borrowing pronouns

[Robert Whiting]

On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, maher, johnpeter wrote:

> 1. No, no, a 1000x no = no argument.
> As an argument from authority is no argument.

An argument from authority can be quite valid.  There are a number of
rules that have to be observed to qualify an argument from authority, but
if they are met then the argument can be accepted.  Anything that you have
knowledge of that you have not verified personally is an argument from
authority.  The reason that I know that the moon is not made out of
green cheese (or Normandy brie) is that reasonable people who have been
trained to investigate the matter and who have no reason to lie have told
me so.  It is an argument from authority.  Do not confuse expert authority
with institutional authority.  The two are quite different an a logical
context.  Any time you look up a word in a dictionary or check out
something in an encylopaedia it is an argument from authority.  Now if
you wish to say that such references are invalid because an argument from
authority is no argument, then the only arguments that you can use are
ones that you have personally verified.  Therefore we can assume that your
connection of Arabic <'usta:dh> and Spanish <usted> is based on your
personal knowledge of the two languages and the histories of the words
in those languages.  In which case it would seem more useful to share
this information with the rest of us than to shout down "arguments from
authority."

It might be useful for a start to note that <'usta:dh> is a non-native
word in Arabic (according to Lane's dictionary; oops, argument from
authority -- well perhaps you can tell us from your own knowledge why
the word violates Arabic phonotactics) and that the same word exists
in Persian (<'usta:d>).

> 2. <'usta:dh> ~ "ustaeth" are both transcriptions;

So are <the> ~ "duh".  But one is standardized and one is personal.
Is it your point that <'usta:dh> is invalid because it is an argument
from authority while "ustaeth" is based on your own personal experience?

> I doubt if the net has an Arabic font.

Strictly speaking, the net doesn't have any fonts at all.  What you
see on your screen is what you tell your terminal to show you.

Bob Whiting
whiting at cc.helsinki.fi