Alan Ackerman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >I wasn't looking to start a ****ing contest! I just never heard the word "litotes" before. By the way, I really enjoy your linguistic comments. >(Is "linguistic" the right word? Or grammatical? I think you told us >your Dad was a linguist.) Adds a little intellectual spice to this list.
>I gave up on IBMMAIN after someone called one of my posts an "old canard". >I thought that was rude. If they are not interested in what I have to >say, I'm not wasting my time saying it. (No one else responded at all.) Oh, Alan, I *knew* you weren't trying to start a fight! I was trying to make the point that this list, *unlike* IBM-MAIN, generally *doesn't* let threads wander that far afield, and that folks generally *are* civil. I guess my point was almost sorta a litotes itself... As for my dad, yes, he was a linguist; alas, he passed away last June, very suddenly in his sleep (that's actually a blessing, as anyone who's had a parent linger for weeks knows). He was 79. Many of my linguistic comments came from discussions with him, as did my linguistic background, of course. I always say, in all seriousness, that family dinners when I was growing up never passed without the dictionary coming out at least once, and that rather than being pedantic and boring, that was neat -- because my dad knew so much about language that anything *he* had to look up *had* to be interesting! And now I've probably drawn *this* thread way off-track, for which I apologize. Happy Holidays, Chag Sameach, 聖誕快樂, Hyvää Juolua, Joyeux Noël, Kala Kristougenna, Feliz Navidad, Happy Kwanza, Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia, Buon Natale, メリクリ, Merry Christmas, and all that to everyone! (Yes, I clipped the preceding list from Len Santalucia's sig.) ...phsiii
