Lavengro

Dwarfs and the Guardian

One of 17

It is no secret that I dislike apostrophes and would abolish them if I had the power to do so. Hyphens, on the other hand, are a different matter. They have a useful purpose in indicating compound words. A Spanish-English dictionary is one that describes the two languages while a Spanish English teacher is a person of Spanish nationality who teaches the English language.

Hyphens seem to be disappearing. I regret this. However, they are commonly used to combine numbers and units: a 20-tonne lorry, a 40-year-old woman. Somehow something went wrong in the Guardian and we have this splendid correction:

An unwanted hyphen, introduced during the editing process, had us claiming in our print edition that the Villa Valmarana ai Nani in Vicenza, Italy, was “named for the 17-stone ‘nani’, or dwarfs, that surround the home” To clarify: there are 17 dwarf statues surrounding the villa, they are made of stone, and we’re not sure how much they weigh.

People outside the UK may not understand the point. In the system of imperial (sic) weights and measures, which is still commonly used there, a stone is equivalent to 14 pounds. That is pounds weight, not the country’s currency of pounds sterling. Seventeen stone is about 108 kg – rather a lot for a dwarf! The imperial system of weights as used in the UK (it is different in the USA) is:

16 ounces (oz) = 1 pound (lb)
14 lb = 1 stone (st)
2 st = 1 quarter (qr)
4 qr = 1 hundredweight (cwt)
20 cwt = 1 ton

An imperial ton is thus 2,240 lb (believe me, I learnt it all by heart at school along with rods, poles and perches for measuring land, and a mile is 1,760 yards, 5,280 feet or 63,360 inches). Coincidentally but conveniently, the metric tonne of 1,000 kg is equivalent to 2,205 lb. The two words ton and tonne are distinguished in spelling but are both pronounced /tVn/.

This is the avoirdupois system. Precious metals are weighed in the Troy system, where a pound is 12 pounces or 5,760 grains.

There is no likelihood of the UK adopting the metric system in any foreseeable future.

The plural of dwarf
The standard plural is dwarfs. J. R. R. Tolkien used dwarves in his books. According to Wikipedia:

The original editor of The Hobbit “corrected” Tolkien’s plural dwarves to dwarfs, as did the editor of the Puffin paperback edition of The Hobbit. According to Tolkien, the “real ‘historical’” plural of dwarf is dwarrows or dwerrows. He referred to dwarves as “a piece of private bad grammar”. In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings it is explained that if we still spoke of dwarves regularly, English might have retained a special plural for the word dwarf as with goose—geese. Despite Tolkien’s fondness for it, the form dwarrow only appears in his writing as Dwarrowdelf, a name for Moria.

Tolkien used Dwarves, instead, which corresponds with Elf and Elves. In this matter, one has to consider the fact that the etymological development of the term dwarf differs from the similar-sounding word scarf (plural scarves). The English word is related to old Norse dvergr, which, in the other case, would have had the form dvorgr. But this word was never recorded, and the f/g-emendation (English/Norse) dates further back in language history.

Punctuation
Connoisseurs of this arcane subject will appreciate the alternating double and single quotation marks in nested quotations in both the above pieces from the Guardian and Wikipedia.

Image from magicoveneto.it

The BBC and the garden path

The BBC’s UK news page says:

Memorial for stab death teacher

Tributes are paid to a teacher who was stabbed to death at a school in Leeds by her family, friends and civic dignitaries at a memorial service attended by hundreds.

BBC English: their, there and they’re

(Click to enlarge the image.)

The BBC quotes David Cameron on the result of the Scottish referendum on its live blog (07.50):

"Now the debate has been settled for a generation, or as Alex Salmond has said: 'Perhaps for a lifetime'. So their can be no disputes, no re-runs, we have heard the will of the Scottish people. (My emphasis.)

I long ago gave up using the BBC as a model of English usage for my students but even so this is egregious. The confusion of their, there and they’re is well known – so well known that for that very reason the correct use of these words should be second nature to BBC writers.

For those who may not be sure there is a simple way to remember which is which.

• Their is the possessive of they. The y changes to i as happens in other cases in English: easy/easier or lady/ladies for example.
• There has the same form as its opposite here. This is a coincidence but it is useful to help the memory.
• They’re is the contraction of they are with the apostrophe representing the missing a.

And now there is this (10.38):

Sandra voted No: "I was terribly worried because I feel that united we stand, divided we fall." She adds that she never waivered in her decision.

Sans serif confusion again

I have mentioned a problem with sans serif fonts. I have found it again. The Islamic State (IS in English) is el Estado Islámico in Spanish, which has the abbreviation EI. However, in a sans serif font, as us used by El País for example, this is virtually indistinguishable from the definite article El, which precedes it. The fist image is clipped from Firefox at maximum size.

I saved that image and then increased it to 1200%. There is a very slight visible difference at this magnification but nothing like enough to be seen when read in normal size. So readers have El EI written confusingly as two identical words.Click to enlarge.

 

Homophonia

The Independent reports:

Tim Torkildson ... said he was removed from his role as head of social media because his boss believed that his post about homophones might give off the impression that the school promoted homosexuality.

What can one say, except that the blog post was obviously all Greek to the school's owners?

AP crash blossom

The word ‘crash’ is unnecessary. Another way of solving the problem would be to say ‘crash site’, which is what it really means.

Google strikes again

I have come across this Google translation of this Spanish newspaper article. It is about Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the new Spanish left-wing party Podemos which has entered the European Parliament. I don’t intend to parse it completely but some points are worth mentioning.

Pablo Iglesias search (1) controversy at its (2) premiere (3) at the European Parliament

His lengthy discourse bullfighter jumps to politely (4) and wins him the first scolding. "Never again," he warned (5).

Topics We (4) Pablo Iglesias European Parliament

Lora Macarena (Brussels) 01/07/2014

The leader can (6), Pablo Iglesias , premiered on the floor with a very long speech that earned him his first parliamentary brawl (7). For over a minute, the interim president of the European Parliament urged him to finish his speech, "courtesy with their fellow members." Deaf to the many invitations to close his speech - "I beg, I'll have to interrupt" insisted the president, Iglesias continued asking South deputies that "vote as Greek, Italian (...) , Portuguese or Spanish "against" the authoritarian drift of the troika. "

While Pablo Iglesias raised his voice from his brand new European seat - "the millions that you have said enough in the markets (8), I want to say that you are proud ..." - who served as president of the chamber, Giani Pitella, could not conceal their weariness. "I beg," Churches (9) urged him while still reading his lengthy speech quick-release, "out of respect for their (2) colleagues."

"Sorry, but I must interrupt you," insisted the interim president. "You must close your intervention," warned Pitella, unable to bring to heel an overwhelming parliamentary willing to finish reading the stack of sheets. "Finisco in Sixteen (10) secondi", Iglesias was justified (11) in perfect Italian parliamentary rules while jumping (12).

1. Spanish busca third person of buscar. Should be seeks.

2. A classic. In Spanish the polite verb form Usted takes the third person verb form. The possessive su can thus mean his, her, its, your or their. Google has guessed wrong.

3. He is not a film but Spanish has one word for a first appearance of any kind.

4. Iglesias is not a bullfighter nor was he speaking about bulls. Saltarse algo a la torera means to disregard or flout something. Iglesias overran the time limit  in his first speech in the European Parliament. A torera is the bolero jacket worn by bullfighters but here a la torera means bullfighter style.

5. He was warned. How le advierten (they warned him) has come out like this is anyone’s guess.

6. Podemos is the name of his party. It means We can. Say no more.

7. Bronca is a row, argument. It may perhaps develop into fisticuffs but not necessarily at all.

8. The original is plazas meaning squares. His party has its origins in the people who occupied squares in European cities a few years ago. As a socialist he is not proud of markets.

9. Iglesias does mean churches. It is also his surname!

10. Iglesias spoke an aside in Italian to the Italian President of the chamber saying he would finish in dieci (10) seconds. Google was still in Spanish mode and, presumably, thought it was dieciseis 11. This is se justificaba. The Spanish reflexive often does have a passive meaning but here Iglesias was justifying himself directly.

12. No, he was not jumping up and down in the parliament chamber. This is se saltaba las normas parlamentarias. He got round the rules. See (2). Saltar means jump.

This blog is about language, not politics. Language comments are welcome. Political comments are not.

Tu and vous

One of the biggest problems facing English-speakers learning a feign language has nothing to do with the grammar or vocabulary of the language. It is the social problem of using the familiar or polite form of the personal pronoun. Spanish has the familiar tú and the formal Usted, from Vuestra merced (Your Worship) and takes a third person verb. It’s not always an easy choice. It seems that tú is gaining ground, at least in Spain. Latin America is a different matter; the builder who did some work on my home a few years ago was a perfectly friendly man but he was Argentinian and insisted on Usted. I deal with publishing and distribution companies where Usted seems to be the norm for email but tú is used on the phone. I have heard it said, though I have no evidence, that the Civil War led to a breakdown of formality on both sides and an increasing use of tú. Something similar happened I think, too, after the English Civil War, which led to the disappearance (almost) of thou. The King of Spain, however, has it easy. Everyone calls him Usted and he calls everyone tú.

To make life harder, it’s different in different languages. German for example is much more formal than Spanish. To celebrate Bastille Day the LA Times published an interesting infographic about the use of tu and vous in French. The image cannot be extracted but I attach a screenshot of a part (click to enlarge). The full thing is very well  worth looking at here.

The Guardian whinges

The Guardian has an article entitled

Good grammar saves lives – and rescues friendships

Despite the uproar it caused, local councils are still banishing apostrophes from street signs. But a single apostrophe can save utter humiliation

It is written by Gary Nunn, a journalist in Australia with no apparent linguistic qualifications. Well,

1) Does it need saying again? Apostrophes have nothing to do with grammar. They are punctuation marks or even, some say, the 27^th letter of the alphabet.

2) The pronoun it in the subhead has no noun referent. The sentence should read: Despite the uproar caused by their decision … That is a grammatical mistake.

After relating an anecdote about how his neighbour knew that a text message wasn’t genuine because it contained your for you’re, the author concludes rather grandiosely:

A single apostrophe can prevent you from being ostracised in your own neighbourhood.

We then have

Good grammar saves lives, too. “Let’s eat, Grandma” and “Let’s eat Grandma” have two very different meanings: one an invitation, the other homicidal.

An old chestnut that has nothing to do with grammar. And nothing to do with apostrophes.

But if we are going to be picky about commas, there is an extraneous comma in this sentence:

Oh how sick is [sic], the three-lettered bitchy Latin put-down that succinctly and snootily says “Don’t for one second think that was my error.”

The comma after [sic] apparently marks a pause in speech but the [sic] is a parenthesis, already marked at beginning and end by square brackets to indicate a pause. The base sentence is

Oh how sick is the three-lettered bitchy Latin put-down …

(NOTE: On rereading this post I see that the comma might be intended to mark an apposition. If so, it is correct. However, the presentation is clumsy. The brackets, which suggest an editorial insertion, should surely be replaced by inverted commas to indicate a quotation.)

There then follows a spectacular whinge about apostrophes with special reference to street name signs.

Birmingham, Mid Devon, Cambridge, East Staffordshire, East Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire – all took the decision to remove apostrophes from street signs. You can imagine them, sat [sic] around like the parish council in the Vicar of Dibley, eating Marmite cheesecake and discussing the things that really matter to locals – such as spending money creating new, apostrophe-less signs.

Our grammar angel contacted all the local authorities that have abolished apostrophes and was told by Huntingdonshire that the decision ‘was made to aid clarity when using address names in search engines and sat navs’. That sounds fair enough to me but ‘Birmingham city council – Europe’s largest local authority – didn’t respond before the deadline.’

How rude of them! Or can one imagine them not sitting around eating Marmite cheesecake but in fact doing the things that really matter to locals and not spending taxpayers’ money on a petty query from a solipsistic journalist?

And shouldn’t our author refer to ‘the parish council in The Vicar of Dibley’ rather than ‘the parish council in the Vicar of Dibley’? Sometimes a capital letter can make the difference between the name of a sitcom and group sex.

(The Vicar of Dibley was a BBC sitcom featuring a woman Church of England vicar, Wikipedia.)

Neuter babies

I have mentioned the use of the neuter pronoun it to refer to babies here. In A Guide to English Language Usage I say (emphasis added):

It is perfectly acceptable and normal to use it (but who rather than which) for a baby or a young child, especially when its sex is unknown or is not clearly seen (e.g. under breast: A woman who feeds a baby with her own milk breast‑feeds it).

I emphasise those words because I was surprised to read this on the BBC (emphasis added):

One baby has died and 14 are ill with blood poisoning after being given what appears to be a contaminated batch of specialised feed. The babies, many of which were premature, were all being cared for in neonatal intensive care units at six hospitals across England.

I can see no reason why whom should not have been used in this case.