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Subject:Re: Latin vs. Germanic From:Barry Batorsky <bbatorsky -at- ADMIN -dot- NJ -dot- DEVRY -dot- EDU> Date:Mon, 4 Aug 1997 22:51:24 -0400
At 04:12 PM 8/2/97 -0400, Bruce Byfield rejoined:
>Barry Batorsky wrote:
>>Well, it's not that Germanic is gutteral, it's a longer, older >story, I
think. More like what [the original posting] said: "when someone wants >to
sound 'schooled' they use Latin words such as 'manual.' By >contrast, a
person trying to speak more commonly would choose >book.'"
>snip<
>I think George Orwell's suggestion, "Never use a long word where a short
>one will do" is more to the point, especially if you emphasize the last
>six words. At times, the Germanic - or the shorter word - simply won't
>do.
Please, I don't think I would ever argue length. It is, as the poster I
quoted (sorry I have forgotten who it was) wrote, a question of which word
was/is "common" and which strange to the reader, listener.
Of course, "strangeness" draws attention to itself, and that sometimes is a
recommendation: "W- tastes good like a cigarette should."
And so, as always, there is no way around making judgements, and nothing to
do by learn from our errors.
Barry Batorsky
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