Re: CHAT: Worse Greek 102 (was: Bad Latin 101)

Padraic Brown sikayal:

> While I commiserate, I think you may be over harsh with these
> people. By in large, they are not linguists nor Latinists.
> They have vague notions of how the western Classical languages
> treat plurals. They then apply them often facetiously and almost
> always haphazardly. Similar is the common over use of -itis,
> which is a medical condition, for all sorts of things unrelated
> to medicine.
Hee hee.  In general, I find abused plurals to be rediculous, but you can
have some fun with -itis.  My girlfriend once coined 'aestivitis' for
'spring fever' . . . she knows that 'aestivus' is 'summer', but it was the
closest she could come.  Of course, the coining was mean for amusement,
and not to be taken seriously.

>
> I gather it must be very hard for someone educated in a particular
> discipline to hear or read the lingo mangled so badly - but look
> at it this way: This is simply langauge change in action. Perhaps
> in a hundred years time these facetious terminations will become
> more regularly used.
I rather hope not.  I'd like to see them drop out of use altogether.

Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
"It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
improvements and change.  It is the old things that startle and
intoxicate.  It is the old things that are young."
-G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_
Conlanger code: CLI> l%p+++ cS:R:N:H a++ y n18d:6 X+++ A-- E-- L-- N2.5
Idmp k++ ia-- p+ m++ o+++ P d++ b++ Yivríndil