On 12/16/2014 8:27 AM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
Indeed it is. I seem to recall in a North American archaeology class way back
in the days of pen and paper the professor explaining that the decline of
cultures frequently can be tracked by the regression from absolute to abstract,
or from the precise to the imprecise (my term, sloppy). His examples, I
believe, were various iterations of pottery: same cultures, different times.
The glazes and designs rose from primitive and struggling through rational and
precise and then to abstract and imprecise, at which point the culture in
question collapsed, or was assimilated into a conquering culture.
So we're OK, as long as the mainstream culture remains firmly literal oriented?
Is it worth it?
On the other hand, it could be said that the sheer number of people in the world today
guarantees sloppiness and imprecision everywhere one turns, yet within that larger
number of linguistic slobs can be found a generous quantity of genuinely literate
people who do not trip and fall every time they confront the pluperfect. We’re
just harder to find.
I guess they didn't teach, or I wasn't paying attention, that name for that tense/usage, calling it, I believe, Past
Perfect. I do, however, use it regularly.
And which of us in his right mind would have thought a photography listserv would
be a haven for language pedants? <g>
Any of us who still find themselves in that state?
What Alternative Moose
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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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