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Conference thebay::joyoflex

Title:The Joy of Lex
Notice:A Notes File even your grammar could love
Moderator:THEBAY::SYSTEM
Created:Fri Feb 28 1986
Last Modified:Mon Jun 02 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1192
Total number of notes:42769

751.0. "Use of etymology as definition" by LAIDBK::FRIEDMAN_MI (Don't be happy; worry.) Thu Dec 14 1989 06:51

    I have a pet peeve.
    
    How many times have you heard a lecture of some sort that starts
    out something like this:
    
    "'Noxious'--what does that mean.  Well, the word noxious comes from
    the Latin _noxa_, which means 'damage.'  Therefore, "noxious" is
    a type of damage. ..."
    
    What does the etymology of a word have at all to do with the word's
    present-day meaning?
T.RTitleUserPersonal
Name		DateLines
751.1Did you know "etymology" means "true word"?SHALOT::ANDERSONGive me a U, give me a T...Thu Dec 14 1989 19:4817
	Here's a good one from a recent presentation I heard:

		"Enterprise" comes from both French and
		Latin, and has the meanings of "between" 
		and "to lay hold of" and "comprehend"

	Not only did this writer use the tired old etymology strategy,
	she also didn't know how to read a dictionary.  The worrying
	thing is she was my boss's boss's boss (I'm not worried about
	her reading this -- I figure she's got better things to do).

	One thing that's even worse than the etymology trick is to
	start a presentation off with a definition from Webster's.
	Worse than starting a newspaper oarticle with "A good time was
	had by all."

		-- Cliff
751.2LAMHRA::WHORLOWAre you proud of Digital's computers?Thu Dec 14 1989 21:5416
    G'day,
    
    re .�    I have a pet peeve.
               is it furry?            :-)
    
    
    Have to agree tho', not the best form of introduction to a talk or
    presentation - however it could be useful where ..(long pause, think
    think whirrr clunk thunk think )..mmm no it can't!
    
    
     derek
751.3There must be moreWELMTS::HILLTechnology is my Vorpal swordMon Dec 18 1989 10:047
    Much more useful in articles and presentations are the explanations
    about how IT things got their names - even if the stories are only
    folk-legend.
    
    Thus...
    
    System Software Implementation Language, Backwards = SSILB = BLISS