4 ms·

this is both non-sense. proscriptive arguments drawn from nothing but your single minded authority have little value in discurs. "a software" (sorry) is quite f

this is both non-sense. proscriptive arguments drawn from nothing but your single minded authority have little value in discurs. "a software" (sorry) is quite frequent. fullstop. Ger ware is singular by the way.

cat199 7y ago
1) Are you a native speaker? Frequency of 'a software' arrived with the growth of non-native speakers on the internet, and is irrelevant to its 'correctness'. Plenty of bad non-native speach patterns are 'frequent', one can often tell the country of origin of a person from speech irregularities and even adapt a pseudo-dialect which may even improve the ability to communicate with them. Don't have stats to back it up, but I have been involved in computers from the mid 80s and literally never heard this term until ~99 or so, initially typically in the context of text clearly written by non-native speakers, and then gradually gaining some traction among younger users who think it's 'cool' or 'normative'. I have no doubt that a more formal investigation would line up with this, give or take. 2) It's 'discourse' not 'discurs'. It's also 'nonsense' and not 'non-sense', and also 'full stop'. All of which would imply that the anser to #1 is 'no' - which proves a further point - that idioms and patterns of speech matter to correctness and are quickly seen by native speakers, but are not usually obvious to those who learned the language second hand. Based on these mistakes, the bizarre 'this is both' introductory phrasing, parenthetical '(sorry)' and the general dry, dismissive tone with a petite je-ne-seis-pas of anti-authoritarian mockery that is just begging for a leading 'pfft', my guess is that you are French. Not really germane to the conversation, but, if correct, it underlines my point about the obviousness of idioms and cultural undertones to native speakers (of any language really). 3) To support 1 and 2: If I am incorrect, which, weighing my thoughts against North American vs British idioms, I'd happy to be incorrect but am fairly certain am not, please show me a single usage of 'bakeware', 'cookware', 'hardware' or any other 'ware' where people say 'a <x>' existent in any piece of literature prior to the existence of computers: I took a bakeware and baked a lasagna: no. A pan is a bakeware: no. I washed a cookware and made a salad in it: no. A bowl is a cookware: no. Can you hand me a silverware? I need to cut my steak.: no. A knife is a silverware: no. I bought a hardware from the hardware store to fix the fence: no. A hammer is a hardware: no. And, even in computers, the (incorrect) 'a software' use is inconsistent w/r/t hardware: I bought a new hardware to run my application: no. The new iPad is a great new hardware: no. 4) 'A ware' is singular, but also non specific. X-ware is plural. Whatever this meant in pseudo-proto-germanic is irrelevant to a discussion of English.

cat199 7y ago

1) Are you a native speaker? Frequency of 'a software' arrived with the growth of non-native speakers on the internet, and is irrelevant to its 'correctness'. Plenty of bad non-native speach patterns are 'frequent', one can often tell the country of origin of a person from speech irregularities and even adapt a pseudo-dialect which may even improve the ability to communicate with them. Don't have stats to back it up, but I have been involved in computers from the mid 80s and literally never heard this term until ~99 or so, initially typically in the context of text clearly written by non-native speakers, and then gradually gaining some traction among younger users who think it's 'cool' or 'normative'. I have no doubt that a more formal investigation would line up with this, give or take. 2) It's 'discourse' not 'discurs'. It's also 'nonsense' and not 'non-sense', and also 'full stop'. All of which would imply that the anser to #1 is 'no' - which proves a further point - that idioms and patterns of speech matter to correctness and are quickly seen by native speakers, but are not usually obvious to those who learned the language second hand. Based on these mistakes, the bizarre 'this is both' introductory phrasing, parenthetical '(sorry)' and the general dry, dismissive tone with a petite je-ne-seis-pas of anti-authoritarian mockery that is just begging for a leading 'pfft', my guess is that you are French. Not really germane to the conversation, but, if correct, it underlines my point about the obviousness of idioms and cultural undertones to native speakers (of any language really). 3) To support 1 and 2: If I am incorrect, which, weighing my thoughts against North American vs British idioms, I'd happy to be incorrect but am fairly certain am not, please show me a single usage of 'bakeware', 'cookware', 'hardware' or any other 'ware' where people say 'a <x>' existent in any piece of literature prior to the existence of computers: I took a bakeware and baked a lasagna: no. A pan is a bakeware: no. I washed a cookware and made a salad in it: no. A bowl is a cookware: no. Can you hand me a silverware? I need to cut my steak.: no. A knife is a silverware: no. I bought a hardware from the hardware store to fix the fence: no. A hammer is a hardware: no. And, even in computers, the (incorrect) 'a software' use is inconsistent w/r/t hardware: I bought a new hardware to run my application: no. The new iPad is a great new hardware: no. 4) 'A ware' is singular, but also non specific. X-ware is plural. Whatever this meant in pseudo-proto-germanic is irrelevant to a discussion of English.