 Poster: A snowHead
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| altis wrote: |
| What's so flippin' difficult about skis? |
Maybe this, that English is not native language of quite few people on World. I'm pretty sure your French, Chinese, German or maybe even Slovene is not totally perfect either. So why to bother with this if someone, who is most likely not English anyway, writes it wrong? I admit I'm really happy with spelling checkers incorporated into web browsers/mailers nowadays, since they correct at least some mistakes I make. I also happily admit my English suck, but if someone has problem with it, I can easily switch to Slovene, if you think I need to speak/write with perfect grammar and spelling.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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primoz, good point, well made
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Pedantica wrote: |
| holidayloverxx, I make it 8, if you count the omission of 'of' as the fifth word. |
10, surely? Does nobody care about capital letters and full stops any more? 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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harrisontherabbit, haha, another good point! 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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harrisontherabbit, I was going to raise that but thought it far too sad......
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I'll raise one more, nobody is used in the singular, no-one should be used when referring to multiple people. first is correct, the latter is more correct in relation to the rest of the phrase... 
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Richard_Sideways, gosh. New one one me.
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Thank Mr Stemp my old English teacher - a teacher in the old-school mold, who bore a striking resembalance to the Scarfe-cartoon teacher in the Pink Floyd "The Wall" video...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I think we all need to be a bit more flexible in what we consider to be acceptable.
Languages constantly evolve. I'm pretty sure we would all struggle to understand the way English was written and spoken three hundred years ago. I've also read somewhere that if it wasn't for the advent of modern communication methods, that by the end of this century UK English speakers wouldn't be able to understand the English language spoken by Australians or North Americans.
As to poor punctuation and grammar, it only annoys me when what is written can be hard to understand or easy to misinterpret.
Bill Bryson (An American) has written some very interesting books about the English language.
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Mr Marmot, points well made. Certainly I don't think English should be stopped from evolving naturally (even if stopping it were possible).
But... I think in order for written language to be understandable, you've got to follow established patterns more strictly than you would when speaking. I reckon this is down to the lack of subtlety that you can normally convey with visual cues and the tone of what you're saying.
Think of it like someone mumbling in speech, and the other person not understanding. The person mumbling is welcome to do so for whatever reason - but shouldn't be surprised or even offended if the other guy says "pardon?". Of course this other guy shouldn't be rude about it, which is where a lot of arguments start.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Languages evolve, certainly, but they should evolve to make things easier to understand and communicate, not harder, not introduce ambiguity.
For example, I'm increasingly seeing people talking about having brought an item when they mean bought, or putting something in a draw rather than a drawer.
So yes, accepting simple mis-spellings or common grammatical mistakes is all part of the day to day, but please let's not ignore significant changes for the worse.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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ap96 good points, which I agree with entirely. I enjoyed your description of very poor written English as being like someone mumbling in speech! Very good!
I only gently sigh when I see 'you're' instead of 'your' or 'm8' instead of 'mate' written somewhere. As long as I can understand what is being written in forums etc., I accept it without comment. Our language is always evolving, as much as we might dislike the changes.
I also accept that the American spelling of such words as colour and centre make much more sense, and I can't understand why some people get so upset about it. I've read somewhere that Shakespeare would often spell the same word in many different ways, all of which were perfectly understandable to the reader.
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feef,
Shouldn't that be "putting somethink in a draw"
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You know it makes sense.
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musher, 'draw' is a funny one, isn't it? Lots of people do that. 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Pedantica, by your rules... 10
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
| I'll raise one more, nobody is used in the singular, no-one should be used when referring to multiple people. first is correct, the latter is more correct in relation to the rest of the phrase... |
Many people were asked to fill the post. Nobody [single, i.e. no one person] accepted the invitation so no-one [of the many] became President.
Interestingly (!) if you have a trawl of the internet you will find people convincingly arguing it the other way round. And what of everyone/everybody, you might wonder how you can have a singular version of something that is obviously already plural:
Everybody accepted the invitation [ i.e. each responded singularly to the invitation in the affirmative], so everyone [together, so plural] shared the Presidency.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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awbody are loving this here thread?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I was taught that "learned" was the correct way to write it, "learnt" was the way to say it, so "learnt" should never actually be written down, except perhaps where recording dialogue.
Not saying this is correct, but its what I was taught.
And don't get me started on "myself" ... 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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It's interesting and illuminating to find how much knowlege lurks behind these inane pseudonyms which we use. This is not a conversation to which I would dare offer a contribution on the topic itself but it is indeed rivetting stuff and will doubtless have been a magnet to our hordes of unseen Posters..
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| altis wrote: |
For pity's sake; the plural of ski is skis.
cat => cats
dog => dogs
ski => skis
It just follows the normal rules. What's so flippin' difficult about skis? |
∴ altis, =>altiss ≠ altises, no.
Does more than one pair of skis = skises ?
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Lechbob, no, the pair becomes the multiple i.e.
"Richard_sideways knocked over 15 pairs of skis at Courchevel, then legged it sharpish"
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
"Richard_sideways knocked over 15 pairs of skis at Courchevel, then legged it sharpish" |
I knew it was you 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You're all wrong. Ski is a latin word and is already plural. The singular is actually skus.
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beeryletcher,
Or skum?
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You know it makes sense.
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| beeryletcher wrote: |
| You're all wrong. Ski is a latin word and is already plural. The singular is actually skus. |
So, one skus; two skis; and a shop full of skises!
Right, got it.
Thanks.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Farley Goode wrote: |
| It's interesting and illuminating to find how much knowlege lurks behind these inane pseudonyms which we use. This is not a conversation to which I would dare offer a contribution on the topic itself but it is indeed rivetting stuff and will doubtless have been a magnet to our hordes of unseen Posters.. |
Unseen posters? Do you mean unheard readers?
Well, it is May. Not much else to talk about.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Mr Marmot, I guess I do. Or unread herders. Was that Mrs Malaprop, or someone else ? So much have I forgotten. You have to really cover your back when posting on here..... but the natives aren't too unfriendly.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Farley GoodeYour not rong in you're assertions.
Whilst not exactly unfriendly, the natives are very restless. So watch your back. Suitable European snow is months away, but the natives are still being affected by the adrenaline left over from their recent exploits. They come in here just looking for something to get involved in to use up their excess energey. They should calm down by mid-summer, but start howling at the moon again at the first sound of edges being sharpened.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I basically do nothing all day now except sit in the back yard, in full mountain gear, goggles, and helmet, slowly sharpening the edges on the board; stopping only to howl at passing clouds encouraging them to drop their bounty of white-gold... and post on here of course...
am I normal?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Richard_Sideways wrote: |
I basically do nothing all day now except sit in the back yard, in full mountain gear, goggles, and helmet, slowly sharpening the edges on the board; stopping only to howl at passing clouds encouraging them to drop their bounty of white-gold... and post on here of course...
am I normal? |
Seems pretty normal to me.
However, I am the guy who repaints the piste marker poles every Summer. I don't have anything else to do. I receive the poles from all French and Austrian ski resorts in early May (they send them over by carrier pigeon) and I sit in my garden with my brush and tins of dulux, painting away to my hearts content. Obviously, they can't afford to pay me, I just do it for the love of it.
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FAQ
Hmmm.........
