Re: THEORY nouns and cases (was: Verbs derived from noun cases)

--- "Mark P. Line" <mark@...> wrote:
> Philippe Caquant said:
> > A Brown Bear is an animal whose property, among
> > others, is to be brown. A Brown is not an animal,
> it
> > is a property shared, among others, by Brown
> Bears.
> > Saying "A Brown" instead of "a Brown Bear" looks
> very
> > much like an ellipse, used to avoid repetition,
> and it
> > is understandable only in the case you have
> introduced
> > the concept of Brown Bear earlier in you speech
> > (otherwise, it could refer to brown sugar for ex).
>
> You're still talking about things you *say* as
> opposed to the concepts
> that are behind what you say. No, everyday English
> will not let you say "a
> brown" in the way you're using it,
<snip>

English usage DOES permit one to say "a brown" in that
way, as in the citation I quoted earlier.  If the
context is established, as in a discussion of brown
bears, black bears, grizzly bears, etc., it is
perfectly acceptable to say something like "A brown is
less agressive than a grizzly or a black."  My earlier
citation came from a wildlife web page and included
the statement "Browns are ominverous ..."


--gary

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