that I was falling and just before I |
|hit the ground, I fell asleep.                    |
+--------------------------------------------------+
From: TSOS@uni-duesseldorf.de (Detlef Lannert)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Various things
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 07:35:19 GMT
Organization: Universitaetsrechenzentrum, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf
NNTP-Posting-Host: lannert.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de

In article <1992Nov8.042646.10166@news.columbia.edu> gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:

>a) The other day, I was talking about a technical design with someone,
>and they referred to the pending patent on the device.  However, his
>pronunciation of "patent" rhymed with "latent."  I've never heard the
>word "patent" pronounced any way other than with the first syllable
>pronounced like the name "pat."  Has anyone else encountered "patent"
>prounounced with the long a?

Yes, frequently. And to make sure that my memory serves me right, I
consulted Daniel Jones again (his English Pronouncing Dictionary, to
be precise); the pronunciation he gives for "patent" rhymes with
"latent" and with "blatant". (The "pat"-like form, however, is shown
in parentheses.)

So it seems as if this word could be used in the Ultimately Definitive
Pond-Side Test (tm).
--
Detlef Lannert      DC3EK      E-Mail: tsos@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
"Gedanken sind nicht stets parat,
man schreibt auch, wenn man keine hat."             Wilhelm Busch
From: ubacw00@ucl.ac.uk (Mick Farmer)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,connect.audit
Subject: Re: "Pass the buck"
Keywords: buck, pass
Date: 5 Nov 92 12:28:39 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

One possibility comes from my dictionary of archaic words.
Buck can mean "to wash", also "a quantity of linen washed at
once".  Just think of an old fashioned laundry, and workers
shouting at one another "pass the buck".

Just a thought.

Mick
From: crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: pop &c.
Date: 12 Nov 92 16:59:51 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <BxM2FF.EB5@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tdlg9831@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Tracey Dianne Layng) writes:

>In this same venue, I always called drinking fountains "bubblers", and eskimo
>pies (those chocolate covered ice cream things on a stick) are "paddle pops."

If we're going to start discussing eskimo pies, I'm going to go eat lunch.



-- 
The trick of reason is to get the imagination to seize the actual world --
if only from time to time.     -- Annie Dillard, "An American Childhood"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lauren Crawford  //  crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: jbradfor@leland.Stanford.EDU (Jeffrey Bradford)
Subject: Re: mnemonics in general
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 92 07:52:20 GMT

In article <1992Nov9.043447.5968@dg-rtp.dg.com> cochran@spam.rtp.dg.com (A. Jing Hippy) writes:
>eepjm@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (Peter Moylan) writes: 
>| In article <29OCT199216261065@adpdp2.lanl.gov>, 108116@adpdp2.lanl.gov (108116) writes:
>| > Ok guys!  What mnemonics do you all know?  The more unusual the better, I'll
>| > start you off:
>| 
>| Well, there's the one for remembering the first hundred or so digits
>| of pi.  It starts out as "God, I need a drink!"  Can't have been a
>| very good mnemonic, though: I've forgotten the rest.
>
>OK, I don't *think* I'm stupid, but how does one use "God, I need a drink"
>to remember 3.14159?
>

You just count the number of letters in each word.  "God" has three, "I" 
has one, "need" has four, "a" has one, "drink" has five, etc.

Jeff
From: tdlg9831@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Tracey Dianne Layng)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: pop &c.
Date: 13 Nov 92 16:14:10 GMT
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana

Yes, Coke is a trademark, but people will say it anyway. It's just like
kleenex. Kleenex is a trademark, but I never hear people say "Give me a facial
tissue." 

Tracey
UIUC
From: futor@llnl.gov (randy j futor)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: mnemonics in general
Date: 6 Nov 92 21:46:27 GMT
Followup-To: alt.usage.english
Organization: CSo @ LLNL


 108116@adpdp2.lanl.gov (108116) wrote:
> 
> What mnemonics do you all know?

On old Olympus' towering tops, a Finn and German vending at hops.

MOSS MOUSE

Mother very easily made a jam sandwich using no peanuts. ( fnord )

 - - -
I'll leave it to others to post all the variants on the resistor code.

In this vein, does anyone remember the 10-worder for Moh's scale?
__
\/  -+-  randy  -+-  all generalizations are flawed  -+-  futor@llnl.gov
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Subject: Re: quite unique
Reply-To: gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener)
Organization: Columbia University
Distribution: alt
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1992 21:29:17 GMT

In article <28154@castle.ed.ac.uk> benha@castle.ed.ac.uk (Ben Hambidge) writes:
>Hi everyone!
>	I've been having an argument with a friend about the
>words "quite unique".
>	Is this a valid combination? He says that unique is
>ultimate - you can't have degrees of it. I say there is a
>meaning of unique ('ganz' in German rather than 'ziemlich')
>that would be permissible, meaning 'completely'. But he
>says that even this indicates degree, so therefore is
>incorrect. Who's right??????

Something is either unique or it isn't.  You can't be "more unique" or
"less unique" or "quite unique."  That's like saying "his circle is
rounder" or "his wife is totally pregnant."  To be unique is to be one
of a kind.  


--
Gabe Wiener - Columbia Univ.     "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings 
gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu       to be seriously considered as a means of 
N2GPZ in ham radio circles        communication. The device is inherently of
72355,1226 on CI$                 no value to us." -Western Union memo, 1877
From: TSOS@uni-duesseldorf.de (Detlef Lannert)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: a good dictionary
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 14:03:25 GMT
Organization: Universitaetsrechenzentrum, Heinrich-Heine-Universitaet, Duesseldorf
NNTP-Posting-Host: lannert.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de

>|> That's really zo"ology, as in zoe-AW-luh-gee. As [Ch.] Harrington Elster
>|> so carefully pointed out in his book on pronunciations, "There's No Zoo
>|> in Zoology." Besides, if there *was* a "zoo" in the word, it would be
>|> pronounced in three syllables: ZOO-luh-gee. Or was this the inconsistency
>|> being pointed out by the original poster?

I checked this with the late Daniel Jones (14th ed.) who seems to be an
authority on English Pronunciation (i.e., the British variant). He
advocates 'zoo-LO-gi-cal' gardens, but 'zoe-O-lo-gy' [transcription
errors are mine]. Isn't English a wonderfully (zoo-)logical language??!
--
Detlef Lannert      DC3EK      E-Mail: tsos@rz.uni-duesseldorf.de
"Gedanken sind nicht stets parat,
man schreibt auch, wenn man keine hat."             Wilhelm Busch
From: pjh@eng.cam.ac.uk (Philippa Hogben)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: I before E rule
Date: 12 Nov 92 17:51:08 GMT
Reply-To: pjh@eng.cam.ac.uk
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.

In article 111192093514@missmolly.apple.com, casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) writes:
>I learned a pair of rules:
>
>1. I before E except after C, or when sounded like A as in neighbor and
>   sleigh.
>
>2. All the common exceptions are found in this sentence: "Neither financier
>   seized either form of weird leisure."
>
If you use the rule "When the sound is 'ee' then 'i' before 'e' except after 'c'"
this accounts for all your exception except for seized.

[Short pause to re-engage brain.]

Having said that, I realise that I pronounce neither and either with an long
'i' sound for the first vowel {niy-ther, iy-ther} but the "alternative"
pronounciation eith the long 'e' sound {nee-ther, ee-ther} is equally valid.
"My" version of the rule doesn't account for these...

Philippa
---
Philippa Hogben   pjh@eng.cam.ac.uk  (Reverse if mailing from Janet)
Any mistakes are mine, all mnie.

I am not a .sig virus. I am a free bug. 
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: yozzo@watson.ibm.com (Ralph Yozzo)
Subject: Re: OED online?
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 02:44:40 GMT
Disclaimer: This posting represents the poster's views, not necessarily those of IBM
Organization: IBM T.J. Watson Research Center

In article <gez0lPC00WB=A5r2co@andrew.cmu.edu> "Benjamin D. Lukoff" <bl2m+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>Excerpts from netnews.alt.usage.english: 7-Nov-92 OED online? by Tommy
>Che Vorst@ccu.uman 
>>  
>> Does anybody know where I can find the OED online, and how to use it?
>> Much appreciated.
>
>telnet uwin.u.washington.edu. Then follow the instructions.
I tried, but I did not find the code to start the OED dictionary
in the index.
What is the code for the OED?   

-- 
 Ralph Yozzo (yozzo@watson.ibm.com)  
 From the beautiful and historic Mid-Hudson Valley area of NY state
From: ccjal@cc.newcastle.edu.au (John A Lambert)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: Various things
Date: 8 Nov 92 10:32:04 GMT
Organization: University of Newcastle, AUSTRALIA

In article <1992Nov8.042646.10166@news.columbia.edu>, gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:
> a) The other day, I was talking about a technical design with someone,
> and they referred to the pending patent on the device.  However, his
> pronunciation of "patent" rhymed with "latent."  I've never heard the
> word "patent" pronounced any way other than with the first syllable
> pronounced like the name "pat."  Has anyone else encountered "patent"
> prounounced with the long a?
> 
> b) ...
> 
> c) ...
-- 
`Patent' rhyming with `latent' is the usual Australian pronunciation although I
have heard the `pat' occasionally.

John A Lambert
Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing
The University of Newcastle NSW 2308 Australia
ccjal@cc.newcastle.edu.au
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: lehman@csed-11 (Dan Lehman)
Subject: Re: I before E rule
Organization: IDA, Alexandria, VA
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 92 21:53:49 GMT

To Alon Meron, how about this:

I before E
except after C
or when sounds like an A
as in neighbor or weigh

or when the "i" is a plural of "y"
or again, when it forms the sound "shen"
--as one can see, in "efficiencies"

---Dan
------- *
==================================================================
From: thayes@desire.wright.edu
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: "Bilingual Education"
Date: 7 Nov 92 12:23:33 EST
Distribution: world
Organization:  Wright State University 



(I'm going to regret getting into this string, I just know it.)

PB> I've become a reluctant partisan of "Amerindian" if only to distinguish
> such from "Asian Subcontinent / Hindu/Sikh Indians from the country of
> India" - the _real_ "Indians".

? 

As opposed to those who call themselves "the Indian people/nation" and who
happen to live in Arizona, etc.?

> But what do _they_ call themselves?  They certainly didn't know they
> were Americans when Columbus "discovered" them, and probably didn't
> learn this until much later.  

Two serious questions.  First: what did people of the Asian subcontinent call
_themselves_ before "we" called them Indians?  Second: my (non-Indian) friends
from the US Southwest tell me that the aboriginal populace refers to itself as
Indian (or Cheyenne, etc.); there is a politically active group called American
Indian Movement; thus, mightn't this serve as an indication that these people
could safely be referred to as Indian?

PB>I don't particularly like "aboriginal
> Americans", because they certainly weren't really "citizens" of America
> until fairly recently.

I think the idea is that they were denizens of the *continent* we refer to as
North America -- or whichever continent this is that stretches from the tip of
Panama to the glaciers of Canada -- *not* that they are citizens of the
*country* we refer to as the United States of America.

Now what about bilingual education, again?

-----ted hayes
From: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: scrabble boredom
Date: 5 Nov 92 06:46:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: PCS-BBS - San Jose, CA - 408-270-4085
Reply-To: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 

TO: Tom Christiansen <tchrist@convex.COM>

TC>Trivia question: which set of letters has FIVE distinct words
  >associated with it?  Can any find MORE than one of these?

Thousands - prepare yourself for a deluge.
---
 . QMPro 1.0 07-2042 . ...from San Jose, CA
From: heitkoet@lucky.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Joerg Heitkoetter)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: A plan for the improvement of the English Language by Mark Twain
Date: 8 Nov 1992 11:18:17 GMT
Organization: CS Department, Dortmund University, Germany
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: lucky

	"Scientists have odious manners, except when you prop up their theory.
 	Then you can even borrow money from them".  (Mark Twain)

In article <1992Nov7.232004.1696@netcom.com>, rallen@netcom.com (Robert W.
Allen) writes:
|> This 'plan' has been circulating for a while. I first read it in an
|> issue
|> of 'Readers Digest' circa 1972. In that magazine it was credited to a
|> Mr. M.J. Shields of England. Does anyone have any idea how Mark Twain's
|> name became associated with this?
Yes. It's in /usr/games/lib/fortune.dat on every Sun...and as someone
else pointed out:

	"All modern American literature comes from one book
	 by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn."
	-- Ernest Hemingway

it seems to me a good bet that:

	"All seemingly modern American quotations come from
	 the one and only real American author, called Mark Twain."
	-- joke

Your's court jester

	-joke

--
Joerg Heitkoetter
Systems Analysis Group
University of Dortmund, Germany
(joke@ls11.informatik.uni-dortmund.de).
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: slb22@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Seth L. Blumberg)
Subject: Re: Various things
Organization: Generic American College Kids (G.A.C.K.)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 06:59:23 GMT
Reply-To: slb22@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Seth L. Blumberg)
X-Posted-From: cunixb.cc.columbia.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

crawford@ben.dev.upenn.edu (Lauren L. Crawford) writes:
>gmw1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Gabe M Wiener) writes:
>>b) What areas of the U.S. still call carbonated beverages "pop" and
>>not "soda" ?
>
>Well, this isn't the U.S. -- but my Canadian boyfriend calls it "pop."  So
>do my Michigander parents.  Must be all that cold air.

Well, I assume your parents come from the Upper Peninsula, so I'll let that
part go; however, the Lower Peninsula is part of the US, and we call it "pop"
too.

	Seth "the Lesser"

Seth L. Blumberg          \ Warning: This posting has been determined to cause
slb22@columbia.edu (play)   \ cancer in laboratory animals.  Please make sure
sethb@ctr.columbia.edu (work) \ that no white mice are allowed to read it.  
    > No one I know shares my opinions, least of all Columbia University. <
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: I before E rule
From: meron@ivory.bgu.ac.il (meron alon)
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 18:12:03 GMT
Organization: Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel

I before E
except after C
or when sounds like an A
as in neighbor or weigh



There are some more exceptions
Could someone rime them into this little rule ?


  Alon

--
#######################################################################
# Alon Meron                  |                                       #
# Email:meron@bengus.bitnet   |Always look at the bright side of life.#
#       meron@bengus.bgu.ac.il|                                       #
From: key@mcnc.org (Kathy E. Yount)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: gender pronouns
Date: 6 Nov 92 14:21:39 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: MCNC Center for Microelectronics, RTP, NC


pepke@scri.fsu.edu (Eric Pepke) writes:

>Which of the following two statements is correct?

>A) If a person wishes to discuss gender-neutral pronouns, he should do it
>somewhere other than sci.skeptic.

>B) If a person wishes to discuss gender-neutral pronouns, they should do it
>somewhere other than sci.skeptic.

Neither unless in A) you know the person is a male.
B) is incorrect because you have changed from singular
(a person) to plural (they)
Why not just avoid the gender-neutral pronoun when possible?  i.e.
The subject of gender-neutral pronouns should not be discussed in
the sci.skeptic newsgroup.
From: benha@castle.ed.ac.uk (Ben Hambidge)
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
Subject: quite unique
Date: 13 Nov 92 21:06:14 GMT
Distribution: alt
Organization: Edinburgh University

Hi everyone!
	I've been having an argument with a friend about the
words "quite unique".
	Is this a valid combination? He says that unique is
ultimate - you can't have degrees of it. I say there is a
meaning of unique ('ganz' in German rather than 'ziemlich')
that would be permissible, meaning 'completely'. But he
says that even this indicates degree, so therefore is
incorrect. Who's right??????

Ben Hambidge             <benha@castle.ed.ac.uk>