English is a fun langauge, isn't it? After all, if we don't have a word that does what we want it to, we just make up a new one! Then, the rest of the world languages seem to borrow them from us.
English can be one of the most difficult languages to learn - it just doesn't follow its own rules. If the plural of goose is geese, why is not moose/meese? And if house + house = houses, why doesn't mouse + mouse = mouses?
I've got to get a new OED one of these days, but finding an old one is like looking for hen's teeth around here. It only took me two years to find an old copy of Machinery's Handbook (12th ed, in fact) because no-one around here seems to have any interest in anything over, say, four years old.
Pity - there's a lot more in MH 12th that I find useful than there is in MH 26th... And, it explains the math better, I think. The 1940's, 1950's and early 1960's were probably the heyday for technical books - and you can usually tell a technical author who was educated around that time as well, just about two pages into the book.
Now we've got journalists who can't be arsed to use the language correctly - is it any wonder that no-one else does? I refuse to learn "street speak" (or whatever they're calling it this week) - if you want to talk to me, speak properly or I'll ignore you. It's that simple...
Interesting commentary, but not very edifying (unfortunately.) Anyone else care to sound off?
(While we're talking about not following rules, why is it "a pair of panites," but just one "bra." Last time I checked, boobs usually are served in pairs, aren't they?)
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