Clarity requirements have nothing to do with correctness. It's just rules, like etiquette, only partially based on logic of some sort and largely based on tradition.
I don't post on blogs much but I've heard that it was traditional to call people nazis so I'll try to abide by proper etiquette here: you're an apostrofascist.
For some reason the apostrophe thing does really irritate me. I've been known to say, "Contrary to popular belief, the apostrophe does not mean 'Look out, here comes the letter S!'" So I accept your epithet. But I'm not a grammar Nazi in general: for my part, I personally don't always follow the (American) rule that end punctuation marks always go inside quotation marks. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense.
Clarity is the most important thing, but unfortunately clarity is often most easily achieved through consensus.
A quick googling suggests that "apostrofascist" is an original term, (unless, as google suggests, Alla really meant to say that you were an astrophysicist.)
It's just rules, like etiquette, only partially based on logic of some sort and largely based on tradition.
*Ahem* As a big fan of the etiquette, I feel a need to speak up here. :) REAL etiquette is based on a very simple and clean logic - behave in a way that makes people around you feel more comfortable. Which means that anything labelled as "etiquette" that is about making people feel incorrect and small and gauche is not, in fact, REAL etiquette, but just snobbiness run amok and mislabelled. And that's the stuff that is only partially based on logic and largely based on tradition.
I think that's not a very good definition, because it's too general. Etiquette is specifically about making people feel more comfortable by not violating social norms at them. That's exactly what uniforall was doing - she was obeying the net social norm of calling people nazis, so that everybody would feel comfortable and at home.
The wikipedia article suggests that even in one society people have many conflicting ideas of what etiquette is, apparently including how to spell it. ("ettiquete"? nice editing! Is that what ettins do? I bet they have the most complicated table manners ever!)
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mcroft
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Date: 2006-06-26 08:06 pm (UTC)I don't post on blogs much but I've heard that it was traditional to call people nazis so I'll try to abide by proper etiquette here: you're an apostrofascist.
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Date: 2006-06-26 08:34 pm (UTC)For some reason the apostrophe thing does really irritate me. I've been known to say, "Contrary to popular belief, the apostrophe does not mean 'Look out, here comes the letter S!'" So I accept your epithet. But I'm not a grammar Nazi in general: for my part, I personally don't always follow the (American) rule that end punctuation marks always go inside quotation marks. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense.
Clarity is the most important thing, but unfortunately clarity is often most easily achieved through consensus.
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Date: 2006-06-26 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 08:48 pm (UTC)*Ahem* As a big fan of the etiquette, I feel a need to speak up here. :) REAL etiquette is based on a very simple and clean logic - behave in a way that makes people around you feel more comfortable. Which means that anything labelled as "etiquette" that is about making people feel incorrect and small and gauche is not, in fact, REAL etiquette, but just snobbiness run amok and mislabelled. And that's the stuff that is only partially based on logic and largely based on tradition.
Herein endeth the lesson. :)
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Date: 2006-06-26 11:26 pm (UTC)The wikipedia article suggests that even in one society people have many conflicting ideas of what etiquette is, apparently including how to spell it. ("ettiquete"? nice editing! Is that what ettins do? I bet they have the most complicated table manners ever!)