Google version of roff History

And the all-time top poster to roff is ....

Envelope please ....

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.o...hing.fly/about

;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote ...
And the all-time top poster to roff is ....

Envelope please ....

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.o...hing.fly/about

;-)

--
Ken Fortenberry

Interesting info.

Be nice to the guy in ROFB who just said "baseball ethics is [sic] a joke".
:-)

Dan

In article , Daniel-San
wrote:


Be nice to the guy in ROFB who just said "baseball ethics is [sic] a joke".
:-)

'Ethics', like 'mathematics' etc., can be either singular or plural.
And Fowler, in 'Modern English useage', would probably favour a
singular here.

'The presence of a singular noun complement often makes the verb
singular: "Mathematics, or even Athletics, is his strong point." '

Lazarus

--
Remover the rock from the email address

"Lazarus Cooke" wrote ...

Daniel-San

Be nice to the guy in ROFB who just said "baseball ethics is [sic] a
joke".
:-)

'Ethics', like 'mathematics' etc., can be either singular or plural.
And Fowler, in 'Modern English useage', would probably favour a
singular here.


A grammarian I ain't -- I was just pointing it out to Ken. From what I've
noticed (which, after 102 Dead shows isn't an awful lot), the use of the
singular here is a British 'thing'. For example:

In American, we would (probably) say "U2 is one of my favorite bands".

In English, they would probably say "U2 are one of my favorite bands."

Just using U2 as an example.


'The presence of a singular noun complement often makes the verb
singular: "Mathematics, or even Athletics, is his strong point." '

Lazarus

--


Dan

It's less important than whether to use oval or round wire when tying a
'Reelin Red', but the English too would say 'U2 is one of my
favo(u)rite bands'.

I wouldn't. I'm not keen on them.

L

It's less important than whether to use oval or round wire when tying a
'Reelin Red', but the English too would say 'U2 is one of my
favo(u)rite bands'.

I wouldn't. I'm not keen on them.

L

On 16 Nov 2005 08:46:47 -0800, "lazarus"
wrote:

It's less important than whether to use oval or round wire when tying a
'Reelin Red', but the English too would say 'U2 is one of my
favo(u)rite bands'.

I wouldn't. I'm not keen on them.

L

Um, it potentially would be "U2 is/is not one of our favourite
bands"....

HTH,
R
....well, granted, some of them are more English than others...

Daniel-San wrote:
"Ken Fortenberry" wrote ...
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.o...hing.fly/about

Interesting info.

Be nice to the guy in ROFB who just said "baseball ethics is [sic] a joke".
:-)

To hear some of those guys prattle on about "professional
tournament fishing" you'd think a day of fishing was like
going ten rounds with Muhammad Ali. They're serious as a
heart attack about competitive fishing, hell even their
'Claves (they call them Classics) are fishing contests.

And then there's this guy:

"When ESPN airs a "trout fishing competition" are they doing
it because it is a sport or because they just like seeing
men wade around in rubber pants? I urge you again to go into
your fly fishing group and tell that crowd they aren't involved
in a sport.I guarantee you a lot of them would have their
rubber britches in a wad!"

So, OK. Fly fishing is not a sport, baseball is a sport,
football is a sport, fly fishing is recreation.

--
Ken Fortenberry

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote ...
Daniel-San wrote:

So, OK. Fly fishing is not a sport, baseball is a sport,
football is a sport, fly fishing is recreation.


To me (for whatever small change that may be worth), it's not a sport until
it requires physical skill(s) not possessed by the average person. I sure as
hell can't hit a Major League fastball. But I can catch a bass.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Dan

"Daniel-San" wrote in message
.. .

"Ken Fortenberry" wrote ...
Daniel-San wrote:

So, OK. Fly fishing is not a sport, baseball is a sport,
football is a sport, fly fishing is recreation.


To me (for whatever small change that may be worth), it's not a sport
until it requires physical skill(s) not possessed by the average person. I
sure as hell can't hit a Major League fastball. But I can catch a bass.

Hm.....

It looks like you're saying that hitting a major league fastball is a sport
while baseball (played at one level or another by tens of millions of people
in the U.S......the majority of whom, by definition, cannot possess greater
than average skills) in general is not. The same would of course be true
with regard to some analogous feat (if you'll pardon the pun) in football
(played by hundreds of millions of people worldwide......most of them with
no more than average skills). But then, most people who try can catch a
bass. It follows that there must be some level of bass catching skills at
which this too becomes a sport. And, since we have only the one criterion
by which to judge, there must be a level at which macramé, Parcheesi,
Christmas tree decorating, and shaving become sports. I think we may need
to tweak this definition a bit.

Wolfgang