I was considering maybe writing a comprehensive history of Western magic, which would go from the Ancient Near East and then through Europe in the Middle Ages all the way to recent contributors like Blavatsky, Eliphas Levi and Crowley. It could be fun, and, as long as I was scholarly enough about it, it wouldn't be useless.
Political correctness is the pettiest form of casuistry.
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
ἡ δὲ κἀκ τριῶν τρυπημάτων ἐργαζομένη ἐνεκάλει τῇ φύσει, δυσφορουμένη, ὅτι δὴ μὴ καὶ τοὺς τιτθοὺς αὐτῇ εὐρύτερον ἢ νῦν εἰσι τρυπώη, ὅπως καὶ ἄλλην ἐνταῦθα μίξιν ἐπιτεχνᾶσθαι δυνατὴ εἴη. – Procopius
Ummaka qinnassa nīk!
*MySmiley*
Inspired by Camilla's post: quit saying "between you and I" already
- 20/05/2010 04:16:29 PM
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It isn't something I can recall really noticing
- 20/05/2010 04:22:42 PM
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You don't live in the United States of America. 
- 20/05/2010 04:31:23 PM
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- 20/05/2010 04:31:23 PM
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Well yes but me was just feeling smug it doesn't seem as common over here
- 20/05/2010 05:12:41 PM
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- 20/05/2010 05:12:41 PM
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I think this is one of those things people do because they think it makes them sound smart.
- 20/05/2010 04:33:38 PM
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When in actuality it exposese their stupidity and ignorance. *NM*
- 20/05/2010 04:36:08 PM
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Like saying "octopi". <Shivers> *NM*
- 20/05/2010 11:56:27 PM
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Octopodes makes them sounds like aliens 
- 21/05/2010 12:25:14 AM
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- 21/05/2010 12:25:14 AM
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THEY ARE VICIOUS CREATURES FROM THE DEEP. CUTTLEFISH HAVE W SHAPED PUPILS. *NM*
- 21/05/2010 07:00:41 AM
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Actually nothing like that
- 21/05/2010 04:49:43 PM
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As a Classicist I'm afraid I can't get past the misguided origins. *NM*
- 21/05/2010 10:08:34 PM
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I don't know how me feels about this.
- 20/05/2010 04:49:03 PM
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you know, considering my state was THE lowest in the country for education...
- 20/05/2010 05:04:42 PM
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That annoys me, too
- 20/05/2010 05:34:30 PM
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I think you're confusing it with phrase-final prepositions. *NM*
- 20/05/2010 11:57:30 PM
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No
- 21/05/2010 12:00:02 AM
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Oh right, that two (pro)nouns linked by "and" have to be the same case.
- 21/05/2010 12:03:59 AM
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Re: Oh right, that two (pro)nouns linked by "and" have to be the same case.
- 21/05/2010 12:06:51 AM
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Er, no...
- 21/05/2010 12:19:31 AM
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Re: Er, no...
- 21/05/2010 12:22:32 AM
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It doesn't. The reason for that is exactly as Tom says: idiotic teachers. *NM*
- 21/05/2010 12:28:12 AM
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But that is what I said when you contradicted me! *NM*
- 21/05/2010 12:38:11 AM
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OK, I'm officially lost.
- 21/05/2010 12:44:28 AM
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Re: OK, I'm officially lost.
- 21/05/2010 12:49:59 AM
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Can you start right from the beginning?
- 21/05/2010 12:52:08 AM
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Re: Can you start right from the beginning?
- 21/05/2010 12:55:34 AM
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Coffee time is going to be appropriated by grammar discussion? Shall I bring a book? *NM*
- 21/05/2010 10:12:48 AM
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*NM*
- 21/05/2010 10:12:48 AM
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Not entirely. We just need to get a hold of Pratchett's Unseen Academicals on the way.
- 21/05/2010 11:25:57 AM
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This whole thread is just an elaborate effort to provoke my complaints about terminal prepositions.
- 21/05/2010 02:58:05 PM
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Re: Inspired by Camilla's post: quit saying "between you and I" already
- 20/05/2010 07:28:16 PM
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It doesn't annoy me, but I do fine myself silently correcting it when I hear it.
- 20/05/2010 07:44:49 PM
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It's the same as "I" vs. "me". "Who" can only be a subject. "Whom" is correct everywhere else.
- 20/05/2010 07:47:21 PM
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Well, shucks, Tom, we just ain't no good at that there grammer stuff.
- 20/05/2010 07:49:18 PM
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Not limited to the US of A.
- 20/05/2010 08:26:30 PM
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It's properly the "US and A" - if Borat taught me nothing else, it's that.
- 20/05/2010 08:46:18 PM
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If you're going to start down that path...
- 20/05/2010 10:12:24 PM
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- 20/05/2010 10:12:24 PM
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<Winces at your use of the word "ungrammatical"> *NM*
- 21/05/2010 12:09:29 AM
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I take it the wincing is at the concept, and not at the word itself...
- 21/05/2010 12:32:43 AM
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- 21/05/2010 12:32:43 AM
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It's the misappropriation of linguistic terminology to an improper use.
- 21/05/2010 12:44:54 AM
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I note you haven't replied to the main thread yet...
- 21/05/2010 01:12:05 AM
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Well of course that's wrong. It ought to be "The man whom you said that was coming." 
*NM*
- 21/05/2010 07:03:37 AM
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*NM*
- 21/05/2010 07:03:37 AM
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OK, I know you're kidding around, but I can't tell if you know it isn't even prescriptively correct.
- 21/05/2010 10:38:51 AM
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I can't draw you a syntax tree or what have you to prove that it's wrong, no, but I know it is.
- 22/05/2010 02:56:52 AM
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- 22/05/2010 02:56:52 AM
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No trees necessary – this is lecture is 100% ecologically friendly.
- 22/05/2010 10:04:34 AM
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Clever clever. Explains why Greek changes the case in its indirect statements so much. *NM*
- 22/05/2010 09:47:26 PM
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Example please? *NM*
- 22/05/2010 10:34:05 PM
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Re: No trees necessary – this is lecture is 100% ecologically friendly.
- 22/05/2010 11:40:05 PM
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Re: No trees necessary – this is lecture is 100% ecologically friendly.
- 23/05/2010 10:30:59 AM
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Re: No trees necessary – this is lecture is 100% ecologically friendly.
- 23/05/2010 10:36:25 AM
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*NM*
Cf pretty much every other European language, no?
- 23/05/2010 09:32:33 PM
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- 23/05/2010 09:32:33 PM
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Yes, but when you're a native speaker of English it comes as something of a surprise.
- 23/05/2010 11:18:45 PM
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The thing is that you really have to know Old English to figure it out.
- 24/05/2010 03:22:10 AM
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Actually, that would be a direct object
- 21/05/2010 01:11:42 AM
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*blinks* Now I'm confused.
- 21/05/2010 01:21:51 AM
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I know it's odd, but in terse responses, it seems to be a direct object rather than nominative
- 21/05/2010 01:46:10 AM
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No it isn't...in that case it would be "me", and not "a cookie", that is wanted.
- 21/05/2010 04:28:55 AM
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Well...
- 21/05/2010 04:33:27 AM
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"I want me a cookie" is not proper English.
- 21/05/2010 04:38:20 AM
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I know that
- 21/05/2010 05:31:52 AM
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See, this is an area where your dialect argument would make sense.
- 21/05/2010 11:53:17 AM
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But that doesn't actually make any sense in Latin.
- 22/05/2010 03:03:28 AM
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- 22/05/2010 03:03:28 AM
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I know it's dative in Latin
- 22/05/2010 03:14:48 AM
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Well, yes. But prepositions are how we decline our pronouns in English.
- 22/05/2010 04:35:42 AM
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- 22/05/2010 04:35:42 AM
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And you would be wrong in that.
- 22/05/2010 02:27:16 PM
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Iċ am not sure what þū said me is relevant these days...
- 22/05/2010 09:57:41 PM
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You still just aren't getting this.
- 23/05/2010 12:52:31 AM
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I accept it. But not in the circumstances when the prepositional phrase "to/for me" is used. *NM*
- 23/05/2010 02:27:30 AM
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*NM*
- 23/05/2010 02:27:30 AM
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You're confusing me almost as much as Larry.
- 22/05/2010 11:15:43 AM
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- 22/05/2010 11:15:43 AM
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True. But English uses the reflexive in that scenario, not the personal pronoun.
- 22/05/2010 10:05:30 PM
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That was atrocious Latin.
- 22/05/2010 02:20:35 PM
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I was very drunk, and it wasn't that bad even had I been sober.
- 22/05/2010 10:04:12 PM
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Parare means, first and foremost, to prepare, supply or make something available.
- 23/05/2010 12:50:22 AM
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It also means to buy, and it frequently has that meaning when it's with the dative. No dice.
- 23/05/2010 02:31:01 AM
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Now you're pulling things out of your ass (about parare, at least)
- 23/05/2010 02:32:58 AM
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I unfortunately don't have the OLD, and no, I'm not.
- 23/05/2010 02:41:22 AM
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- 23/05/2010 02:41:22 AM
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So I looked up the word in Lewis & Short.
- 23/05/2010 02:49:19 AM
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Interestingly enough, the Oxford Latin Dictionary doesn't have one use of the dative for "to buy".
- 23/05/2010 02:51:54 PM
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When asked who told him that killing was wrong, Johnny Five said "I told me."
- 21/05/2010 09:52:15 PM
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One additional thought.
- 22/05/2010 02:14:15 AM
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in my elementary school grammar classes...
- 21/05/2010 04:44:50 AM
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You clearly had an unusually good teacher. That's exactly what should be taught.
- 21/05/2010 12:00:58 PM
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Seriously dudes? 70 posts about fricking grammar?!
- 21/05/2010 06:46:58 PM
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- 24/05/2010 02:38:54 PM
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I'm proud of us all. If it were about Akkadian grammar, I'd be even more proud. *NM*
- 21/05/2010 06:51:20 PM
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You could make it about Russian grammar
- 21/05/2010 07:05:35 PM
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I think I would only get slightly more interest than if it were Akkadian grammar.
- 21/05/2010 08:13:24 PM
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True
- 21/05/2010 08:45:54 PM
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Ah, you misunderstood my question.
- 21/05/2010 09:10:56 PM
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I guess I did
- 21/05/2010 09:25:53 PM
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- 21/05/2010 09:25:53 PM
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Those all sound boring.
- 21/05/2010 10:03:25 PM
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- 24/05/2010 02:38:54 PM
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