In article <9nh0a7$7brv4$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Neville X. Elliven <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Richard Wright wrote:
>>On Thu, 23 Aug 2001 04:33:44 GMT, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>(Neville X. Elliven) wrote:
>>I don't feel that the practise (where the adjective takes the place
>>of the adjective + noun) is regrettable. This is one of the ways by
>>which languages evolve into conciseness.
>Wrong, Wright; *you* wrote that. I feel that it's one of the *worst*
>ways the language can be made more concise [evolution be damned]
>because it comes at the cost of a loss of clarity, as experienced by
>Stephen Dubin.
>>Anyway, it is a bit late to be regretting the examples you give.
>It's never too late to regret bad usage.
>>The OED cites the following use of metric as a noun: 1921 Proc. R.
>>Soc. A. XCIX. 104 "In the non-Euclidean geometry of Riemann, the
>>metric is defined by certain quantities . . . which are identified by
>>Einstein with the potentials of the gravitational field."
>A good example of bad usage: *what* metric, *what* quantities?
>The reader should not be left hanging with those questions unanswered.
This is not bad usage at all. In mathematics, the word
"metric" as a noun refers to a general type of distance,
not necessarily the type in common use. As an adjective,
it refers to an object for which there is a metric which is
connected to the properties of that object, or where there
is a definite metric involved. It is usage as a noun which
comes first, with the adjective usage being based on that.
--
This address is for information only. I do not claim that these views
are those of the Statistics Department or of Purdue University.
Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
[EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: (765)494-6054 FAX: (765)494-0558
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