TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2001-04 > 0986174414


From: "Darrell A. Martin" <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Periods, commas, semicolons, inside or outside
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 20:20:14 -0500
In-Reply-To: <20010401.125610.-498369.0.dean.scribner@juno.com>


At 12:56 PM 4/1/01 -0700, Dean Scribner wrote:
>Andy wrote:
>
>"It may be living but one wonders how much longer considering the way it
>is being maimed, tortured, mauled, butchered and mutilated"
>
>Somehow the language has survived the versions our parents and
>grandparents were using back in the "twenties", "thirties", and
>"forties"! And how about <ugh!> the "sixties" and "seventies"? I'm sure
>the language will continue to thrive and grow long after we are all gone.
> Way cool, huh?
>
>Dean

Hi, Dean:

The "living" aspect of the language is unavoidable, and has many benefits.
But it is not always a good thing. Sure, it's way cool if you only want
people to understand what you've written for the next 17 weeks. But what if
you actually care whether someone in 2101 can unambiguously decipher your
narrative text and reach genealogical conclusions? To get that done, you
don't have to anticipate the language of 2101; but you do have to use
*today's* language fairly consistently, avoiding usage that has yet to
stand the test of time.

If what you write today is clear by current standards of style and format,
even if unconventional, then I have no quarrel with it. But I don't find
being unconventional to be necessary to tell a cracking good story.

Darrell


Darrell A. Martin
a native Vermonter currently in exile in Addison, Illinois


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