On this page I present my articles and links concerning language use and misuse.
My text is in black. Text copied from the Net is in maroon or, as highlighted by me, in red.
. . . Risks of FORTRAN in German _____ Windows 95: The Sequel
. . . In Tandem: An Idea Without Parallel
. . . A Numbers Game _____ Clear to Land? _____ Picture This! _____ "Plus" vs "And"
. . . Safe use of language in flying English-to-English translation problem: 582 dead. (Added 4 Mar 01.)
. . . What is the Middle Name of Harry Truman?
. . . Is this the Year 1998 AD? _____ What is the Worth of a Plugged Nickel?
. . . "Einstein" or "Einsteen"?
. . . Too Much Unity in the Case of "Ale" vs "Beer"? _____ Translation: American to Spanish
. . . Translation: British to Canadian _____ Translation: Dutch English to International English
. . . Translation: International French to Quebec French. Chocolat! _____ Translation: Russian to English
Usage conventions
. . . Junk punctuation: American system (mis)usage of quotation marks
Some FORTRAN compilers permit writing to a "unit" as well as to a "device". Writing to unit 6 gives standard output, whereas writing to device 6 overwrites the disk. Apparently many German-speaking programmers (for whom both "unit" and "device" are translated as "Einheit") were victimized by undesired disk deletions. From "Computer Related Risks" by Peter G. Neumann, Moderator of the Internet Risks Forum.
Is it true that, at the inception of the new Millenium, Microsoft will launch Windows 00, also to be known for the next century as Windows Oh! Oh!, at least verbally (correction: orally)?
This pertains to another problem: the difficulty of distinguishing between "o" (as in obtuse) and "0" (as in 30 days hath ...). There are conventions for doing so, but they are opposite in Canada and the USA. (Conventions differ also as to TV monitor sizes, a 21-inch TV in one country being a 20-inch set in the other, which, of course, begs the question: 21 inches from where to where? Hint: what is the difference between the corner of a tube and the corner of a mask?)
In Tandem: An Idea Without
Parallel
Tandem computers are distinguished from the older IBM-compatible
mainframes
in having parallel processors, and dual (mirrored) disk drives,
drive
directors, and dual power supplies. It seemed odd to me,
therefore, that
about ten years ago it featured an ad showing several horses
side-by-side
hauling logs out of the bush, bragging about how they were
operating in
tandem, by which Tandem meant in parallel. Unfortunately for the
image
projected by the ad and for the very name of the company, the
word "tandem"
means one after or following another, not in parallel or
side-by-side.
A computer programmer has a much easier task of taking 101 Dalmatians for a walk than 'real' people do. Why? He just assumes that 101 is a binary-based integer (1 x 2**0 + 0 x 2**1 + 1 x 2**2) and takes 5 dogs for a walk, unless he is very risk-aversive and throws in an extra parity bit of a dog so that he can do a cyclic redundancy check. On the other hand, if he is walking, not riding, he won't need a cycle, will he?
On the other hand, if he has been up too late programming his brains out and is told to take"D" dogs for a walk, he might immediately convert "D" to hexadecimal and logically conclude that he needs to round up 13 dogs for the task.
At least 20 years ago, on a rainy night, a US Navy jet was flying toward an airport on the eastern seaboard of the US. Air traffic control announced: "clear to land". The pilot interpreted this to mean that he should start downwards now. He crashed into a mountain. Two dead. The air-traffic controller did not mean that message as a signal to start landing, but only as a status message. Was the phrase"'clear to land" defined in an operating manual? I think not. Too bad.
Critics of language-usage nitpickers are wont to complain that, after all, you'd think that someone's life depended on it! Indeed!
A few years ago, an American company decided to expand its product sales into the Middle East. It launched a picture showing, on the left, a pile of soiled laundry and a box of its wonderful detergent somewhat to the right of a washing machine. On the right, the same picture, but with sparkling clean clothes! Sales went very poorly until one bright chap realized something very simple: in the Middle East people read from right to left. The message to them, therefore, was that, with this wonderful detergent, they could turn clean clothes into dirty ones!
Contrary to increasing usage in the media, I am not prepared to countenance the idea, for example, that this new car has this new feature"'plus" that other great feature. I think that "and" should be used instead. In other words, I expect that 2 "plus" (+) 3 equals 5 but that 2 "and" 3 could mean 23, among other things, but not 5.
What is the Middle Name of Harry Truman?
Part 1 of 2
See separate essay. Hint: is it "S."? Hint and complication: my Word processor reports that the preceding sentence has an error in: the invalid use of quotation marks, that use being in accordance with USA and Globe and Mail usage, a protocol with which I disagree.
What is the Last Name of Prime Minister Mulroney?
In response to this question one hears, even from the CBC, that it is "Mulroooney", as in Mickey Rooney"! Even an acquaintance claims that this is correct because that is how it pronounced by Mr. Mulroney. I consider that to be an invalid excuse for justifying an invalid pronunciation.
On "As It Happens" a few years ago, CBC Radio phoned several people in an Irish pub. I am inclined to agree with their consensus that the correct pronunciation is "Mulrony", as in "Tony", not as in "loony"!
Part 2 of 2
What is the Second Name of Harry Truman?
C:\Up\MidHST.doc
(As a partial answer to the question, note that the writing style used in this essay as applying to the use of quotation marks conforms to the "logical" style described by Fowler, not to the "common" or American style that he also referred to, unless otherwise noted. As stated elsewhere, the common style makes no sense to me; however, it is in common usage, unfortunately.)
We are considering the person who served as the president of the USA from 1945 To 1953. He is referred to as "Harry S. Truman" by most writers and as "Harry S Truman" by others. More precisely, those are the formats in which the name appears in print, even if the writers did not intend it to be so. We are already starting to complicate the question, but for good reason!
Why is this a more interesting question than: what is the second name of "Henry S. Commager", a noted American historian and writer? It is a more interesting question for more than just trying to answer the direct question as such. Also of interest is how we establish the veracity of a so-called fact, and under what conditions we may presume that we are being presented with a fact, rather than an editor-imposed distortion or contradiction of fact. It is also interesting in a related way from the point of view that, in the first sentence of this paragraph, I have already violated commonly accepted American language usage, and that of the Globe and Mail, which, for present purposes, are identical. Can you see why? All shall be revealed, but only after we overcome some problems of translating English to English.
To try to quell part of the immediate suspense, consider the seemingly obvious statement that the second name of H. S. Commager is "Steele". Now, even this seemingly simple statement presents a problem, namely that, if this essay were being written in accordance with American writing usage and with that of the Style Manual of the Globe and Mail, the answer would have been that the second name of H. S. Commager is "Steele.". Why could this be a problem? Because, in view of the preceding two sentences, it leaves us in doubt as to whether that second name consists of six characters, or seven! In other words, it raises the question as to whether the name ends in "e" or in ".". Note that I am here violating the style just referred to, in that I have ended the preceding sentence with a period that is the ending character of the sentence, rather than the second-last character of the sentence; that is, preceding the closing quote mark. Are you any closer yet as to knowing what the second name of Henry Commager is? Let us complicate life even more -- all in a good cause, I hope! There are two additional ways in which the question could have posed in relation to the name "Henry S. Commager". In accordance with American usage, one could have been asked: speaking of the "S.," what does it stand for? In accordance with logical usage, one could have asked: speaking of the "S.", what does it stand for? Now we are confronted with the question of whether the middle name of Henry Commager is designated by "S.," or by "S", or whether one of those is his full name or an abbreviation. We could accept the idea that "S." is an abbreviation, although it is odd to think that "S.," could be. By definition, in whatever variant of English in use, an abbreviation is designated by a closing ".", not by ".,". However, it would have also been logical to presume that quotation marks should enclose only that (symbols, words, and punctuation) which is being quoted, and not a single character more. Not so under American usage! One would also have thought it logical that a sentence could only be ended by the last character in the sentence, namely, either a period, a "?", or a "!". Not so under American usage!
In the above, the thought was entertained that "S." or "S.," could be possible names. Sound strange? Maybe not. A couple in Quebec are in a legal battle against the Province to enforce what they consider to be their right: that the second name of their newborn daughter should be "C'est une ange" (she's an angel).
So, part of the problem of answering the question posed in the title is one of language and style, but only part. Now, on to Mr. Truman (HST). What is the full name of HST? He is referred to as "Harry S. Truman" in the following:
a. Several (but not all) major encyclopedias, including Encarta 98, the Academic American Encyclopedia, and the Columbia Desk Encyclopedia.
b. A biography, "Harry S. Truman", by "Margaret S. Truman" (one would expect this to be authoritative, but beware!).
He is referred to as "Harry S Truman " in the following:
a. Office of the Secretary of State, Jefferson City, Missouri.
b. "Harry S Truman Thirty-Third President 1945-1953" by "Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman".
c. Authoritative publications produced by the ( USA Federal) Government Printing Office, which consistently use the period in Mr. Truman's name; notably, the Department of State's documentary series Foreign Relations of the United States, Diplomatic Papers, the Department of the Army's United States Army in World War II, and two major publications of the Office of the Federal Register, Public Papers of the President - Harry S. Truman, and the United States Government Organization Manual.
d. "The Dictionary of Misinformation".
According to the "University of Chicago Press A Manual of Style", all initials given with a name should "for convenience and consistency" be followed by a period even if they are not abbreviations of names. The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual states that the period should be used after the "S" in Harry S. Truman's name. Most published works using the name Harry S. Truman employ the period.
Authors choosing to omit the period in their texts must still use it when citing the names of organizations that employ the period in their legal titles (i.e., Harry S. Truman Library), thus seeming to contradict themselves, even though such a library or institution officially designates itself by the inclusion of the term "Harry S. Truman".
Most of the above-cited information was garnered from the World Wide Web, and it took more than a few minutes to do so. Why should it take so much effort to answer what is seemingly such a simple question? If one thinks that this type of question is trivial, one should realize that lives have been lost because of such seemingly simple misunderstandings in the use of language. In one case, a very experienced jet pilot reported to air-traffic control that he was "at take-off", clearly communicating, he thought, that his jet was in process of taking off, i.e., that it was now moving along the runway. The controller, just as clearly from his own point of view, understood this to mean that the plane was at a position in which it was ready to take off but that, of course, it had not yet done so -- especially as the controller had not given it permission to take off and, as all parties new, there was another plane still on the far end of the runway taxiing off the runway. Result? Collision! More than 580 people killed. The language of international air traffic control is International English. The pilot was fluent in his mother tongue, Dutch, and in English. The controller was fluent in English. Why the problem? In Dutch, the idea that one is "at take-off" means that one is now undergoing take-off, rather than "ready to begin take-off", as International English would have it. In another case, pilots lost their lives when they interpreted the phrase "clear to land" from a controller to mean "begin landing descent now". Ironically, the meaning of the phrase "clear to land" was not defined in the controller's procedures manuals, nor, it is suspected, in those of the pilots. What interpretation would you adopt if your life depended on it?
We have established that the middle name of HST begins with and includes only one letter: "S". Is the full name "S", "S.", or"S.,? I choose "S", but that depends upon which version of English I use. Even his tombstone won'tnecessarily settle the question. I have examined a photograph oif it on the Net. After all, are tombstone inscriptions also subject to language editing and misuse? Perhaps it is reassuring to note that HST was not a linguist, nor would he have cared much about this question!
A judge in Florida has made it officially known that he will not handle any cases in which the documents are dated using the suffix "AD". Hint as to why: he is Jewish. His claim is that such usage violates the freedom from religion provisions of the US constitution in that AD (Anno Domini) (in the year of our Lord) refers to a Christian god, not just any old god. (I am being a bit redundant, as all gods are, by definition, old -- older than anything on this or any other planet. Please forgive my impertinence!)
There is a fine irony in this. I thought that Jews were monotheistic. This judge seems to believe that there is a god other than the god of Judaism, namely the god(s) of Christianity. Does that mean that he believes in more than one god and is, therefore not monotheistic, and, therefore, not Jewish? Or does it just mean that he believes that there is more than one god but that he believes in only one of them? Complicating it a bit further, maybe he believes that there are at least four gods: one Jewish, and the three Christian ones. Not to mention Saturn, Mars, Vishnu, .
What is the Worth of a Plugged Nickel?
At least twenty years ago an aspiring law student at Queen's University came out of the Douglas library to find a parking violation ticket on his windshield. The parking meter had expired. Of course he refused to pay the ticket and took his case to court. There he had read into the court record the exact wording of the law that he had had allegedly violated, to wit: not paying money for parking time. He argued that the meter had words to the effect that that he had to deposit one "nickel" for each 12 minutes of parking time, and that a "nickel" was not defined as legal tender (money) under the laws of Canada and that, therfore, he was not in violation of the law. The judge agreed. Case dismissed. A penny for your thoughts?
One can only speculate as to whether he has become the tax avoidance counsel par excellence!
I am beginning to despair of the lack of discrimination in the pronunciation of some types of words, even by the CBC, which, at least until recently had a language ombudsman. For example. I have heard (on the CBC) "Goldstein" pronounced as "Goldsteen". I had expected to hear "Goldstine". Am I being too Germanic? Apart from the (in my view useful) protocols of pronunciation in German, I had expected this on purely phonetic grounds so that, for example, one should pronounce "Einstein" differently than "Einstien". Is this asking too much? Would you rather drink some beer from what sounds like a "steen", or would you prefer a "stein"? Would you rather listen to a "Steenway" piano, or a "Steinway"?
Too Much Unity in the Case of "Ale" vs "Beer"?
I have, upon several occasions in la belle province, attempted to order a bottle of ale in a cafeteria or restaurant, only to be met with a puzzled smile or the question of whether I would like a bottle of beer. I could not explain, either in fractured francais nor in English, what ale was. I do not think that I would have nearly as much trouble distinguishing Pepsi from Coke! Not being one to blame others too rashly, I consulted a bilingual dictionary, only to discover that both words translate into bierre en francais, unless one is prepared to describe the whole manufacturing process a la Hollandaise. Mon dieu! (For a visiting New Yorker this might lead to Holland-tunnel vision!). No wonder that we do not see too many NY-state licence plates in Quebec! Talk about sovereignty association: we don't even have ale-beer separation, at least not in Quebec! This could have serious implications! Perhaps a new brew is needed that is more oriented toward language nitpickers such as me; "Expert Eh", perhaps?
Translation: American to Spanish
Years ago (about 20?) GM set up a plant in South America to build Chevy Novas. Sales went poorly until one young gringo realized that "nova", as "no va" means "no go". Not a very dynamic image for a car! Claro!
Translation: British to Canadian
In a British newspaper one might encounter a sentence such as: "The IBM Corp. have announced ...". This seems very curious to me, as, by definition, a corporation is a singular legal entity, as is, I would expect, The Times of London. I would translate the above into Canadian as: "The IBM Corp. has announced ...".
Translation: Dutch English to International English
In 1977, on a fog-bound runway of the airport at Tenerife, the Dutch captain of a KLM 747 translated his thoughts (in Dutch) in response to the air-traffic controller's request for status into the (Anglo-Dutch) statement "I'm at takeoff", by which he meant that his plane was already rolling down the runway in the process of taking off. To the controller, "at takeoff" meant that the captain was ready to start taking off, but not yet moving, especially as he had not given the captain necessary clearance to begin taking off. The controller was also busy monitoring the exit from the same runway of a Pan Am 747. Result? Collision. 583 people killed.
Translation: International French to Quebec French. Chocolat!
About ten years ago a company in France expanded one of its product lines into Quebec on the shoulders of a new ad campaign. The product? Chocolate-coated cherries. The problem? The phrase in Parisian French translated into one in Quebec French that was trop risque pour les Quebecois. Quell domage!
Translation: Russian to English
What is a cheap and quick way to make vodka? Just take a glass of water ("voda" in Russian), add a bit of potassium ("K" in chemistry jargon), stir (in a linguistic sense), and voila! One has "vod + K + a" = "vodka"! Don't try this at home or anywhere else -- you would have more than a fiery drink on your hands (and on your face, and ...)!
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