Project GFT Start!

Error message

Deprecated function: implode(): Passing glue string after array is deprecated. Swap the parameters in drupal_get_feeds() (line 394 of /var/www/pied-piper.ermarian.net/includes/common.inc).

Pages

Author	Topic: Project GFT Start!
radix malorum est cupiditas Lifecrafter Member # 6403	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 09:28 Profile #25 That was far too long to read. -------------------- ??? ?????? ???? ????? Posts: 883 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 19 2005 07:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 09:34 Profile Homepage #26 quote: Originally written by the fatman: quote: The only problem is, is that this is an enormous undertaking. It will require much patience and time, which i doubt anybody has (I, as somebody who is undertaking about four very big projects at once, knows what he is talking about). Hint # 2. Undertaking is a noun, not a verb. Perhaps you mean: I, as someone who is taking on about four very big projects at once, knows what I am talking about. And now I can gleefully correct the correcter. To undertake is, in fact, a verb. It's not a common verb, but it's used correctly here. —Alorael, who questions the 5%. This may be accurate if you extrapolate from the past few years, or even the past century. Examine the last thousand years, though, and you'll see that we went from pre-Norman invasion Old English to modern English. Forget words. Our alphabet has changed more than 5%. Where are the ashes, eths, and thorns of yestermillenium? Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
ReMeMbEr Agent Member # 6581	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:08 Profile Homepage #27 quote: Originally written by Shaper Lord: The question is for you. What I meant by don't waste your life on games isn't that you shouldn't play games, because it's a great way to pass time when you're bored. Just don't put it as first priority, you know what I mean? Don't sacrifice time with friends to play a dumb game, it's just not worth it. Honestly, I prefer playing a games than wast my time going in a disco. :P -------------------- Download Geneforge 4: Rebellion You have 6 posts. Nobody cares what you think. - Thuryl Wikipedia may be your friend, but UBB is not. - Dikiyoba Posts: 1310 \| Registered: Tuesday, December 20 2005 08:00
moonear Infiltrator Member # 5410	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:09 Profile #28 to undertake is a verb BUT undertaking is a noun You used the word undertaking so in fact my point WAS correct. But, again I reiterate, language rules are rules of convention and will change with time. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 \| Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Zeviz Nuke and Pave Member # 24	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:12 Profile Homepage #29 quote: Originally written by the fatman: to undertake is a verb BUT undertaking is a noun You used the word undertaking so in fact my point WAS correct. But, again I reiterate, language rules are rules of convention and will change with time. Actaully, he said "is undertaking", which is a third person Present Continuous form of a verb "to undertake": Infinitive - to undertake, to play Simple Present - he undertakes, he plays Present Continuous - he is undertaking, he is playing Present Perfect - he has undertaken, he has played Present Perfect Continuous - he has been undertaking, he has been playing What is it with native speakers correcting others without knowing the rules of their own language. :P EDIT: Added an example with a regular verb. [ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:22: Message edited by: Zeviz ] -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Slarty Raven v. Writing Desk Member # 261	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:13 Profile Homepage #30 quote: Originally written by the fatman: Actually, 5% is probably pretty close to the truth, and its not futile to establish this value. Asimple comparison between generations of text would generate validity to the rate of change. No, it wouldn't. This is absurd, it is patently false. Please show me the "simple comparison" between two texts separated by 1000 years in which 95% of the language, however you want to count it, is the same. quote: You should note that the core of a language remains relatively constant while it is the fringes and emerging uses that change. It's true that some types of changes are more likely to occur than others. Minor sound changes can happen relatively quickly, whereas no agglutinative language is going to become analytical overnight. However, talking about this in terms of the "core" and "fringes" of a language makes no sense whatsoever. Those terms are pretty meaningless unless you are only referring to the lexicon and not to grammar -- and in that case, the assertion is just plain wrong. If you want us to hear your arguments, then please, make arguments, not just wild assertions :) -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 \| Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
spy-there Agent Member # 1993	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:43 Profile #31 :) Magma Dragoon, you could translate BoA into Italian. It's open source and by far better than GF3. <stoops to avoid flying tomatos from the GF fanatics and apologizes for dodging the grammar lesson.> -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00
ReMeMbEr Agent Member # 6581	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 10:46 Profile Homepage #32 quote: Originally written by spy-there: :) Magma Dragoon, you could translate BoA into Italian. It's open source and by far better than GF3. <stoops to avoid flying tomatos from the GF fanatics and apologizes for dodging the grammar lesson.> :) Sorry, but I don't like the Avernum Series. 4 characters are too much for me. -------------------- Download Geneforge 4: Rebellion You have 6 posts. Nobody cares what you think. - Thuryl Wikipedia may be your friend, but UBB is not. - Dikiyoba Posts: 1310 \| Registered: Tuesday, December 20 2005 08:00
moonear Infiltrator Member # 5410	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:35 Profile #33 In a study by Donlad Brenneis and Ronald K S Macaulay on the use of various phonetic combinations over a period of ten years the rate of change was found to be between (much less than) 0.01% to 0.18%, per year. Your patently false comment is, patently ridiculous. quote: What is it with native speakers correcting others without knowing the rules of their own language. I stand corrected. [ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 11:37: Message edited by: the fatman ] -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 \| Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Jumpin Salmon ? Man, ? Amazing Member # 5755	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:37 Profile #34 The whole 5% argument is just cracking me up. One guy (Webster) defined spelling for the USA. It is far removed from Chaucerian English. Have we descended into nerdism to the point where delta-spelling and delta-grammar must be charted against the decade? For shame. And to think all this came from Aran correctly pointing out that Thralni, by virtue of attempting to learn a foreign language, had made an error. This thread, in and of itself, should be a warning against all who would attempt translation of anything into a tongue not native or near-native. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon: Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing. Posts: 4114 \| Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00
moonear Infiltrator Member # 5410	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:42 Profile #35 quote: Have we descended into nerdism to the point where delta-spelling and delta-grammar must be charted against the decade? For shame. And to think all this came from Aran correctly pointing out that Thralni, by virtue of attempting to learn a foreign language, had made an error. I would like to urge everyone interested in language and especially those who feel compelled to promote some ideal of usage to remember that with regard to language use, it can only be convention. The nature of language prevents it from ever being more than that. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 \| Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
ReMeMbEr Agent Member # 6581	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:43 Profile Homepage #36 quote: Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon: This thread, in and of itself, should be a warning against all who would attempt translation of anything into a tongue not native or near-native. Trying don't hurt anyone, right? -------------------- Download Geneforge 4: Rebellion You have 6 posts. Nobody cares what you think. - Thuryl Wikipedia may be your friend, but UBB is not. - Dikiyoba Posts: 1310 \| Registered: Tuesday, December 20 2005 08:00
moonear Infiltrator Member # 5410	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:48 Profile #37 quote: Trying don't hurt anyone, right? That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly). If I were you I'd look out for the language police on this one. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 \| Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Thralni Master Member # 5977	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 11:50 Profile Homepage #38 quote: Originally written by Jumpin' Salmon: quote: Originally written by Arancaytar: And that's enough for grammar pedantry today. :) This, on the other hand, is extremely quote-worthy. Should there be a scorecard somewhere for keeping track of these things, or do you employ a calendar (one of those day/page things) where you dispose of the page or mark it after making your daily grammar correction? Now, I enjoy a good grammar correction as well as the next guy, but is Thralni the right fellow to receive it? I thnk not. He is too sensitive, too much follow-up discussion will take place, and he is not here to learn English grammar. :P Don't worry, I've got used to this a long time ago. Of course, this irritates me abit, but on the other hand I can only benefit from it, right? -------------------- Play and rate my scenarios: Where the rivers meet View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape. Give us your drek! Posts: 3029 \| Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00
Zeviz Nuke and Pave Member # 24	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 12:19 Profile Homepage #39 quote: Originally written by the fatman: In a study by Donlad Brenneis and Ronald K S Macaulay on the use of various phonetic combinations over a period of ten years the rate of change was found to be between (much less than) 0.01% to 0.18%, per year. Your patently false comment is, patently ridiculous. ... The problem here is that such results can't be projected far beyond the boundaries of original study. I forgot the statistical term for it, but projecting a trend far beyond the data set for which it was established can lead to very misleading results. Your "5% change in 1000 years" is a classic example of this. The 10 years analized in the study ignore dramatic events like revolutions and foreign invasions that cause massive changes in a few years. You also assume that the rate of change of languages in modern world with standardizing influence of mass media and education is the same as it was in the past, when villages a few dozen kilometers apart could develop different dialects, because of lack of standardizing influences. A third problem is how you count your changes. For example, one of the parts of language reform enacted after Russian Revolution removed the letter yat', which was used, among other places, on the end of every word that ended in in consonant. Do you count this as a 3% change (removing 1 out of 35 letters), or as a 50% change (modifying spelling of over 50% of words)? PS Your posts would meet with far less aggressive replies if you toned down your own insults. Calling somebody's reply "patently rediculous" while claiming that Chauser's English is less than 4% different from our modern English doesn't look very good. For your reference, here is an example of fourteenth century English. [ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 12:33: Message edited by: Zeviz ] -------------------- Be careful with a word, as you would with a sword, For it too has the power to kill. However well placed word, unlike a well placed sword, Can also have the power to heal. Posts: 2649 \| Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Grain of Salt Infiltrator Member # 6652	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 12:23 Profile #40 quote: Originally written by the fatman: quote: Trying don't hurt anyone, right? That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly). If I were you I'd look out for the language police on this one. He is Italian. Says so in his sig and his location. You try speaking Italian without a few gramatical errors. -------------------- But I don't want to ride the elevator. Posts: 420 \| Registered: Sunday, January 8 2006 08:00
Or else o'erleap. Law Bringer Member # 335	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 12:44 Profile Homepage #41 quote: Originally written by the fatman: That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly). "Not, understood you perfectly" is not something I understand perfectly. And read is a verb unless you listen to those evil heathen descriptivists, and you don't start sentences with conjunctions! —Alorael, who sees the beginnings of a satisfying flame war started entirely by grammar sparked by the presence of non-native English speakers, more or less. Spiderweb is truly a marvelous place. Posts: 14579 \| Registered: Saturday, December 1 2001 08:00
Slarty Raven v. Writing Desk Member # 261	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 12:47 Profile Homepage #42 quote: Originally written by the fatman: In a study by Donlad Brenneis and Ronald K S Macaulay on the use of various phonetic combinations over a period of ten years the rate of change was found to be between (much less than) 0.01% to 0.18%, per year. Your patently false comment is, patently ridiculous. Could you please cite the specify study? Listing a study without providing a reference is patently unscholarly ;) Zeviz already pointed out the problem with assuming that a study focusing on ten years and certain environmental conditions scales accurately to 1000 years of widely varying conditions. Another problem, however, is that change in "the use of various phonetic combinations" -- a pretty vague phrase to begin with -- is not the same thing as language change. In fact... it's not even remotely the same thing! -------------------- Slarty vs. Desk • Desk vs. Slarty • Timeline of Ermarian • G4 Strategy Central Posts: 3560 \| Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
moonear Infiltrator Member # 5410	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 13:57 Profile #43 quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally written by the fatman: quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trying don't hurt anyone, right? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That was a painful read (not, understood you perfectly). If I were you I'd look out for the language police on this one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The use of the word "not" refers to the sentence previously. Or, to wit, That it was an easy read. I was poking fun at those who constantly correct grammar/spelling in these posts. quote: He is Italian. Says so in his sig and his location. You try speaking Italian without a few gramatical errors. My second comment (...grammar police...) is not intended to imply that I am a grammar policeman and that I will try to correct the error of his ways. Rather, it is to be on the lookout for others on this board who will do the same. It wouldn't bother me if a person of Ivy League education used the same term. If you review my posts, I am consistently poking fun at those who insist on grammatical correctness/proper spelling. I would like to urge everyone interested in language and especially those who feel compelled to promote some ideal of usage to remember that with regard to language use, it can only be convention. The nature of language prevents it from ever being more than that. -------------------- "Dikiyoba ... is demon ... drives people mad and ... do all sorts of strange things." "You Spiderwebbians are mad, mad, mad as March hares." Posts: 687 \| Registered: Wednesday, January 19 2005 08:00
Grain of Salt Infiltrator Member # 6652	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 14:13 Profile #44 Saying "watch out for people who don't like bad grammar, because of your post" carries the same message as "your post has bad grammar". But anyway, It seems that you could avoid a lot of arguments by making yourself a bit clearer. -------------------- But I don't want to ride the elevator. Posts: 420 \| Registered: Sunday, January 8 2006 08:00
Goldenking Agent Member # 4574	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 14:14 Profile #45 Hmm. I see a good name to choose next, Grammerking. Then as a joke I could use horrible grammer. Em I mean speaking as my future self: I grammer bad. Urgh on second thought better not. -------------------- Constitutional monarchies are the in monarchies. Posts: 1186 \| Registered: Friday, June 18 2004 07:00
Slarty Raven v. Writing Desk Member # 261	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 14:22 Profile Homepage #46 "Ego sum rex Romanus et supra grammaticam." — Sigismund I Posts: 3560 \| Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Kelandon Off With Their Heads Member # 4045	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 14:44 Profile Homepage #47 Rates of linguistic change are extremely variable, even within the same language. Spanish and French descend from the same language, but modern spoken Spanish is a hell of a lot closer to Latin than modern spoken French. Icelandic, for example, may have changed only somewhat over the last thousand years or so, but that is an extremely rare exception. English, the opposite extreme, no longer even remotely resembles what it was a thousand years ago. I doubt that there are any words that have not undergone at least one sound change since then, and the Anglo-Saxons would have been baffled by our array of French and Latin and Greek words (not to mention some idioms that have come from as far away as China). But that wasn't Fatman's point, was it? He was simply saying that languages change over time, which is true, and things that were once incorrect become correct, which is also true. However, I'm more of a prescriptivist than several others here (some things are just grammatically wrong, dammit), so while I can understand the sentiment, I can't say that I much agree. That said, the errors that are made in informal conversation amongst native and non-native English speakers (and writers) alike on a message board on the Internet (for god's sake) are generally forgivable, as long as communication remains fluid, which seems to have been the case here. In other words, just drop it. :P EDIT: By the way, does it make anyone else's eyes bleed to read the abomination, "grammer"? [ Wednesday, March 22, 2006 14:48: Message edited by: Kelandon ] -------------------- Arancaytar: Every time you ask people to compare TM and Kel, you endanger the poor, fluffy kittens. Smoo: Get ready to face the walls! Ephesos: In conclusion, yarr. Kelandon's Pink and Pretty Page!!: the authorized location for all things by me The Archive of all released BoE scenarios ever Posts: 7968 \| Registered: Saturday, February 28 2004 08:00
Slarty Raven v. Writing Desk Member # 261	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 14:57 Profile Homepage #48 "Grammer" beats "grama" in my book :P Posts: 3560 \| Registered: Wednesday, November 7 2001 08:00
Jumpin Salmon ? Man, ? Amazing Member # 5755	written Wednesday, March 22 2006 15:05 Profile #49 quote: Originally written by Kelandon: ... errors that are made ... on a message board on the Internet ... are generally forgivable, as long as communication remains fluid, which seems to have been the case here. In other words, just drop it. :P EDIT: By the way, does it make anyone else's eyes bleed to read the abomination, "grammer"? Kel, the whole thing makes my eyes burn. But, while the grammar police roam free this controversy will rule the Serengeti. Or something like that, if you liken the grammar police to zebras and the controversy to a pride of lions. Trust me, it's a decent enough analogy. -------------------- quote: Originally written by Kelandon: Well, I'm at least pretty sure that Salmon is losing. Posts: 4114 \| Registered: Monday, April 25 2005 07:00