Sebastian Borges <[email protected]> wrote: [1]: Thanks for the corrections. I had in fact typed THE but reasoned that this would imply yhat only one wrong track was available; hence changed it to A. But on checking find that neither of these is found in the book of Idioms that I possess. This is not to justify the idiom that I used. I thought "off on a tangent" would better express what I wanted to say. But then this too is not found in my book. Perhaps my resources are limited.
[2] Yours is no doubt a good advice to a googler; however I would not restrict it to medical matters. Other, especially Historical, matters would also demand due diligence. But don’t you think that you are putting too heavy an onus of responsibility on the innocent googler; how would a googler, five or ten years hence, know whether Churchill and Fredrick were politicians, journalists, historians or what-have-you? Instead, don’t you think we, as posters, must exercise that due diligence and thus avoid confusing the googler? And, mind you, this was extraneous "info" which was entirely irrelevant to the discussion at hand. [3] It is such disservice to a future googler that I consider "unforgiveable." It is non-malicious, no doubt; but potentially dangerous and could have been avoide. [4] Contrary to the popular perception, K did not come into Konkani post 1961; you will find it in the first Konkani novel (Kristanv Ghorabo by Eduardo J. Bruno de Sousa) published in 1911. In that Kokani is written with a tilde on both the O and the I; similarly the A in Kristav has a tilde on A. === Dear Prof Borges, re # 1 & 2: You are quite right. "Off on a tangent" would have been better + we all have to exercise "due diligence" in what we write, what we say and what we assume on the basis of what is stated by third parties. re # 3: Without disagreeing with you, I hope that a future Googler will have evolved enough to be not so trusting of everything he/she reads on the internet. BTW: I am quite sure that any error (I am not even sure it is an error) made by FN, with reference to the topic at hand, would NOT rise to the level of being 'potentially or otherwise dangerous'. Besides, I submit that FN has no duty of care towards the future Googler who is innocent, naive, negligent enough to believe everything that is written without performing the 'due diligence' we discussed earlier. re #4: I am not knowledgeable enough - on the point being made - to be able to comment on it. BTW 2: I'd state the following about Languages and Scripts: I believe that spoken language is the method by which most of us have communicated and continue to communicate. If we expect a certain language to flourish, it is best written in a script which is in vogue - with words to match. The Brits were smart (and still are) when the decided to move away from Olde English to the modern English which includes words that became part of the social fabric e.g. Curry, Topi, 'Vindaloo', Pundit, etc. On the other side, we have the Irish who are trying very hard to get folks to speak and write Gaelic; Has had very little success post the compulsory (school years) and Political (phrases in speeches by politicians) are done with. Most Irish speak English. Hence, it will be in Konkani or Concani's interest to do the smart thing; that is IF we are smart enough to release some of our rigidity and accept the facts of life about language and communication. In closing, a question for those who might know the answer: What is the mother tongue of Goans? This question has been ducked by the 'paper nationalists' who are surely smart enough to recognise that there is a follow up question i.e. IF Konkani is the mother tongue of Goans, WHY are Marathi schools supported and not English schools? Have a good week ahead. jc ps: I say 'paper nationalists' (above) because NO true nationalist will ever defend the 'bakshish system' i.e. bribing as a necessary adjunct to living in a society.
