Re: [ADS-L] "to bol dly go"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

Interesting question. If I said "No one has ever been in that dog house"
could you properly say, "Wrong! MY dog has been in that dog house"? I don't think
so. In other words, Klingons, being nonhuman, do not qualify as "one" any more
than any other nonhuman (including your brilliant dog or even Noam Chimsky).
Of course, since the world of science fiction is purely imaginary, one can
imagine an alternative universe in which "one" refers either any humanoid being.
Obviously, though, when the voice-over says, "... where no none has been
before" the speaker does not mean to include nonhumans of any sort, since it is a
given that there are other human-like creatures out there.

On   the other hand, I guess I might not find very odd this sentence: "No one
seriously challenged the human race except the Neanderthal."

In a message dated 1/30/08 11:22:36 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> Maybe so, but I'd think with a loss of accuracy, since if for example
> a Klingon had ventured into some distant corner of the universe to
> plunder, pillage, or whatever, that would satisfy the "no man/person
> has gone before" clause but not the "no one has gone before" version.
> The "no one" is a stronger claim than the original, as well as a more
> sex-neutrally expressed one.
>
> LH
>




**************
Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.

http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org