4.0152 Plurals; Idioms; Disintermediation (4/68)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 31 May 90 17:24:02 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0152. Thursday, 31 May 1990.


(1) Date: 31 May 90 11:33:19+0100 (24 lines)
From: Stig Johansson <h_johansson%use.uio.uninett@nac.no>
Subject: singular plurals

(2) Date: Wed, 30 May 90 23:18 CDT (5 lines)
From: Michael Ossar <MLO@KSUVM>
Subject: plural nouns as singulars

(3) Date: Wednesday, 30 May 1990 2318-EST (17 lines)
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Standing on line

(4) Date: Wed, 30 May 90 19:37:01 PDT (22 lines)
From: Linc Kesler <KESLERL@ORSTVM>
Subject: disintermediation

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 31 May 90 11:33:19+0100
From: Stig Johansson <h_johansson%use.uio.uninett@nac.no>
Subject: singular plurals

On nouns like 'data' and 'media', see the article by Randolph Quirk,
'Grammatical and pragmatic aspects of countability', in his book: Style
and Communication in the English Language (Edward Arnold 1982). First
printed in: Die Neueren Sprachen 77 (1978).

There is an example of 'media' with the indefinite article in the LOB
Corpus: ... this is an ideal media... (text E35, referring to press
advertising, in an article on advertising). Note the comment in the OED
on the 'erroneous' use of 'media' in the singular. (The LOB Corpus text
was published in 1961.)

An indication of the special status of nouns like 'data' and 'media' is
that they are quite regularly used as the first element in noun + noun
compounds (data base, media campaign, etc), while ordinary plural nouns
only appear in this position under very special circumstances. So this
is a singular group indeed!

Stig Johansson
University of Oslo

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------13----
Date: Wed, 30 May 90 23:18 CDT
From: Michael Ossar <MLO@KSUVM>
Subject: plural nouns as singulars

How long is this discussion of "media" going to remain on the agendum?
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Wednesday, 30 May 1990 2318-EST
From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS
Subject: Standing on line

As a Connecticut Yankee who always stood "in line," I had never thought
that Philadelphians (via NY ?) who insisted on standing "on line" were
simply pronouncing "in" as "on" -- rather, I supposed that they had a
different (and, yes, to me strange!) concept of "line," of which I was
part (by being in it) but with which they were only in contact (by being
on it). Any light from other HUMANISTs? Do Britishers stand "on queue"?

Another strangeness of idiom that struck me when I arrived in
Philadelphia nearly 3 decades ago was the use of "babysit" as a
transitive verb -- "Do you want me to babysit him tonight?" for example.
Where I came from we would "babysit for him."

Bob Kraft, U. Penn.
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------32----
Date: Wed, 30 May 90 19:37:01 PDT
From: Linc Kesler <KESLERL@ORSTVM>
Subject: disintermediation

Re: Sheizaf Rafaeli and "disintermediation"

Hey Sheizaf, thanks. Your note on "disintermediation" arrived just in
time: tomorrow's the last day of class in my history of the english
language course, and naturally I'd like to track on all the current
trends. And for years I've been trying to think of a simple, direct,
and "transparent" or is that "disintermediated" term to describe what
the Reformation did for all them poor and hopelessly buffered Medieval
catholics. Now "mis-statement" and "disinformation" I can understand,
since there are obvious legal implications to terms such as "lie" and
"cheat" and nobody wants to pull the president's pants down in public
(and have to look at the unappetizing result). But "disintermediation"
really sounds more like one of those truly sick defense department
confections designed to describe the terminal state of relations between
a B-52, its cargo, and the hapless earthbound geeks watching from below.
But if I tell this story in my class, which is mostly made up of Kiwanis
Klub members, are they likely to get the joke? Nah, they'll probably
just take notes. -- Linc Kesler, Oregon State U.