Arnold's sabbatical

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Language Log, of course, gives itself to back-and-forth postings as well,
but, be that as it may, like Arnold, I think I've said my say on this, and I am
grateful to Arnold (and all the others who have taken part in this thread), for
helping me think through some of the issues raised in the discussion of
DECIMATE, prescriptivism, the nature of linguistic data, etc. I hope that Arnold
will not mind if I say that I think he has--as usual--expressed himself quite
clearly. I don't find his thinking quite so clear, but then, he might well want
to say the same thing about me.

I assume also that he will understand that I am not using the term
"sabbatical" in my subject line its etymological sense--if he comes back before seven
years (or even seven hours) I'll be delighted. Arnold is one of the posters who
keeps me tuned in to ADS-L.

Arnold: I hope you will at least let us know when your next Language Log
posting on the follies of prescriptivism will appear.

In a message dated 1/7/08 5:50:03 PM, zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU writes:


> On Jan 7, 2008, at 2:38 PM, Ron Butters wrote:
>
> > "actually"?
> >
> > I don't see any useful way of distinguishing between....
>
> i now have about ten pages of variious responses on this issue (alas,
> in longhand, so they have to be typed in), and the new quarter is
> beginning, and i think these exchanges have been singularly
> unproductive (perhaps because i am unable to make myself clear) -- so
> i won't be posting further on the matter, at least here (Language Log
> postings that aren't framed as back-and-forth discussions might be a
> better platform).
>
> like roger shuy, i will now take a vacation from posting to ADS-L.
> unlike roger, i will continue to read ADS-L, at least for a while.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>




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