rectangle vs. square

[Wilson Gray]

I'm fully satisfied that "rectangle" has long since ceased to include
"square" and "oblong" as subsets in today's corrupt version of our
majestic tongue.

I merely felt like bitching about it.

BTW, you want to be careful that you don't unconsciously become truly
- instead of jokingly, as I am - prescriptivist: "It's true because
the OED *says* it's true!"

You realize that that manner of thinking is right simple, of course.

-Wilson

On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 6:14 AM, David Barnhart <dbarnhart at highlands.com> wrote:
> I think the definition of _rectangle_ in OED manages this quite
> satisfactorily:
>
>
>
> 1.      A plane figure with four straight sides and four right angles,
> opposite sides being parallel and equal in length; esp. one in which
> adjacent sides are unequal, as contrasted with a square. Later also more
> generally: a thing having the shape of a rectangle.
>
>
>
> Although, being the splitters that OED tends have, it might have been made
> of two definitions (at least a and b).
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> David
>
>
>
> barnhart at highlands.com



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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