Comments on: Elitist Bastard Language

By: valter

valter — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:50:44 +0000

“Forte” is (also) an Italian word and the 4th edition of The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (see http://www.bartleby.com/61/0/F0270000.html) claims that its use in the English language is in fact derived from the Italian, not the French language.

For the record, the primary meaning of “forte” in Italian is “strong” (as opposed to debole/weak), but it is also used idiomatically as in English (i.e., to refer to someone’s absolute or comparative advantage.)

By: It’s the Thought that Counts » Blog Archive » Carnival of the Elitist Bastards #4

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:58:50 +0000

[...] of English fluency, I was particularly happy to see in the carnival a thorough explanation of elitist bastard language. Even though I’m generally against trying to live up to the “bastard” title, I do [...]

By: arensb

arensb — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:38:32 +0000

Tilsim:

And Hartman has only one n… zut alors!

We're not uptight here. You can say "bordel de merde" if you like.

By: arensb

arensb — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:46:40 +0000

Andrea M:
Indeed I do. Fixed. Thanks for the correction.

By: Andrea M

Andrea M — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:19:57 +0000

Perhaps you mean Penne all’arraBBiata. Double b there please. And truncation of alla is rather more elegant.

By: Cobalt

Cobalt — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:33:00 +0000

Thank you. <3

By: arensb

arensb — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:55:34 +0000

Tilsim: It turns out that principle has several names, including Hartman's Law and Muphry's (sic) Law.

Though "The Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation" captures the essence of the "grammatical irony" I was aiming at, above.

By: decrepitoldfool

decrepitoldfool — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:56:29 +0000

Hallelujah! A certain class of commenters seems Hell-bent on destroying their credibility before it is established by testing how many of these rules they can violate. Is it that difficult to spell, or to tell 'their' from 'there'?

By: Tilsim

Tilsim — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:39:55 +0000

And Hartman has only one n… zut alors!

By: Tilsim

Tilsim — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 09:37:31 +0000

That would be Hartmann’s Law, or the Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation…