The Modernization of Emacs: terminology buffer and keybinding

[George Neuner]

On Wed, 3 Oct 2007 09:36:40 +0000 (UTC), bcd at pvv.ntnu.no (Bent C
Dalager) wrote:

>In article <85ve9ov971.fsf at lola.goethe.zz>, David Kastrup  <dak at gnu.org> wrote:
>>bcd at pvv.ntnu.no (Bent C Dalager) writes:
>>
>>> In article <fdtsfu$iq6$03$1 at news.t-online.com>,
>>> Frank Goenninger  <frgo at goenninger.net> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>Well, I didn't start the discussion. So you should ask the OP about the 
>>>>why. I jumped in when I came across the so often mentioned "hey, it's 
>>>>all well defined" statement was brought in. I simply said that if that 
>>>>"well-definedness" is against "common understanding" then I don't give 
>>>>a damn about that clever definitions. Because I have to know that there 
>>>>are such definitions - always also knowing that free is not really 
>>>>free.
>>>
>>> "Liberated" is a valid meaning of the word "free".
>>
>>No.  It is a valid meaning of the word "freed".
>
>Only if you're being exceedingly pedantic and probably not even
>then. Webster 1913 lists, among other meanings,
>
>Free
>(...)
>"Liberated, by arriving at a certain age, from the control
>of parents, guardian, or master."
>
>The point presumably being that having been "liberated", you are now
>"free".

I don't think knowing the meaning of a word is being pedantic.
"Freed" is derived from "free" but has a different, though associated,
meaning.  Words have meaning despite the many attempts by Generation X
to assert otherwise.  Symbolism over substance has become the mantra
of the young.

The English language has degenerated significantly in the last 30
years.  People (marketers in particular) routinely coin ridiculous new
words and hope they will catch on.  I remember seeing a documentary
(circa 1990?) about changes in the English language.  One part of the
program was about the BBC news and one of its editors, whom the staff
called the "protector of language", who checked the pronunciation of
words by the news anchors.  The thing that struck me about this story
was the number of BBC newspeople who publicly admitted that they could
hardly wait for this man to retire so they could write and speak the
way they wanted rather than having to be "correct".

Dictionaries used to be the arbiters of the language - any word or
meaning of a word not found in the dictionary was considered a
colloquial (slang) use.  Since the 1980's, an entry in the dictionary
has become little more than evidence of popularity as the major
dictionaries (OED, Webster, Cambridge, etc.) will now consider any
word they can find used in print.

George
--
for email reply remove "/" from address