No substantive comment. But your addendum does bring to mind Gilbert and Sullivan (HMS Pinafore):
" I am never known to quail At the fury of a gale, And I'm never, never sick at sea! Chorus. What, never? Captain. No, never! Chorus. What, never? Captain. Hardly ever! " https://www.letssingit.com/gilbert-and-sullivan-lyrics-my-gallant-crew-good-morning-fv97wfr LetsSingIt - The Internet Lyrics Database Cheers, Bert Bert Gunter "The trouble with having an open mind is that people keep coming along and sticking things into it." -- Opus (aka Berkeley Breathed in his "Bloom County" comic strip ) On Sat, Jun 30, 2018 at 2:09 AM, Patrick Connolly < p_conno...@slingshot.co.nz> wrote: > How about "Physics / politics / economics are my favoruite subject"? > > Might be fun to see how long we could make that list. It seems to be > a fact of life that it's impossible to make a (useful) language that > has totally consistent grammar. > > Something else to consider:I knew an English teacher who frowned on > what Rolf wrote (to quote) "...almost never .. " which *should be* > "... hardly ever ... " > > How boring it would be if we all agreed. :-) > > On Mon, 25-Jun-2018 at 12:16PM +1200, Rolf Turner wrote: > > |> On 25/06/18 12:03, Bert Gunter wrote: > |> >Ted, et. al.: > |> > > |> >Re: "Data is" vs "data are" ... Heh heh! > |> > > |> >"This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put." > |> >(Attributed to Churchill in one form or another, likely wrongly.) > |> > > |> >See here for some semi-authoritative dicussion: > |> > > |> >http://www.onlinegrammar.com.au/top-10-grammar-myths-data- > is-plural-so-must-take-a-plural-verb/ > |> > |> I beg to differ. "The data was out of date" sounds just plain > |> stupid to my sensitive ears. > |> > |> It's rather like using the phrase "begs the question" to mean > |> "raises the question" or "invites the question" rather than to > |> carry its *correct* meaning of "assumes what is to be proved". The > |> fact that the phrase is almost always used in its *incorrect* sense > |> these days, and almost never in its *correct* sense, does not > |> diminish the fact that those who use it incorrectly are ignorant > |> scumbags! The language is weakened and diminished by the > |> encroachment of incorrect usage. > |> > |> cheers, > |> > |> Rolf > |> > |> > |> -- > |> Technical Editor ANZJS > |> Department of Statistics > |> University of Auckland > |> Phone: +64-9-373-7599 ext. 88276 > |> > |> ______________________________________________ > |> R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see > |> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > |> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/ > posting-guide.html > |> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > > -- > ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~. > > ___ Patrick Connolly > {~._.~} Great minds discuss ideas > _( Y )_ Average minds discuss events > (:_~*~_:) Small minds discuss people > (_)-(_) ..... Eleanor Roosevelt > > ~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~. > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list -- To UNSUBSCRIBE and more, see https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
