Topic: Pedant's Corner

[star]

i don't understand this word prerequisite.

A requisite is a thing you need to have, and a prerequistite is a thing you need to have before you can have the thing you need to have

doesn't that make a prerequisite another requisite?

ROFL...........i CAN'T STOP LAUGHING, THANKS RT[/size][/b]

[Melbourne12]

I'm afraid that as I travelled into the City this morning, I picked up a copy of the Metro.  But my morning was cheered up by a wonderful letter from a reader.

Apparently someone had complained that he wasn't able to understand a motorway sign that read "Discontinuous Hard Shoulder".  This prompted much tut-tutting from the more highly educated Metro readers, including this gem:

I accept the phrase is not common usage but simple dissemination of it should have solved the mystery. By the way, dissemination means "to break into component elements".
Derek Colley, Greater Manchester.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Barnowl]

I can't find an online dictionary that gives dissemination that meaning - was it tongue in cheek? Perhaps he meant deconstruction?

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

Mr Pedant from the Metro has made a right idiot of himself there! Dissemination means having a vasectomy, as any fule kno

[Barnowl]

Dissemination means having a vasectomy, as any fule kno

That's what I thought. Thank heavens for a classical education.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

you know what they say - an Education is what you have left when you've forgotten all you've learnt

[derekcolley]

Melbourne12, I'm afraid to say that I am Mr. Pedant who extemporated on Mr Mellor's inability to define a 'discontinous hard shoulder' (in Metro on Weds) ... I stumbled across your post while searching to see if my views had been printed.

The full text was 'With regard to Andy Mellor's comments about his failure to understand the meaning of 'discontinuous hard shoulder' (Metro Weds), I would have thought it was quite a simple concept to grasp.  Discontinuous is a synonym for intermittent, and is opposite to continuous, i.e. the driver can expect a hard shoulder that is available 'on and off' that stretch of road.  Had Mr. Mellor reached for a thesaurus he would have discovered this.  I accept the word is not in common use but simple dissemination of it should have solved the mystery.  Dissemination means 'to break into component elements', by the way.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

no, still don't see that as a meaning. Breaking something up into small parts is not dissemination. The important part of the meaning is to spread it around after. Dispersion or diffusion

Blimey Melbourne12, talk about the Surveillance Society!

[calendula]

still don't know what a Gentleman's Prerequisite is. Is it a euphemism for something, and why isn't there a nice way of saying euphemism?

The Modern Gentleman A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice by Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro "A man may possess expensive duds, slick wheels, and a tongue to match, but these are not the prerequisites of a gentleman. A gentleman is defined by how he carries himself in fairways and stormy climes. A student of the classics and a pilot of the new, he recommends sizzling reads, pays his gambling debts, mans the grill, and curbs his dog. Reserved, flamboyant, or likely somewhere in between, a gentleman's charisma is cultivated, not canned. He fosters an infectious comfort in others as they quietly marvel at his manner and his hats, from the erudite bowler to the plucky fedora. Little charms performed thoughtfully ensure that inevitable faux pas are measured against a graceful reputation. He can be trusted with his word and your wife."

OK so who's up for a woman's pre-requisites with or without pedantry  ;D

[GrannieAnnie]

From Wikipedia:  "Pedantry can also be an indication of certain developmental disorders. In particular those with high-functioning autism, often have behavior characterized by pedantic speech.[2] Those with Asperger's tend to obsess over the minutiae of subjects and are prone to giving long detailed expositions, and the related corrections, and may gravitate to careers in academia or science where such obsessive attention to detail is often functional and rewarded.

[edit] Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder is also in part characterized by a form of pedantry that is overly concerned with the correct following of rules, procedures and practices.[3] Sometimes the rules that OCPD sufferers obsessively follow are of their own devising, or are corruptions or re-interpretations of the letter of actual rules."

[edit] I'm not sure I wish to be a pedantess anymore. ;D

[betula]

Knew it weren't good for ya ;D

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

still don't know what a Gentleman's Prerequisite is. Is it a euphemism for something, and why isn't there a nice way of saying euphemism?

The Modern Gentleman A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice by Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro "A man may possess expensive duds, slick wheels, and a tongue to match, but these are not the prerequisites of a gentleman. A gentleman is defined by how he carries himself in fairways and stormy climes. A student of the classics and a pilot of the new, he recommends sizzling reads, pays his gambling debts, mans the grill, and curbs his dog. Reserved, flamboyant, or likely somewhere in between, a gentleman's charisma is cultivated, not canned. He fosters an infectious comfort in others as they quietly marvel at his manner and his hats, from the erudite bowler to the plucky fedora. Little charms performed thoughtfully ensure that inevitable faux pas are measured against a graceful reputation. He can be trusted with his word and your wife."

OK so who's up for a woman's pre-requisites with or without pedantry  ;D

that's ME! apart from the Marvelous Hats (they make my ears look a bit funny)

[Hyacinth]

 I'm not sure I wish to be a pedantess anymore. ;D

"pedantrix", shoorly?

 ;) ;D

[Suzanne]

Discontinuous is a synonym for intermittent, and is opposite to continuous, i.e. the driver can expect a hard shoulder that is available 'on and off' that stretch of road.  Had Mr. Mellor reached for a thesaurus he would have discovered this. 

Where do you get thesaurus whilst driving along the motorway  ??? And if you do keep one in the glove compartment how on earth do you flip to the right page and keep your eyes on the road.  ;D

[djbrenton]

By paying discontinuous attention to the road, obviously.

[Suzanne]

 8)

[tonybloke]

By paying discontinuous attention to the road, obviously.

or by discontinuously paying attention to the road, and intermittently paying attention to their blackberry? ;)

[djbrenton]

If you're going to start a sentence with 'or', I really think you should follow it with a comma and ,perhaps, capitalize.  8)

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

if they'd used the word "discontiguous" instead of "discontinuous" then we'd all have known what was going on from the start

[GrannieAnnie]

Perhaps they should use a sign with a diagram instead of English?
There are times a picture is worth a thousand incomprehensible words.