[geeks] KDE "konsole" cluebat?

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

der Mouse wrote:
>>> "Looks like[sic] it was[sic] printed on paper" 
>> Pedantry without reference is so annoying.
> 
> The "like" should be a phrase with "as", such as "as though" or "as
> if".  

Only in formal communications.  The rules state that like is a better flowing
alternative for spoken English, or written dialog like mailing lists, letters,
and advertising.

Little, Brown, 3rd edition, page 281.

	:-)

I keep it beside my desk for pedants, and also because I use it for formal
writing whenever I have time.

> "Like" should be used when - and only when - the thing after it
> is a noun phrase; "it was printed on paper" is a full sentence, not a
> detached noun phrase.  "Looks like print on paper" would be an example
> of a correct use of "like" carrying roughly the same meaning.

"Proper English" is the best oxymoron I know of, and that's a classic example
of why.

English professors are like doctors: ask two of them for an opinion and you
get three.

But let's look at this in detail, because I find it interesting that so much
disagreement can occur regarding English, and N opposing sides can all be correct:

I only occasionally use print as a noun, and "looks like print on paper"
sounds wrong.  It doesn't convey what I was thinking of, because it leaves out
the action.

You wanted to hear: "It looks as if it were printed on paper."  That's formal
English, yes.

Your mistake is in assuming it is the only accepted form.  It isn't.

First of all, "like" is a valid replacement for "as if" in speech and informal
written English.  (Little, Brown 3rd Ed, page 281).

That leave my use of was instead of were.

Fifteen years ago was would have been incorrect.

However, the was/were rules (along with a few others) are being changed in
English standards to correct for bad flow and inconsistency in the language,
so I'd debate you on that.

The changes might not have propagated everywhere yet, but they will in time.

Anyway, don't let that stop you in the future.  It's nice to find an excuse to
dig out the books now and then.

You might like to briefly argue over split infinitives.

Maybe prepositions, odd and ungainly, would be something up with which neither
of us would put.

	:-)

Aside:

There is good reason why poets can write proper gaelic, but almost always have
to write improper English.

> Since I think you're North American, it's quite plausible that you were
> never taught correct English, 
> and thus didn't know either of those; if so, the implicit flame is actually 
> directed at whoever was supposed to be teaching you English - or
> hoever decided English would not be part of the curriculum you were
> schooled under, as the case may be.

My English prof was pretty good.  Mostly I just let it fall off since I'm
immersed in the Tidewater dialect.  Tidewater dialect is a mix of irish,
norwegian, 400 year old English, and other things, in addition to what we call
generically "American English".

It makes it kind of hard to remember the rules when no one around you uses
them... :)

There are in Tidewater speaking 400 year old English and close variations.
Most of them are fishermen.

They are dying out rapidly now because a lot of their islands are sinking
(most don't live on the mainland), and the younger generations are moving into
the cities.

Kind of sad to see them disappear, but it would be hard for them to continue
as they were.  For one thing, most of their islands have sunk over the last
400 years.

Not many toggers left either.





-- 
shannon           | The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the
                  | most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of
                  | mankind.
                  |        -- Thomas Paine