Conference thebay::joyoflex

There may be hope!

I recently wrote something (a proposal or func. spec.), and ran it through
SPELL to weed out the tpyos.  SPELL refused to recognize 'functionality' as a
word.

write on!
...diane

Every time I hear that word, all I can think of is Florence Henderson 
singing:

"It's got a certain... Functionality."

Len.

"Functionality" breeds contempt.

Mike

RE: 2.1

SPELL doesn't recognize any of the following:

squirter
slob
teenager
pounder
baseline
decaffeinated
starship
shoebox
scam
troubleshoot
servowriter
workcenter
multimeter
joystick
alright

and a few others that I took out. This is condensed from my personal dictionary.
I wonder how many more I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet.

sdf

SPELL shouldn't accept 'alright.'  'Alright' is all wrong.

Dave C.

  Times and languages change.  Maybe 'alright' is alright already.

  P.S.  The DECspell I'm running didn't accept 'alright'.

I don't think "servowriter" or "workcenter" are words either.
							-Kevin

I always have trouble with "todate" or "to date".  Which is correct?
	

re .-2

Of course they're words! What do you think they are, drawings?

	Jon

Re .8: I use 'to-date'.

-- Bill

re: 8,10

I use "yet". It's a good Old English word.

Pat Sweeney

I was going to put in a flame in support of 'to date' but will now retire,
abashed.  Thank you, Pat, for restoring sanity to us all.

	HRB

As a graduate of the Richard Nixon School of Writing, I must protest this
assault on flowery, bloated prose! Since when is it bad form to use a long
word where a short one would do just as well? Why, words like "functionality",
"to-date", and "documentalist" (ever heard of that one?...it's a writer) are
at the forefront of the English-speaking-world's literary spearhead!

What are you people, literary minimalists?!?!

Pardon me while I remove my tongue from my cheek...POP!

-- Yr Obt Svt
   Bill

ARRRGHHH!!!  Response 4 writer, whoever you are, take cover.  'Alright' is
NOT a word.  It's what's left of 'all right' after someone too lazy to spell
it correctly got finished.  And it's NOT all right!

re: .13

There is the story of the "literary minimalist" who while filling out a job 
application was asked to describe himself in 25 words or less.  He entered 
"Concise", then, after thinking about it for a minute crossed that out and 
wrote "Terse".

Len.

re .15

I had a friend in college who often, indeed usually, omitted the articles
from his speech.  "Let's go to store," he would say, or, "Pass me apple."
One day, I couldn't stand it any more, so I said, "Steve, why do you talk
without any articles?"

"Less words."

I swear it's true.

Dave C.

The Russian language HAS no articles, so native speakers of that language
might be likely to omit or misuse them in English.

A similar favorite of mine is, "This sentence no verb".

				David Larrick

Re: .14

I just checked with Mr. Webster to make sure, but...

"alright" is indeed a word and it means "all right."  And that's OK by me...

JP

  re .17

  The Russian language also lacks the verb "to be".  Thus, I Simon.

RE: .16 

"Less words."

...which bring us to the misuse of "less" and "fewer". 

Marilyn

Re .19: so does Hungarian (my original language) lack the verb "to be", and 
since "Szeto" looks like a version of a Hungarian name, Simon, I protest! 

Actually, Russian (possibly) and Hungarian DO have verbs which in 
English translate to "to be", and Italian has TWO ("stare" and 
"essere", if my memory serves).  All this proves is that the cluster 
of concepts called "the verb 'to be'" in English does not exist as a 
single cluster in some other languages.  Compare "have" and "be" as 
auxiliaries in any languages you know (English, French, German, 
Spanish, ...).

Hngarian also lacks the pronoun "I" in most contexts, so:

Gabriel Barta am.

Yes, Simon has been known as the "Mad Hungarian"...

- dave

  Maybe, but I think Max called me the "Mad Czech" in TRIVIA.  Anyway, I'm not
  of Hungarian or even European ancestry.  What little I know of Russian was
  from college.

re: 16, 17, on ..

I was working with Natural Language Understanding in school quite a bit,
and we were trying to come up with a Language-independent meaning
representation into which we could parse various natural languages.
It turns out that one of the most difficult kinds of words to pin
down is the 'articles' class.  In particular, "the" was very tough.
We had MUCH better success with limited subsets of English that did
not include "the", and with such languages as Russian that don't have it
in the first place.

Can anyone think of a semantic definition of "the" (i.e. its meaning
not its function in a sentence)?

"The" does have meaning, but it is so slight that it often could have been
gotten from context without the "the."

"The" means "the particular instance of this noun that was last referred to."
Often, "the" can be replaced by "this", "that", or, in legal writing, "said."

... as opposed to "a[n]", which means "a new instance of the noun, not one
already referred to."

In Russian, the same meaning is often expressed, without articles, by word
order (made possible because the grammatical role of nouns as subjects or
objects is expressed by inflecting the nouns).  In general, Russian puts
the "new" nouns (which in English would take the indefinite article "a[n]")
at the end of the sentence.   For example, "A man walked into the computer
room." would become, in Russian: "Into computer room walked man."

Not only is there seldom any ambiguity requiring "the" in English; there are
cases where "the" is equivalent to "a[n]", e.g., "The wolverine is a
vicious animal."

Re: .18

Well, Mr. Webster may think "alright" is all right, but Mr. Oxford and
Mr. Fowler both state: "alright is a common incorrect spelling".
So it really depends on which school of thought you support, the British
or the American.

Rien.

I am a new reader and I would like to address the original subject of this
note, namely, the word functionality.

One of the problems with the language is its inconsistency.  For example,
the adjective normal has the noun normality.  If I were just learning the
language and you gave me the adjective functional and asked me what the
associated noun would be, I would have to say functionality, not function.
Also, some words have variations.  For example, you can derive the noun
normalcy from the adjective form of the word.  In the case of functional,
we could end up with functionalcy.  Isn't it great!

	Mike

	Re: alright? all right?

	According to the "Macquarie Dictionary" (as Australian as
	a Gum tree) alright is alright. Therefore if the Yanks and
	Ozzies agree the Poms are wrong, democracy rules.

	This dictionary is also know for it's definitions of
		all above words
		sidekick
		drongo
		stobiepole
		run - as in paddock
		digger
	and many more not found in the Oxford


					Barry

Re: .28

... and I'll bet they approve of "it's" meaning "its."

Ah! The pedantry of it all!

Languages change, and there are diligent attempts to protect the integrity of
Fowler and Oxford. 

Both views are correct.  The trick is to balance stagnation and chaos.

Steve

My Webster's New World Dictionary defines alright this way:

"all right:  a disputed spelling"

Guess we've proved that!

Susan

RE: .0 (functionality)

I've been doing my part.  I refuse to sign off on any document that contains
this non-word.

Speaking of which, what is the appropriate term for things like 'functionality?'
Clearly we shouldn't honor them by calling them words.  What do we call them,
then?

--PSW

    How about 'pending clearance' words?
    
    Yesterday's incorrect English is tomorrow's correct grammar.  Some
    examples of previously abhorred words: lovely, coordinate, stately,
    nude, and graveyard.  They gradually became proper through continued
    use.

    'Course I ain't advocating none of 'em, uh-uh!

    How about my nephew's favourite word: functionable...I actually
    heard it on the 'tube in an interview with a Whitehouse staffer.
    bill
    

re .25

> "The" means "the particular instance of this noun that was last referred to."

> ... as opposed to "a[n]", which means "a new instance of the noun, not one
> already referred to."

I noticed right away that each definition started with the word it was trying
to define.  It reminded me of the old "recursion: see recursion" definition.

re .0

I was at a meeting where the speaker used the word "functionality".  I winced
and observed a friend wincing (I specifically was looking for his reaction).
When the speaker used the word "transition" as a verb, we could barely keep
from cracking up.  I don't remember exactly what he said, unfortunately.

Jill

    As one of the guilty users: what should I use to replace this word?
    
    Jeff.

 "Functionality" is either jargon ("confused unintelligible language,"
    according to Webster's) or slang ("language peculiar to a particular
    group" [or "language particular to a peculiar group?])
    
    I think *capability* is what people usually mean when they use it.
    

    I just received a piece of mail from a product development engineer
    who referred -- praise be Allah -- to the *functions* of the product.
    
    I almost sent him a return note thanking him for using a correct
    term!
    
    At last weeks ANSI/ECSA T1D1.1 meeting, the word kept popping up.
    Eventually I repied by asking about the featurosity of the product.

Functions of the product

Capabilities of the product

Features of the product

Usefulness of the product

	These phrases cover most of the cases where I've heard the non-word
	'functionality' used.
	
	--PSW

    Re .39:
    
    You mean "functionality" serves in place of four different words?
    It seems to me its larger functionality is a good reason for using
    it.  :-)
    
    
    				-- edp

RE: .40

Yes, 'functionality' can have many meanings.  I've seen it used to denote
all four of the meanings I gave in .39.  That is exactly what is so bad about
the non-word 'functionality.'  It doesn't have a precise meaning.  When one
uses it, one gives the appearance of having said a lot, when in fact nothing
has been said.

--PSW

re: .39ff

Enough of this slander!  "Functionality" can be a perfectly applicable
term.  It may be a neologism, but it is clearly NOT a "non-word!"
I use it as a gestalt to cover all of the possibilities noted in .39.
When a product offers more than the sum of its functions (as most
good products should), use the word that reflects this.
That it can be and is often misused is not to be denied, but its
misuse should be corrected by example and elucidation, not defamation.

- tom powers]

"words don't kill people, people kill words" 

    In works that I have reviewed containing the entity, "functionality",
    I have observed that in about 50% of the cases (offenses), simply
    removing "functionality" from the sentence solved the problem.

    Seems like it's been too long since the war was continued on this
    outrageous word "functional-ity".  Onwards!!
    
    This word, and others like it used in DEC are still in need of a
    name, unless I haven't read far enough in this conference.  BUT,
    I am thrilled to know that there are others out there in DEC-land{    who take offense to the use of this useless word.
    
    Around here (Massachussetts), being lazy in speech is a full-time
    aspiration for most people (excepting the onerous task of giving
    directions on street-corners w/o signs...), and it seems to me that
    we need to organize to fight this blight on the English language!
    
    I too refuse to sign off on written work with this word, and request
    that the offending employee provide a 1) dictionary with the word,
    or 2) a definition of the contextual meaning intended, which then,
    of course is substituted for the offending word.  Works just fine,
    thank you.  Anything for professionalism.
    
    I spoke with my brother about this once.  He recently joined the
    staff of a West Coast ad agency, in charge of market research, and
    low and behold, the very same functionality seems to be pervasive.
    Nobody out there seems to really know what it means, but they sure
    know how to use it!

    Well, what about *functionalness*?  :^)

    What about *goodness*?  We use terms like 'improved functionality'
    to describe how the new model is better than the old model, without
    actually describing it.  Another word for it is 'marketing'...

    re: alright
    
    my Webster Handy (and therefore dandy) College dictionary says that
    "alright" is colloquial. So i looked that up in said (not "the")
    dictionary only to find that meant "belonging to ordinary, everyday
    speech."
    
    re:functionality
    
    In the world of data/telecommunications we say that a device exhibits
    a high degree of functionality when it provides us with an equally
    high degree of CONNECTIVITY!  ARGHHH!
    
    wishing everyone lots of festivity,
    Chuck

     My New Century Dictionary (copyright 1927) lists "connectivity",
    so at least it has the blessing of antiquity. It has a well-defined
    meaning in graph theory: arc connectivity means the number of arcs
    that must be removed to disconnect two nodes in a graph, and node
    connectivity is similarly defined. I think it's a legitimate
    technical term, since there isn't another word that means the same
    thing.
    
    -John

    re .47 	The defintion of colloquial means that it's alright
    		to say 'alright' but it's not all right to write it.
    
    re .48	If we let math./scientific theories define our language
    		we are lost. Database theorists are prime offenders
    		has anyone read Dr. E. F. Codd's 12 rules of 'relationality'?  

    Last week they let me out in another world (not the real one, this
    one was with Unix(tm) inhabitants).
    
    I am sorry to report that at some point "functionality" got loose
    and escaped to other companies.
    
    What's worse is it has mutated. I've always heard it used at DEC
    as a non-quantifiable commodity (there must me a word for that sort
    of noun) such as "the functionality of that product". Last week
    I heard:
    
    	"There are products shipping now which include
    	 some of those functionalities."
    
    Arrrrggggggghhhhhh!
    						-Brian
    

    re .49
    
>        re .48	If we let math./scientific theories define our language
>    		we are lost. 
    
    All that was stated was that `Connectivety' is a well-defined
    mathematical term and that it has no other proper meaning.  It is a
    valid word iff (tee hee!) one uses it in its mathematical context. No
    attempt was made to define any term, let alone the whole language, with
    a mathematical/scientific theory. 
    

    best wishes from a new pedant (well I'm not EXACTLY a pedant!)
    
    Julian

    As long as the subject has been reopened...
    
    While I _abhor_ the term (not "word") 'functionality' and have taken
    great pains to avoid using it in the propaganda that I write on
    the company's behalf, I can see one possibly legitimate use for
    it.
    
    If something is not broken, it is described as being functional.
    Therefore, functionality is the state of not being broken.
    
    Correct (maybe:)
    	The computer has been restored to full functionality.
    	The car lost functionality when its carburetor got clogged.
    
    Incorrect:
    	The product will have new functionality added to it.
    	(Any attempt to pluralize it.)

    Just making a suggestion...
         fred

    I just discovered a caption which should launch a healthy portion
    of our readers into orbit....
    
    In an "ALL-IN-1" reference manual there is a diagram which contains
    a block labelled:
    
                           ALL-IN-1 Functionality
                                Customizable
                                 Interface
    
    It sounds impressive, and I'm sure some writer must be very proud
    to have created such an explicit caption for whatever it is.
    

    I just looked up "functionality" in my OED (It's amazing what silly
    things one will amuse oneself with when one is home with the flu). I
    found it under "functional." It said:
    
    Hence FUNCTIONALITY, functional character ; in Math., the condition
    of being a function.
    
    1872 Earle -- Philol. Eng. Tongue � 252 -- The old native Latin,
    whose vitality and functionality was all but purely inflectional.
    
    1879 Cayley in Encycl. Brit. IX 818/I -- Functionality in Analysis
    is dependence on a variable or variables.

    

    Re: .52,
    
    >    The computer has been restored to full functionality.
    >    The car lost functionality when its carburetor got clogged.
    
    Sorry, but I *still* prefer:
    
    	"The computer has been fixed."
        "The car broke when its carburetor clogged."
    
    -Al

    "The patient did not actualize his full healing functionality."
    
    ...
    

    
    Re: .55
    
    Sorry, but a car does not "break"...except in some old comedy movie,
    when a car separates into multiple destinct pieces (usually police
    cars) as part of the "humor" of the movie.
    
    However, when a carburetor cloggs, a car "ceases to function" according
    to the intent of its designer/manufacturer, it does NOT break.
    
    
    --> Dieter <--     (I ain't been read, but I's well bred....)
    The Krauty One.
    

    Re .21: Spanish also has two verbs "to be": ser and estar if I remember
    correctly. (I was taugh Spanish at school by a Scottish fascist
    called MacDonald; he used to intersperse his lessons with such things
    as how to throw hand grenades. We used to call him "el porco").

    mlnois::harbig
                  re .58 
                  Your teacher must have been a fan of Mussolini.
    
                  Porco is italian ; puerco is spanish.
    
                                               Max

OK -- there's a new contender in ugliest word ever coined:

	Iconify - v.t. To shrink a workstation window to an icon.

Now before the people who defend things like this jump in to do so, let 
me say I quiet understand that we're all too important to waste our time 
writing/saying "shrink to an icon" and we needed a single word to embody the 
concept.  That way we can save all those seconds up until we have enough 
to make a new product.
					>>>==>PStJTT

    
    I'm suprised you chose "iconify".  Whoever invented that word also
    invented a word for the inverse operation, i.e. changing from an
    icon to a full window.  The word: "deiconify".

    Re .62:
    
    >  -< Deiconify = worship a pine tree? >-
                   
    Or turn a god into a pine tree?
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    
    deiconify (v.)
    
    To put the ice cream into a dish after the child has smashed the
    cone.
    
    -bs

    	We have an a series of routines in our product that pack and
    unpack data into network packets.  The author of these routines
    refers to the actions performed as "clumpletizing" and
    "declumpletizing" the data!
    
    						--Doug

    I declumpletized my daughter several years ago when I made her quit
    wearing her clogs (remember those?) around the house.  
    
    --bonnie

    Clumpetize (vi): to create a musical instrument with a brass
    body, three valves, and a wooden mouthpiece with a reed.

    deiconoclastify (v):
    
    To smash the screen out of frustration because you can't see icons
    that small?

    I got this one in an SQM memo:
    
    "Hopefully in this way, SQM internal hardware or software problems
    are not surfaced to LP development."
    
    Maybe they could fix the problem if they quit trying to put tiles
    on their computers!
    
    --bonnie

    A memo from management warning us that we couldn't carry over
    more than five days' holiday (from one year to the next) said
    
    "... more than five days carry-over will be zeroized"
    
    Pretty scary.

    it happened by accident.  It was my typo....but someday it may actually
    be used to describe the purchaser/user of a group of VAX's
    
    
    "Clustomer"

It may not fit the category exactly but that doesn't seem to stop anyone :-)

A salesperson was overheard in the microwave department of a leading
department store: 

        "...and this dial lets you lower or higher the cooking temperature."

    Re .72:
    
    >"...and this dial lets you lower or higher the cooking temperature."
        
    Maybe he meant "... or hire ..." meaning that if the microvave cooker
    broke, you could rent a replacement.  :-P
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    
    I think we have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that
    functionality is the thief of time.
    

    re:.58 re:.21
    
    All of the Romance languages have two forms of the verb "to be".
    One is used for more or less temporary conditions, such as "I am
    sick" or "I am here"; the other for more or less permanent condi-
    tions, such as "I am tall" or "I am American".
    
    I say "more or less" because some of the "permanent" character-
    istics can be changed (being American isn't necessarily permanent)
    and some of the temporary things can be pretty well fixed. ("He
    is in the grave" would use *estar*, even though "he" is not likely
    to go anywhere else :-)).
    
    --- jerry

    Ok, .75, what are the two versions of "to be" in French?
    
    			-John Bishop

    Apparantly, �tre and avior. :-)
    
    	Jon

    Re .-1
    
    	Quite right ...
    
    		Je suis anglais		I am English or an Englishman
    		J'ai faim		I am hungry
    
    	

    mlnois::harbig
                  re.78
                        I don't think it's exactly right that
                        that using "avoir" means French has two
                        verbs "to be".
                        Italian like Spanish has two verbs "to be"
                        essere and stare but they also have their
                        verbs "to have" - avere and tener and for
                        certain things like hunger the form is the
                        same as french:
                         
                                    J'ai faim.
                                    Io ho fame.
                                    Yo tengo hambre.
    
                        There appears to be only "etre" in French.
                                                    Max                   
                                                                                  
    

    French has only one verb "to be", which is �tre (lat "esse");
    the other roman form, deriving from "stare", may have existed
    in the past, but did not make it to now ...
    
    However, the number of verbs with equivalent meaning is
    10247 (as of yesterday morning).

    	roger
    

    Re .77 (�tre/avoir)
    
    Good try.  While we're in the realms of the fantastic, what about
    �tre vs s'�tre:
    
    je suis refugi�		I am a refugee	
    				(all the time, cf 'ser')
    je me suis refugi�		I took refuge	
    				(on one occasion, cf 'estar')
    ;-)
    
    

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Re .81
                  As someone said that the French are the only people
                  in the world who think that merely speaking their
                  own language is an achievement of cosmic proportions
                  I don't think they'd appreciate that...
                  Watch out for booby trapped croissants at breakfast
                                           Max :-)

    re: .81
    
>        �tre vs s'�tre:
    
>    je suis refugi�		I am a refugee	
>    				(all the time, cf 'ser')
>    je me suis refugi�		I took refuge	
>    				(on one occasion, cf 'estar')

    Well, the first sentence uses the verb "�tre", and the second one 
    uses the verb "se r�fugier". The "je suis" in the second one is merely 
    the auxiliary (needed to build the perfect tense of action or 
    movements verbs).
    
    So there's really not a lot to compare with these examples, in spite
    of the apparence.
        
    Btw, there's no verb " s'�tre", quelle horreur !
    
    It's not without admiration that I see you guys playing
    with the questions related to the French auxiliary verbs,
    which have given nightmares to many generations of French
    schoolchildren.
    

    	re: .82
    
    Don't understand ... You say the French would not appreciate
    WHAT exacty ?
    
    	roger

    Re .-1
    
    Does French not have a word that corresponds to 'fantastic' in
    the sense 'of or pertaining to fantasy'?

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Re .84 
                  What exactly the French wouldn't appreciate you
                  appear to have found yourself.
    
                  "Btw there is no verb s'etre, quelle horreur!"
    
                                             Max

    Let's start again, damn  'Partenaire de reseau excit�e", see Geoff,
    VMS Local Language is alive and well.
    
    Anyway, I was going to say :-
    
    Strictly speaking �tre and avoir are, bien s�r, two different verbs
    that have probably several hundred different meanings -- in English
    :-) --  in French its quite obvious!
    
    Translating 'avoir' as 'to be' is only the English way of making
    sense of the French constructions.  The way it works, according
    to my French classes, is that 'avoir' is used for temporary situations
    whereas '�tre' is used for permanent changes or 'states-of-existence',
    which seems to fit in with the other 'Romance languages', although
    the verbs have different roots (why?).
    
    Consequently, 'I am hungry' uses 'avoir' as it is only temporary you
    just need to eat.  As opposed to 'I am an Englishman' which is permanent.
    
    If you don't agree with this last statement, try changing your name
    at the local Town Hall / City Hall in France :-), see the Valbonne
    notes file for lists of Kafka-like experiences.
    
    Re .82
    
    You're possibly right, where I used to work (not DEC) people used
    to say to me that French must be incredibly difficult to learn when
    compared to English and consequently a mammoth task for someone
    not French.  This was also supported by the argument that French
    was a very precise language where there was always a word which
    would exactly describe what you wanted to say and that this was
    THE 'correct' way.  As such it requires a good command of the language
    and vocabulary.
    
    English, on the other hand, was very imprecise in both its sentence
    construction, subject/object/verb agreement and the number ways of
    saying the same thing -- hence easier !!
    
    Maybe this is the reason that there are not so many 'word games'
    in French as in English.
    
    A devoted word association football supporter.
    

    re. 85
    
    Fantasy is great, even if it does not imply humour. 
    Bob, I certainly appreciate the great sense of humour, and 
    vast knowledge you show in this file.
    
    Correct me if am wrong !  :)
    
    re. 87
    
    It's not difficult to speak French; millions of children do !
    
    But the fine points of grammar and syntax are quite difficult.
    The question of auxiliary verbs, and agreement of the
    involved complements, are extremely complex, and it takes
    one (or several) book to explain them in details.
    
    If you're interested in the fine points of French grammar, don't 
    forget to follow the "Championnat de France d'orthographe"
    on TV next winter. Over 50000 people enrolled last year, including
    University teachers etc ...
    The text in the finale was really difficult to spell. The 
    average Frenchman makes about 50 errors; the final winner
    only 2 or 3.
    
    There's a lot of interest for language here. For example,
    I believe a candidate to the "Pr�sidence" would not 
    survive a major syntax fault in a speech; a few extra-marital
    affairs, on the other hand, wouldn't harm.  :)
    
    	roger
    

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Roger,
                        Which channel are the spelling championships
                        on ?
                        I can only pick up Antenne 2 here in the Milan
                        area.
                                                 Max

    Re: .88
>    I believe a candidate to the "Pr�sidence" would not 
>    survive a major syntax fault in a speech; a few extra-marital
>    affairs, on the other hand, wouldn't harm.  :)

    Too bad we don't have such stringent standards here in the
    USA. From the paper this morning:
        "No man in America, and few in history have been as 
        qualified to sit on the Supreme Court as Bork"
    Just the latest of a rich selection of examples from our
    illustrious leader.

   re: .89
    
The "Championnat de France d'orthographe" is organized by the monthly
magazine "LIRE" (which perhaps can be found in Milano, in the nice shops 
around the Corso Vittorio-Emmanuele, or nella Galleria ?).

Last year, it was open only to people who reside in France, Belgium, 
Switzerland and Monaco; but it was hinted that it might be open in 1987
to residents in the francophone territories and countries overseas. 

For 3 months the magazine publishes a number of test sheets that potential 
candidates have to fill, and send back to the editor. Some of these tests are 
pretty hard, like 
	Which is wrong: "Elle s'est senti p�lir" or "Elle s'est 
	sentie p�lir" ?
	Which is correct : "Quatre vingt dix" or "Quatre-vingt-dix", 
	or "Quatre-vingt dix ?". 

The successful applicants then enter the semi-finales which are held
in about 20 cities.
There are 3 categories: - junior, - senior amateur, - senior professional.
Professionals are i.a: Teachers of languages, linguists, writers, translators,
specialized journalists etc ...
A (diabolical) text is dictated to the candidates in each category. This is 
also on TV (FR3), and many spectators try it for fun.

The finale is held in Paris in December and live on Antenne 2 (so you can
see it in Italy, also Qu�bec I guess). Many "stars", ministers etc ...
can be seen there writing under the dictation. The "dictator" is the 
famous Bernard Pivot (producer of the "Apostrophes" program on Friday 
night A2, a "must" for all lovers of literature in French). 

Winners last year were rewarded by trips around the world etc ...

I realize this reply fits extremely well in this note, since it's about
the FUNCTIONING of something :) 
Perhaps sometime we'll mention this in the conference on French 
language (TSC01::FRENCH).

	roger

    MLNOIS::HARBIG
                  Thanks Roger I'll look out for "Lire".
                  I saw "Apostrophes" last Friday and
                  though my vocabulary is such that a
                  a lot of it goes over my head (I'm
                  working on it) what I can follow I
                  find fascinating.
                  I'm still at the "Les mots et les chiffres"
                  stage and so far I haven't been able to get
                  a nine letter one.
                                       Max 

    I'm surprised no-one picked up on the amazing logic expressed in
    .87
    
    Premise:
    > Translating 'avoir' as 'to be' is only the English way of making
    > sense of the French constructions.  The way it works, according
    > to my French classes, is that 'avoir' is used for temporary situations
    > whereas '�tre' is used for permanent changes or 'states-of-existence',

    Conclusion:
    > Consequently, 'I am hungry' uses 'avoir' as it is only temporary you
    > just need to eat.  As opposed to 'I am an Englishman' which is permanent.

    This is about as valid as the proof that a fish has five legs (see
    end).
    
    'avoir' means 'to have', and only that.  'faim' is a noun, meaning
    'hunger'.  The French idiom is not 'I am hungry', but 'I have hunger',
    hence, 'j'ai faim'.

    The premise stated is for dealing with forming the past tenses of
    verbs: generally, '�tre' is used as the auxiliary for verbs of motion,
    and reflexive verbs, 'avoir' for others.  ['to be born' and 'to die'
    are treated as the ultimate verbs of motion (into and out of
    existence), and hence use '�tre' :-) ].

    Jeff.
    
    The proof:
    
    	No dog has five legs
    	A fish is no dog
    	Therefore, a fish has five legs		Q.E.D.
    

    The difference between avoir and �tre is illustrated by their use with
    'plain(e)' (works best in the feminine): 
    
    j'ai plaine == I am full (after eating)
    je suis plaine == I am pregnant

    ;-)

    	I think the last one should use "pleine" (full, pregnant) rather
    than "plaine" (low, marshes). The pronunciation is similar for a
    foreigner, though. Once you can handle those two, try pronouncing
    the French for "a bitch (chienne) is tied to an oak tree (ch�ne)
    by a chain (cha�ne)".  :-}

    Having spoken French all my life, I have never heard anyone say
    'J'ai plein(e)' for 'I am full'. It was always 'Je suis plein(e)'
    
    'Plein' is an adjective, not a noun, which is why it takes the feminine
    ending when required. That is not the same with 'J'ai faim', where
    'faim' is a noun. A woman would not say 'J'ai faime'.
    
    I have also never heard of using 'pleine' for 'pregnant'; it has
    always been 'enceinte'. What is your source?
    
    Roger Laplante

    	My French dictionary gives "pleine" as a term for a pregnant
    cat (as an example). 
    
    	I will stick to "enceinte" for humans, since I have never heard
    any other term used. It might be safer.

    re: pleine (sorry, it's been a while since I took French, and you're
    right, I remembered the pronunciation)
    
    My source was my high school French teacher, who was (and probably
    still is) married to a Frenchman, and had made that very mistake on one
    of her first visits to the country.  The topic came up when we were
    discussing idioms.

    
    In the continuing saga of new words, in today's DECworld training,
    we were told something about DEC PARTNERSHIPPING with its customers.
    All I could think of when I heard this term was sending your buisness
    partner down to the shipping dock.  Oh well, it was a 'marketeer'.
    :-)
    

   I've seen two things lately that made my skin crawl.  One was in a memo
   that came around advising us of how to dispose of old equipment.  In it,
   the author *repeatedly* used the phrase "disposition" as a verb, to wit:
   
   	"By xx-Aug we hope to disposition all yyy equipment.  If you'd like
   	 more information on dispositioning this equipment please let me know
   	 know and I will be happy to forward you information on how to 
	 disposition these items."

   The second, even worse, came from a memo concerning DECworld. 
   The person was trying to set up registration, and wanted recipients of
   the mail message to, "message me back with the information requested". 
   
   My first reaction was, "Message you back?  Well, okay...  Now lie on the
   floor face down..."
   
   I think we've created a monster.  It now seems to be the "thing to do" to
   come up with bizarre, never-before-used words and phrases.  If these
   people only knew how they looked/sounded to the rest of us...
   
   Notingly yours,
   
   -- Sam

    re .100:
    
    You mean "to bizarre" words is an approved, nay, encouraged, activity?
    :-D
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    recently I've heard the word "connectorizing" crawling out of the
    woodwork - it is to install the connectors on the end of cables.
    
    

    Another noun verbed, from the world outside Digital. I received a
    brochure in the mail advertising fabrics that are "color-coordinated,
    so ensembling is easy." 
    
    					Val

    I attended an alumni function this Summer at which the funds were
    solicited to replace an old building. The association chairman told
    us the old structure was scheduled for "demolishment" next year.
    
    -Dick
    

    Re .104:
    Dick --  You're an alumnus of what institution?  Surely that one
    needs an English Department. :-)
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Heard on the radio-news-for-the-intelligent-and-discriminating,
    during an interview with a Roman Catholic somebody commenting on
    preparations for the Papal visit to the USA (paraphrased):
       Many of the talks given in this country, including some given
       by the Pope, were submitted to the Vatican for approval.  Some
       were heavily _nuanced_ before approval was given.

    Found today in another notes file:
    
    "database system A is significantly LESS PERFORMANT than B"
    
    ?
    
    -dave

   'Performant' is a legitimate word in French.  Many French people
    assume that because the word 'performance' exists in English,
    then 'performant' also exists.
    
    To convey the correct meaning entails a complete rearrangement of
    the sentence.
    
    "the performce of system A is significantly less than that of B"
        

    Re: .108:
    
>    "the performance of system A is significantly less than that of B"

    Or to put it briefly, "System B performs much better than system A.
    

    Re all the French related replies .85 + and -
    
    Beware falling foul of the fact that the French word for 'experience' is
    the same as for 'experiment'.  Try showing data from your 'experience',
    rather than from your 'experiment'.  Tricky!
    
    Also they prefer the use of 'encypherment' instead of 'encryption'.
    Encryption has something to do with putting a (dead) body in a crypt.

    Nick

    Not forgetting that "experiment�" means experienced !!   There are
    other wonderful examples too, try the following :
    
    			English			French
    
    			Chicory		=	Endive
    			Endive		=	Chicor�
    
    So beware of coffe with chicory and salads with endives :-)
    

    > So beware of coffe with chicory and salads with endives :-)

    Are they really different plants?  They are both described in my
    dictionary as "composite plants" without cross reference, except
    that there is a N. American usage of endive as the crown of a chicory
    plant.  "Composite" because the root is ground for use as a coffee
    additive and the leaves are used as salad.
    
    Some botanist got the Latin names for both plants?
    
    Jeff

    Random House College Dictionary:
    
    chicory	chicorium intybus ... the root of this plant
                _Brit._ endive
    
    endive	cichorium endivia
    
    Of the two spellings, I imagine the ci- one is right.  Anyway, it
    seems the two plants are related but not identical.  

    Endive - esp�ce cultiv�e de chicor�e, ......
    Chicor�e - ..... racine torr�fi�e d'une esp�ce de chicor�e que l'on
    m�lange parfois au caf�.
    
    (from a recent edition of Larousse).
    
    	They seem to be generally the same plant, but with maybe a
    distinction as to whether they are cultivated, and if so, for what
    purpose.

    I overheard this in a meeting today, from a tech writer, no less.
    
    "I have to go in and detailize how the software diddles the hardware."
    
    I wonder if there's a slot for "diddles" in the glossary (right
    after "detailize", no doubt)
    
    
    -Jody
    

    "These design features allow us to superioritize our functionality
     and performance."
    					- a Digital Sales Rep

    You sure he didn't say 'superprioritize' ?
    
    John J
    

    I think he was fully capable of that, also!

At a recent meeting to explain the JEC, we were told that a number of 
people from each job code had been "questionaired" to come up with the 
benchmarks for the jobs.  I don't feel comfy about this.

					>>>==>PStJTT

    That's because they were "questionnaired" with two n's.
    
    No, you're right.  It still looks funny.

    from the DECUS session notes (officially published and all that)
    
    title:  ONLINE DISK DEFRAGMENTATION FOR VMS
    
    one sentence:  By defragmenting online, meaning that the disks can
    remain active and accessed by users during the defragmentation process,
    the productivity of the users remains intact.
    
    BLEAH!!!
    
    

    Also, from the same DECUS proceedings...
    
    Title:  Ethernet, Multicast, and Promiscuous Modes under VAXELN
    
    Promiscuous mode?  They define it as a reception mode on the ethernet
    where the node controller accepts all packets....but I just had
    to laugh...
    
    

also from those selfsame published notes:

kitted
subsetted
tailorable
bootability
shrinkage
severities
shareable
sharers
journaled
informational
loadable
modularized
delimited
disassembly
descriptor
buffering
prioritization
functionality
OR'ed
subfunctions
executable
Nontransparent-mode
authentication



"When a disk is being beatup with IOs it might be nice to isolate the
process doing the IOs.....It might be nice to be able to shrink a process
working set to a reasonable size prior to memory becoming tight..."

"Watch for suspicious things
   detect file browsing and scavenging...
   create unused accounts...
trap weird occurrences
   check the origin of anything strange"

    Re .121:
    
>>    one sentence:  By defragmenting online, meaning that the disks can
>>    remain active and accessed by users during the defragmentation process,
>>    the productivity of the users remains intact.
    
    I would think that the onlinification of defragmentationalization, or
    for that matter anything that intactifies user productivityness, would
    be welcome!
    
    
    
    Dan (-:

    My son works part-time in a discount warehouse type of operation
    and recently brought home a memo put out by management. It concerned
    end of line stock, small amounts of left over stock, etc. 
    
    At one time these were the _remains_ or stock which _remained_.
    From this the stock became known as _remainders_.
    
    The memo has gone one step further:
    
    Any stock which is remaindered will kept in a separate location which
    will contain only remainderings.             
    
    Lord help us.
    
    Roger
    

    Some more from DECUS...
    
    SUPERSTITINIATE
    To submit a job that failed last time, without making changes, hoping
    it will magically work this time.
    
    ONOSECOND
    The amount of time between pressing the ENTER key and realising
    that you made a horrible mistake.
    
    PSCREWDOCODE
    The gibberish that results when you put your typing fingers on the
    wrong set of keys.
    
    PURGEATORY
    Where jobs go after they are purged.
    
    STUPIDUPLICATE
    To make an error and then copy it.
    
    QUEUE PASA
    Looking at the job queue to see what's happening, repeatedly.
    
    OVERBYTES
    Unit of measurement for unavailable disk space.
    
    PAPER POPPER
    A job that prints one line per page, especially whilst the stacker
    isn't working properly.

    re .126
    
    Sorry, I forgot the attribution...
    
    Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    
    Nick

    How about oxymorphs?  Quasimorphs?  

re: .100

Perhaps we should remember, somewhere along the line, how each
of us learned how to speak.  In the process of absorbing grammar,
children come up with wonderful non-words that follow perfectly
the grammatical rules that they know.  Functionality does seem
to follow from functional, which comes from function.

The acceptance of any new word, I think, should be based upon
how useful it is, and how clear the meaning is.  Functionality,
unfortunately, doesn't seem to fill any need.  We have much 
more clear and useful words available to us.

Perhaps our openness to new words (and, possibly, to new ideas)
is a function of the calcification of our neural paths.  I find
myself being more and more rigid about proper grammar as I age.


re: .112, chickory v. endive

This dilemma is totally unsolveable.  The problem is that the common
names of plants vary widely from place to place, even in our day of
farmers in California and Mexico selling veggies to everywhere in the 
U.S.  

The plant I called "chickory" in my youth is known in many places
as "curly endive".

Endive, used alone, means to me that pale, nose-cone shaped plant
grown under mounds of earth, and marketed as "Belgian Endive."

There is a colorful wildflower (def: a weed that no one cares to destroy)
that shows blue blossoms in July here in New England, which is known
commonly as "Chickory."  I don't know if it is edible.

The "Chickory" that goes into coffee is, I believe, the root of
some one of the above plants, but don't quote me on it.

/tricia

    re:.112
    
    >    Are they really different plants?  They are both described in my
    > dictionary as "composite plants" without cross reference, except
    > that there is a N. American usage of endive as the crown of a chicory
    > plant.  "Composite" because the root is ground for use as a coffee
    > additive and the leaves are used as salad.

    "Composite" does not refer to the different uses of the portions of the
    plant which the sun shines on versus the portions that the sun never
    shines on, nor does it refer to a Frankenstein's monster glued together
    out of spare parts. 
    
    The Compositae are members of a large family (family is another
    technical term from taxonomy) of plants. The apparent flowers are
    actually composite flowers made up of many small true flowers
    surrounded by things that look like petals. Common examples are
    sunflowers and daisies. (It is not the petals that you pluck when you
    want to know if she loves you but daren't ask.) 
    

    I heard two new words this week:
    
    The first word was heard on "60 Minutes" --- soldierization.
    
    The second was heard in a radio ad for gasoline -- detergency (as
    in, "our gas has a higher detergency level...")

    And this word came through in an internal memo:
    
    "lifeware"  meaning people or personnel
    
    That's a scary one!

    I don't think it's too scary until it's contrasted with "deadware",
    meaning people or personnel who don't do anything useful.

    What about `Tupperware', meaning people who sit around in the back
    of the fridge and turn green slowly?

    Yeah, and what about Corelle "Living ware" meaning people who
    when dropped just don't break, they explode ?

    Well, in the cyberpunk tradition, there is hardware (solid electronic
    circuitry), software (programs and such like), firmware (kind of
    a cross between hardware and software, like ROMs et al), and wetware
    (brain-matter grown into the network of cyberspace).

    Beneath all that wonderful programming, I wonder if there's underware?
    
    -Jody

    And since I'm in database engineering, I've always liked "tuple-ware".
    It keeps your data fresh!

    re: .136
    
    A friend of mine refers to the natural human brain as "squishyware."
    
    --bonnie

    Delaware!
    
    Now anybody care to guess what kinda folks are these?
    
    - Dave K.

Re .139 (by EGAV01::DKEATING)

>   Delaware!

>   Now anybody care to guess what kinda folks are these?


Idaho.  Alaska.

I couldn't resist.

Dave C.

    Re .139 and .140
    
    Jamaica answer in response to your "Alaska"?
    
    :-)

    Back to tje original point, after some slight delay. "Functionality"
    can be beaten, I used to work for a city(London) money brokers who
    included the use of 'good English' in their Computing standards.
    The dreaded "functionality" was included in the list of non-words
    not to be used. There is hope for us yet. Just an aside, the person
    responsible for promoting 'good english' was Polish!!
    
    Barrie
     

    
    
    RE .-1
    
    	I'd like to see the rest of that list.
    
    	-- Glinch
    

    
    
    I'm not sure what the problem is about "functionality".
    
    I'm an old Tech Writer, and have spent a lot of time and energy over
    many years wisely using short familiar words instead of long unfamiliar
    words and short familiar sentences ... and so on. It's quirky; I get a
    big kick out of reducing a piece of writing to its simplest form. And
    if I could think of a short familiar word that adequatley replaced the
    word "functionality" I'd use it. But I can't.
    
    It seems to me that if you have a problem with the word "functionality"
    the you must also have a problem with the word "personality". We use
    "personality" a lot. We KNOW what it means. It means something about
    the WAY a person is. Similarly, I think, "functionality" means
    something about the WAY a machine is.
    
    What's the problem? What am I overlooking? I'm sure I'm missing
    something because so many people hate "functionality" and I don't.
    Help!
    
    Thanks.
    
    
    bob j

    > re .25
    >
    > > "The" means "the particular instance of this noun that was last
    > > referred to."
    >
    > I noticed right away that each definition started with the word
    > it was trying to define.  It reminded me of the old "recursion:
    > see recursion" definition.
    
    In fact, the definition began with a self-contradictory usage of
    the word it was trying to define.  In "the particular instance,"
    "the" means the particular instance of "instance" that was last
    referred to?  Prior to the first instance of "instance"?

    Re .52:
    
    > Correct (maybe:)
    >     The computer has been restored to full functionality.
    >     The car lost functionality when its carburetor got clogged.
    
    No one has ever corrected this?  Try:
          The computer has been restored to full function.
          The car lost function when its carburetor get clogged.

    "De-preprocessize"

     <<< TURRIS::TURRIS$DUA18:[NOTES$LIBRARY]EASYNET_CONFERENCES.NOTE;2 >>>
                       -< EasyNet Conference Directory >-
================================================================================
Note 2675.0*    ANNOUNCING THE CORP. PRODUCTIZATION PROGRAM CONF.     No replies
FOOZLE::SANDLER                                      17 lines   5-FEB-1990 11:33
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    	       		ANNOUNCING the creation of the 
    
      		Corporate Productization Program's Notes Conference
    
    
    
    	This conference is to assist all who want to gain knowledge of,
    assistance in implementin, the Corporation's Productization Program.
    
	Briefly stated the goal of the Program is to provide the DATA, 
    APPLICATIONS, and TOOLS to pro-actively manage product inventory through
    the entire pipeline (MANUFACTURING, CUSTOMER SERVICE, and SALES.
    
	THE CONFERENCE IS LOCATED AT SIMVAX::CORP_PRODUCTIZATION
    
    

re: .148

I guess that productization has been corporatized.

Clay    
    

    re .148
    
    <XENOPHOBIA_ON>
    
    And if it were a word it would be 'productisation' anyway!

    <XENOPHOBIA_OFF>
    
    :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

    Well the word has made it into french.
    "Pour realiser la fontionnalite il suffira de tester les 2 extracts et
    les comparer." From my team leader this morning.
    
    Peter Marshall

    Re .151:
    
>   "Pour realiser la fontionnalite il suffira de tester les 2 extracts et
    les comparer,"
    
    I don't have my French dictionary by me, but ....         "extracts"???
    
    Is that Franglais, also?
    
    -Jim

    The `word' would be "fonctionnalit�"; and it's `extrait', isn't it?
    
    b

    Re .131
    
    > soldierization
    
    But fortunately, soldierity gave way to solidarity.
    
    
    
    Re whatever.whatever
    
    Most rice is orientate.
    
    
    
    Re *.*
    
    I don't know most of the story about Van Gogh, like what his girlfriend
    did afterwards.  Was she earregardless?

    Just saw "effectivity" in a DECregulations document.
    Has it been effectivated in this conference yet?

    Well I hopefulated that matter as I instantiated readiation upon your
    writeulation in .155.
    
    FWIW.
    

I predictify that each of those neologismics is instancified within the 
next annualation in a DECofficial documentate communification.

    2.155
    
    Sorry, but effectivity has been around for ages.  I first encountered
    it at least 24 years ago in the aircraft industry.
    
    The word is applied to design modifications and defines the point of
    introduction into production use.  For aircraft and aero-engines,
    effectivity was generally by product serial number, though I've also
    seen it by date and by 'use existing stocks first', i.e. get rid of the
    old ones first.
    
    Nick