bsg (08/02/82)
rvpalliende (?) is at it again. Not only does he persist in using an INCORRECT spelling which he knows annoys many readers of this newsgroup, but he dares to write articles, in bad English, suggesting "improvements" to the language. Does he really know first-graders who read as well as "five graders?" I guess five graders are a quintet of exam-markers... Also, I object strongly to the following statement by utzoo!henry: "Non-phonetic reading is *the* major cause of the wave of illiteracy in school graduates in the last decade or so." Nonsense. They've been teaching non-phonetic reading for several centuries; how did it suddenly start "causing" illiteracy? The causes of illiteracy may be many and varied, but I really don't see where non-phonetic reading fits into the picture at all. <flame off, whatever that means. Actually, I know perfectly well what it means; what I'd like to know is its etymology. It's clearly related to to concept of being "flaming mad." But how/when did the word "flame" become a verb meaning, well, flame.> Billie Goldstein Bell Labs Neptune NJ ...!npois!bsg P.S. The circular definition and the "written hiccough" are intentional. Please don't post/mail to correct me.
wagner (08/03/82)
And furthur re: how did flame become a verb?
Years ago, I had the following quoted to me, and attributed
to someone (anon.?) in IBM pubs.:
"Any noun can be verbed."
I dont know if someone was really quoted as saying that, or
whether it was just made up to explain computer manuals,
but anyone who has enough old IBM manuals under his belt will
recognize the sentiment.
Michael Wagner, UTCS