I am glad someone keeps us on our toes, language-wise, as John does, but I think there is a time and place for it. The original poster is obviously new to multi-tasking and the many problems that go with it, so why burden him with having to dig through a dictionary to know if what is being said is important or not.
Yes, some words carry a nuance that another word doesn't, like 'tome' rather than 'book' when you want to convey it is a large heavy book. The use of naïf over novice was unfortunate as naïf has a more negative connotation than novice. A naïf is a naive person, or one who is artless or unsophisticated. A novice is a beginner. By the questions asked, the poster was a beginner, but then at one point weren't we all. I think we all have a tendency to show off a little bit, myself included. My point is: gear the answer to the level of the questioner. If on a Friday John wants to send out an email that will keep us digging in our dictionaries for a week, that is fine by me, but doing it to a person who is trying to get his feet wet is over doing it. My two cents for a Monday (ugh!) morning. Christopher Y. Blaicher Senior Software Developer Austin Development Lab phone: 512.340.6154 mobile: 512.627.3803 fax: 512.340.6647 10431 Morado Circle Austin, TX 78759 -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:ibm-m...@bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of Tony's FRONTIER account Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 9:25 AM To: IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu Subject: Re: ATTACH It's part of my enjoyment of John Gilmore that many of his words have sent me to various web sites for definition. But now I just wish I knew how to squash the a and the e together. :-) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "john gilmore" <john_w_gilm...@msn.com> > Newsgroups: bit.listserv.ibm-main > To: <IBM-MAIN@bama.ua.edu> > Sent: Sunday, October 31, 2010 8:31 PM > Subject: Re: ATTACH > > > My problem in all of this is that I am unfamiliar with the term eduction > as anything but a technical one in geology. > > It is not I suppose impossible, on the principles of English word > formation, as a substantive formed from educe (educere); but I have never > seen it; the OED wots not of it; and I am thus very suspicious of its > legitimacy, even as a nonce word. > > I remember going astray, ætat 4 or 5, when I first encountered the French > word impayable and took it for a legitimate English one too; but I am > older now and not so easy to fool. > > John Gilmore Ashland, MA 01721-1817 USA > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, > send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO > Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
