5 ms·

Why do you care to repeat dead comments? Especially when the correction is bogus, 'learnings' is proper English.

by yreg 3y ago

StopTheSignal 3y ago
[flagged]
nottorp 3y ago
It's not. And I'm not even a native speaker :) Still that spam was totally over the top.
- sidibe 3y ago
  Who decides what's proper English? Non-native speakers? This is a word I've heard almost every day at multiple companies, definitely seems to be on its way to proper English if it isn't already.
  - defrost 3y ago
    The completely serious answer is there are multiple approaches. The young American nation fell in lockstep with the Webster approach of a prescriptive dictionary whereby a self appointed gatekeeper decided for others what was and was not correct English. They further pursued this path by embracing the doctrines of Strunk & White in The Elements of Style. Meanwhile, back in the cradle of the English hodgepodge the multi-volume wall lining known as The Oxford English Dictionary took a descriptive path that described English as she is wrote. "Proper English" is a car crash caused by a train wreck of Romance and other languages uttered by survivors wandering about a global incident site. "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." ~ Some guy with a green carnation.
- surfpel 3y ago
  > It's not. And I'm not even a native speaker :) https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/learning https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng...
  - nottorp 3y ago
    You may notice the examples use it totally differently. Just because a word is in the dictionary it doesn't mean you can just drop it anywhere in a phrase. Languages tend to have more rules than that.
    - surfpel 3y ago
      > use it totally differently Nope, sorry. Same usage. Read until the end. It’s respectable to have a little humility in the face of contradictory evidence :) > Languages tend to have more rules than that This is a common misconception about language - to think that it has many strict rules. It’s a frankly elitist take and Chomsky, the most prominent contemporary linguist, disagrees. See my other comment for a talk by Chomsky to develop a better understanding of language
      - nottorp 3y ago
        You people also think borrow and lend are interchangeable, for example? If/when you write documentation/work communication, you just throw words in and don't wonder if anyone will understand you?
        lolc 3y ago
        Did you have any trouble at all reading the original comment?
        nottorp 3y ago
        This subthread has nothing to do with the original comment. It seems to be an argument that we should use words as we damn well please instead of having a common standard that would allow us to understand each other.
        surfpel 3y ago
        > an argument that we should use words as we damn well please instead of having a common standard that would allow us to understand each other Bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think? Every single person has a language that’s unique to them, and there’s a tremendous amount of both redundancy and context, cultural and situational, that need to exist to convey meaning. Obviously increasing deviation from the “standard” lexicon or “laws” of universal grammar would at some point fail to convey any meaning whatsoever, but given the context of this discussion, we’re not discussing egregious violations - merely creative and valid use of existing words which, if you read the other comments, is already standard in industry. My role frequently requires me to explain nuanced technical details to less technical folks or those with differing technical expertise. Even in the same building, between native English speaking coworkers using language in a fully “standard” way, when sharing ideas, there needs to be a back and forth discussion to reduce ambiguity and converge into a commonly held mental abstraction for whatever it is being discussed. Don’t believe me? Why do you think legalese exists? Legalese should be the culmination of precision in conveying meaning, but even with legalese, it’s up to the value systems and judgements of courts and judges to interpret the law. Language is complicated. Try not to be too uptight about it. Have a beer. Relax.

Why do you care to repeat dead comments? Especially when the correction is bogus, 'learnings' is proper English.

by yreg 3y ago

Why do you care to repeat dead comments? Especially when the correction is bogus, 'learnings' is proper English.

StopTheSignal 3y ago

[flagged]

nottorp 3y ago

It's not. And I'm not even a native speaker :) Still that spam was totally over the top.

sidibe 3y ago
Who decides what's proper English? Non-native speakers? This is a word I've heard almost every day at multiple companies, definitely seems to be on its way to proper English if it isn't already.
- defrost 3y ago
  The completely serious answer is there are multiple approaches. The young American nation fell in lockstep with the Webster approach of a prescriptive dictionary whereby a self appointed gatekeeper decided for others what was and was not correct English. They further pursued this path by embracing the doctrines of Strunk & White in The Elements of Style. Meanwhile, back in the cradle of the English hodgepodge the multi-volume wall lining known as The Oxford English Dictionary took a descriptive path that described English as she is wrote. "Proper English" is a car crash caused by a train wreck of Romance and other languages uttered by survivors wandering about a global incident site. "We have really everything in common with America nowadays except, of course, language." ~ Some guy with a green carnation.
surfpel 3y ago
> It's not. And I'm not even a native speaker :) https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/learning https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng...
- nottorp 3y ago
  You may notice the examples use it totally differently. Just because a word is in the dictionary it doesn't mean you can just drop it anywhere in a phrase. Languages tend to have more rules than that.
  - surfpel 3y ago
    > use it totally differently Nope, sorry. Same usage. Read until the end. It’s respectable to have a little humility in the face of contradictory evidence :) > Languages tend to have more rules than that This is a common misconception about language - to think that it has many strict rules. It’s a frankly elitist take and Chomsky, the most prominent contemporary linguist, disagrees. See my other comment for a talk by Chomsky to develop a better understanding of language
    - nottorp 3y ago
      You people also think borrow and lend are interchangeable, for example? If/when you write documentation/work communication, you just throw words in and don't wonder if anyone will understand you?
      - lolc 3y ago
        Did you have any trouble at all reading the original comment?
        nottorp 3y ago
        This subthread has nothing to do with the original comment. It seems to be an argument that we should use words as we damn well please instead of having a common standard that would allow us to understand each other.
        surfpel 3y ago
        > an argument that we should use words as we damn well please instead of having a common standard that would allow us to understand each other Bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think? Every single person has a language that’s unique to them, and there’s a tremendous amount of both redundancy and context, cultural and situational, that need to exist to convey meaning. Obviously increasing deviation from the “standard” lexicon or “laws” of universal grammar would at some point fail to convey any meaning whatsoever, but given the context of this discussion, we’re not discussing egregious violations - merely creative and valid use of existing words which, if you read the other comments, is already standard in industry. My role frequently requires me to explain nuanced technical details to less technical folks or those with differing technical expertise. Even in the same building, between native English speaking coworkers using language in a fully “standard” way, when sharing ideas, there needs to be a back and forth discussion to reduce ambiguity and converge into a commonly held mental abstraction for whatever it is being discussed. Don’t believe me? Why do you think legalese exists? Legalese should be the culmination of precision in conveying meaning, but even with legalese, it’s up to the value systems and judgements of courts and judges to interpret the law. Language is complicated. Try not to be too uptight about it. Have a beer. Relax.