-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi James,
I once heard that in (European) law French is the language of choice because it were the most precise one (which I find easy to believe). Maybe we should try and convince journals to only accept articles written in French - not sure, this will improve their quality, though, comparing my level of French with my level of English ;-) Lovely discussion, Tim On 11/15/2012 09:15 PM, James Stroud wrote: > On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Tim Gruene wrote: >> I have heard this discussion before and reminds me of people >> claiming strawberries were nuts - which botanically may be >> correct, but would still not make me complain about strawberries >> in a fruit cake I ordered at a restaurant. >> >> My Pengiun English Dictionary states (amongst other >> explanations) freeze: "to make extremely cold", > > > Tim's comment strikes at the heart of the problem. > > I think the scientific community should decide a few points. > > 1. What is the approved language and dialect for science? 2. Within > this dialect, what should be the authoritative dictionary? 3. Will > we allow use of definitions that are not the primary definition > (second, third, fourth). 4. Will we allow the use of homonyms? 5. > If not, which homonyms should prevail? > > These are all very important questions if we completely disregard > context in writing. > > James > - -- - -- Dr Tim Gruene Institut fuer anorganische Chemie Tammannstr. 4 D-37077 Goettingen GPG Key ID = A46BEE1A -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iD8DBQFQpg1XUxlJ7aRr7hoRAl33AKCbSYXQmD2YyVug5s3i+2CYDVDzqQCfZ7Qz 4IiEP5B5NrB+D0s+r/tIa6o= =nN9O -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
