Re: evolving languages

Emaelivpar Christophe Grandsire:
>Unless they are frequently used (which is why most irregular words are common
>ones, too bad for the L2 learner of the language ;))) ).
From my knowledge of English, Spanish, and (teensy amounts of) German, I
agree that this is what I've experienced.  By why is this so?  If I know
the theoretical reasons behind irregularity, perhaps I can do a better job
of working it into Asha'ille.  :)

>> I bring it up only because I think I've seen you use it before in the
>> same way and never the right one.
>
>Are you sure *you* have the right one? I've certainly read the expression
>plenty of times before, and never with the meaning you just explained. So I'm
>just using it the way I learned it.
As a native English speaker, I have to agree with Tristan.  From the
American Heritage Dictionary:

more or less
   1. About; approximately: holds two tons, more or less.
   2. To an undetermined degree: were more or less in agreement.

And WordNet:

more or less.  adv : (of quantities) imprecise but fairly close to correct;
"lasted approximately an hour"; "in just about a minute"; "he's about 30
years old"; "I've had about all I can stand"; "we meet about once a month";
"some forty people came"; "weighs around a hundred pounds"; "roughly
$3,000"; "holds 3 gallons, more or less"; "20 or so people were at the
party" [syn: approximately, about, close to, just about, some, roughly,
around, or so]

Of course, there are the times when a speaker plays on the "logical"
meaning behind the idiom.  Your "more or less" sentence is such an example,
even if you didn't mean it that way.  So, where you wrote:

>In short, there are plenty of tendencies. But languages tend to be more or
less
>willing to follow them, and the less willing ones seem to resist quite well
It could be interpreted to mean that languages more or less follow the
tendencies (ie, languages generally follow the tendencies) but (now
entering into the play on words...) but some really are much less willing
to follow.  Kind of like (my paraphrasing of) Orwell's "All pigs are
created equal, but some are more equal than others."  At least that example
seems related in my mind -- if it doesn't actually connect to the "more or
less" discussion, then just ignore it.  ;)  Some are less "more or less"
than others, or somesuch.


--
AA

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