Determining the parameters of Holocaust execution sites

Dan Goncharoff thegonch at GMAIL.COM
Wed Jan 29 18:53:38 UTC 2014


I wonder if parameter means detail. For each site, the project notes the
following:

Place
Coordinates
Murder Site
Event

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/institute/killing_sites_catalog_details_full.asp?region=Nowogrodek

Beyond that, they are interested in the number of victims and the
perpetrators.

DanG


On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 9:51 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Determining the parameters of Holocaust execution sites
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The confusion between parameter and perimeter is longstanding. The
> entry for "parameter" at Dictionary.com (which is based on Random
> House Dictionary) includes information on this topic. Here is an
> excerpt that begins with senses 4 and 5 of parameter
>
> http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/parameter
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Parameter noun ...
>
> 4. Usually, parameters. limits or boundaries; guidelines: the basic
> parameters of our foreign policy.
>
> 5. characteristic or factor; aspect; element: a useful parameter for
> judging long-term success.
>
> Can be confused: 1. boundary, limit, parameter, variable (see synonym
> study at boundary)(see usage note at the current entry) ; 2.
> parameter, perimeter.
>
> Usage note 4, 5.  Some object strongly to the use of parameter in
> these newer senses. Nevertheless, the criticized uses are now well
> established both in educated speech and in edited writing.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 3:54 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Determining the parameters of Holocaust execution sites
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > In an article on executions of Jews in Eastern Europe during the
> > Holocaust, highlighting research showing that "a third or more" died
> > not by gas in concentration camps but by being shot in small numbers
> > in "thousands of villages, quarries, forests, wells, streets and homes".
> >
> > "Father Desbois has worked with the American Jewish Committee on five
> > sites in Ukraine and Belarus to clear them, find their parameters and
> > have them marked."
> >
> >   NYTimes, Jan. 27/28,
> >
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/europe/a-light-on-a-vast-toll-of-jews-killed-away-from-the-death-camps.html?_r=0
> > or p. A10 (col. 4 in NE Edition).
> >
> > I assume this should have been "perimeters".  (Word's first
> > correction suggestion for "perameters" is "parameters".)
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list