Re: Our language

["Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM>]

At 11:13 PM 5/12/97 -0400, John Glenn wrote:
>In a recent post, it was written that something was
>''invaluable.''
>While the poster's English is correct (no flame, this), the
>ENGLISH rings false - INvaluable? Why not ''valuable?''
>Remember (you grey beards -- is there a female = to
>grey [gray?] beard?) ''inflammable'' meaning ''will go up in
>flames'' -- someone forced the change to ''flammable'' since
>the ''in'' was a (Latin?) negative.
>INvaluable --in this scrivener's opinion-- ought'a
>be relegated to the same scrap heap as inflammable -- along
>with some other words I'm certain can be added by other
>techwr-l subscribers.
>Before I press (but never DEpress) [ctrl]x, I want to repeat
>that this is >> !! NOT !! << a flame to/about the person
>who used the word. If a flame at all, 'tis a flame on this
>language that is so confusing even to some of us who grew up
>with it.
>
Please excuse John. He has just been released from the Massachusetts State
Home for the Bewildered and his meds are low.

--Wayne Douglass

=========================================================
Verity, Inc.                mailto: wayned -at- verity -dot- com
894 Ross Drive           Telephone: 408-542-2139
Sunnyvale, CA 94089      Facsimile: 408-542-2040
Connecting People with Information: http://www.verity.com
=========================================================

 TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send commands
   to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
  Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/  or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html