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Murray Arnow
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: |
[...] And curses aren't Laws.
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obQuibbleOverSingularAndPlural: We do know that some laws are curses,
but isn't "the curse" a law of nature?
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Arcadian Rises
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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| Quote: | From: trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
Arcadian Rises <arcadianrises@aol.com> wrote:
From: vivkhemka@gmail.com (Vivek)
Thats the second occassion I've seen "Skitt's Law" on this board in
the last week. What IS Skitt's Law ?
Do let me know- i'm intrigued.
[ObAUE: isn't Skitt's Law covered in FAQ?
It should be, for what Skitt originally meant is everyday embellished by
AUE
folklore.]
No, because (a) nobody agrees what it is, precisely; (b) those who think
they know what it is have never proved it is true, and (c) Skitt
disavows it -- he was not the formulator. I generally don't put items
into the Intro docs containing so little information, but if people want
me to put *that* in, I will.
My interpretation of Skitt's Law: those who correct a poster's mistake are
damned to err in the very corrective post. So, in my view Skitt's Law is
more
like a curse.
Skitt being the curser? I don't think that's fair to him. He never
placed a curse on these people. And curses aren't Laws.
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According to your (c) statement, Skitt is not the author of the Law, so why did
you make him a curser?
| Quote: |
I don't fall under the incidence of Skitt's Law (or curse); as a non-native
speaker of English, I err all the time grammarwise or spellingwise, not
only
when I correct other posters.
Well, so do the rest of us. Nobody has tried calculating a ratio of
lines posted to mistakes made, in *any* sort of post, let alone ones
that speak of a correction.
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I still claim the non native speaker exemption from Skitt's Law. I am entitled
to the exemption and no one can take it away from me without due process!
| Quote: |
Yeah, yeah, I know this all goes to prove I have no sense of humor.
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That's another AUE urban legend (or piece of unsubstantiated folklore)
disconfirmed by your messages.
| Quote: | So
be it. Calling it "folklore" is all very well, but not when it involves
living participants and their reputations.
You know, this same principle has been called other things in other
groups. Maybe I'd like it better under some other name.
-- |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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Qp10qp wrote:
| Quote: | Subject: Re: What is Skitt's law
From: Laura F Spira
This latter law is associated with another: The apparent
correctness
of a given expression in the English language diminishes in
proportion to the time expended in examining it.
Bravo! Does this neat articulation now make this Lyle's Law?
(and, just to prove it by exception, may I very carefully point
out
the error in the spelling of "visibility"?)
Only if you sort out your bracket techneeque.
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No, she did it on prupose.
Mike.
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2004 6:04 pm
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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"Vivek" <vivkhemka@gmail.com> wrote...
| Quote: |
Thats the second occassion I've seen "Skitt's Law" on this board in
the last week. What IS Skitt's Law ?
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It's what has been labelled McKean's Law in some works on the English
language.
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2002-January/018706.html
Matti |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:09 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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R H Draney wrote:
[...]
| Quote: | Is there a corollary to something I've often noted, namely that a
post with a misspelled word in the subject line will always
engender
a longer thread (thus spreading the typo over many weeks of
message-summary pages) than one with everything spelled
correctly?...r |
Hmm...we should work on it.
Mike. |
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JC Dill
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:48 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 15:19:08 +0100, trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
wrote:
| Quote: | he was not the formulator.
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Neither was Murphy. You need not be the formulator of a law to have
said law named after you.
<http://www.improbable.com/airchives/paperair/volume9/v9i5/murphy/murphy0.html>
jc |
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JC Dill
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:59 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 17:48:15 GMT, JC Dill <jcdill04@sonic.net> wrote:
| Quote: | You need not be the formulator of a law to have
said law named after you.
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Following up on this theme, dejagoo finds a post by Perchprism as the
first occurance of the term "Skitt's law":
<http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=19981002071844.16964.00005488%40ng41.aol.com&output=gplain>
jc |
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Skitt
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:13 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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Matti Lamprhey wrote:
They have stolen it! The bastards!
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/ |
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Skitt
Guest
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Jess Askin
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: Helpful hints |
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"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:30171kF2mlrp9U1@uni-berlin.de...
| Quote: | Sara Lorimer wrote:
Ross Howard wrote:
On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 23:56:16 -0000, "Mike Lyle"
mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
Sara Lorimer wrote:
The various American Harpers are related: Harper's Magazine,
Harper's Bazaar, Harper's Weekly, Harper and Row, Harper
Collins,
etc; I don't know about the British Harpers. There were two
brothers, John and James, who started it all.
HarperCollins, one word, two caps, is the British connection.
Harper
took over Collins; and a black day it was for publishing, though
I
suppose it represented an inevitable trend. The book as
"product".
What's the typographical equivalent of a Luddite? Anyway, count me
in
as one.
Indeed. I knew it was one word, but refused to write it as such. My
old job involved making sure things like that were written
"correctly," but until I start getting a paycheck from Usenet
Corp...
What disgusts me about it is that they're publishers. Some dumb-arse
advertising agency or airline might escape the worst of my rage; but
these people have the effrontery to make _dictionaries_. What's even
less digestible is that the dictionaries are often good ones.
|
But does Harper's deserve any credit for that? My French-English dictionary
(printed in England but sold in the US) says HarperCollins Robert on the
dustjacket but just Collins Robert on the spine of the book itself. |
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JC Dill
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 10:13:00 -0800, "Skitt" <skitt99@comcast.net>
wrote:
Actually, it hasn't made it into the online wikipedia yet. You could
make an entry for Skitt's Law if you want, and use the 1998 citations
(which predate the 2001 citation in that mail archive) to ensure your
first claim.
jc |
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Matti Lamprhey
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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"Skitt" <skitt99@comcast.net> wrote...
I mentioned this apparent usurpitude here on 3rd Nov 2001, in fact, and
again a couple of months later. John Varela was planning to attend one
of McKean's lectures, but wimped out of challenging her to a duel on the
subject.
Matti |
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Evan Kirshenbaum
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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R H Draney <dadoctah@spamcop.net> writes:
| Quote: | Qp10qp filted:
His second law is that all languages are Latvian in disguise.
Except one, which is Latvian *not* in disguise....r
|
It's not a very *good* disguise.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |All tax revenue is the result of
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |holding a gun to somebody's head.
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |Not paying taxes is against the law.
|If you don't pay your taxes, you'll
kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |be fined. If you don't pay the fine,
(650)857-7572 |you'll be jailed. If you try to
|escape from jail, you'll be shot.
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ | P.J. O'Rourke |
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Skitt
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:33 am
Post subject: Re: What is Skitt's law |
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Matti Lamprhey wrote:
| Quote: | "Skitt" wrote...
Matti Lamprhey wrote:
"Vivek" wrote...
Thats the second occassion I've seen "Skitt's Law" on this board in
the last week. What IS Skitt's Law ?
It's what has been labelled McKean's Law in some works on the
English language.
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikipedia-l/2002-January/018706.html
They have stolen it! The bastards!
I mentioned this apparent usurpitude here on 3rd Nov 2001, in fact,
and again a couple of months later. John Varela was planning to
attend one of McKean's lectures, but wimped out of challenging her to
a duel on the subject.
|
It's just as well. I don't seek fame. Fortune? Maybe.
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/ |
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:34 am
Post subject: Re: Helpful hints |
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Jess Askin <nospam@dontbother.net> wrote:
| Quote: | "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:30171kF2mlrp9U1@uni-berlin.de...
|
[snip discussion of HarperCollins]
| Quote: |
What disgusts me about it is that they're publishers. Some dumb-arse
advertising agency or airline might escape the worst of my rage; but
these people have the effrontery to make _dictionaries_. What's even
less digestible is that the dictionaries are often good ones.
But does Harper's deserve any credit for that? My French-English dictionary
(printed in England but sold in the US) says HarperCollins Robert on the
dustjacket but just Collins Robert on the spine of the book itself.
|
Well, do you suppose the profits from dictionaries finance mass-market
paperbacks, or vice-versa?
Hearts run wild in Bitter Creek, Texas ... a hotbed
of secrets, passions, feuds, and romantic
redemption, where rugged, stubborn heroes meet their
matches in headstrong, extraordinary women.
(Avon Books, division of HarperCollins)
The Collins Pocket Dictionary & Thesaurus has been a
best-seller since its publication in 1993. This
major new edition has a fresh, updated text as well
as many new and helpful features.
(Collins, division of HarperCollins)
My impression is that editorial control of distinct imprints within a
publishing conglomerate tend to stay distinct, however. Anyone been
inside the industry for the last ten years or so?
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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