English 1A

[Oeditpus Rex]

At the risk of seeming like a hoity-toity grammar nazi...

I've seen "begs the question" used incorrectly three times in the past week (twice by a newspaper columnist). It is not the same as "prompts the question."

To "beg the question" means to assume the truth of something, i.e., "That begs the question, 'Is W a moran?'"

Thank you. Carry on. :patriot:

[LynzM]

1. Hey, you learn something every day!

Thanks, Oeditpus :)

The thing that bothers me the most here, I think, is seeing names of prominent politicians and places spelled incorrectly. All the time. Gah!

Anyway. :patriot:

[RevCheesehead]

2. Grammar Nazi.

:P

[Oeditpus Rex]

3. Wenn ist das Nunstrück git und Slotermeyer?

Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

:rofl:

[RevCheesehead]

5. Oh yeah? Well....

Jaegermeister! Bratwurst! Schadenfreude!
(meine deutsch ist nicht sehr gut)

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. LOL!

My post was utter nonsense. It's the German translation of the World's Funniest Joke (Monty Python's Flying Circus, Episode 1).

Ich nicht spreche Deutsch. Or something like that. :crazy:

[RevCheesehead]

8. Is there a dead smiley?

Duh... I remember that! I also remember never being able to make sense of any of the German, either. (and believe me, German is practically in the water around here)

College German = nicht sehr gut. :(

[mykpart]

4. While we're at it, a "moot point" is

something that can be argued but not proven. And the word is moot, not mute. A mute point would be a point that is unable to speak.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Huh. I didn't know that one

I always defined it by context — that the point could be argued, but to do so would be so utterly pointless as to render argument futile.

Or is that what you meant? :silly:

[GrpCaptMandrake]

9. This smells like a "pet peeve" thread

If so, may I once and forever nominate the sentence "The defendant plead innocent" or "The defendant's lawyer entered a plea of "innocent."

Those of us who pay attention to language are absolutely entitled to scream when we hear the language being raped, let alone, history and civics.

Let's get something straight: when one has been accused of a crime, any crime, from stream littering to premeditated murder, three pleas are open: "Not Guilty," "Gulity" and "No Contest."

At no point in any criminal proceeding is the defendant in America EVER allowed to plead "innocent."

Even upon acquittal, the Defendant is found "not guilty," NOT "innocent."

Editors who catch cubbie reporters referring to a plea of "innocent" or a jury finding of "innocent" should take said cubbie out behind the woodshed and beat him/her for awhile with an old IBM Selectric.

Sorry.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. Nah

We just explain it the way you just did. :thumbsup:

(And FWIW, at every paper where I've ever worked, it's "pleaded," not "pled.")

[wackadoo wabbit]

11. You have this slightly wrong

While it's true that there is no such plea as "innocent," it's journalistic style to always use the term "innocent," rather than "not guilty," for fear that the word "not" might be inadvertently dropped.