[projectaon] Re: Editor's Companion Submission
- From: James Durrant <james.durrant@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:26:55 +0000
Many conversations on both "dwell" and "their" recently :)
I have certainly heard "let's not dwell here" in relative commonplace to mean
not to stay in one place too long. It's not often used in modern conversation,
but I am sure you will find it in various historical literature - it is kind of
the meeting of "to dwell on a subject" and "to live" - I picture along the
lines of to dwell too long at a camp, or to dwell too long at a single pub -
whether literally right or not, these just "feel" right.
On "their" - this is always controversial. I am of the modern opinion, that
"their" works well as a common term to mean gender AND item neutral. "The dog
ate their food" seems to work just as well as any other use of the word,
whether it is technically correct or not.
Language is always an evolution of solving communication issues - the rules
NEVER fit all cases. When we are then dealing with a different world, and
hence translation - the rules tend to get even harder to enforce.
From: pederick@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:28:18 +0800
Subject: [projectaon] Re: Editor's Companion Submission
To: projectaon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
2010/1/30 David Davis <feline1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Definition no.2,
"to live or continue in a given condition or state"? Vakovar is a concrete
place, while this definition would seem to apply to abstract "condition[s] or
state[s]". Besides which, Lone Wolf definitely isn't considering "living"
there, and Id' say that to "continue" in a place is synonymous with
"remaining", and without some context of time, it implies "remaining
indefinitely" -- essentially, the usual definition of dwell.
plus the etymology
I do agree that this one etymological extract supports "linger" being an
archaic sense of "dwell":
> Sense shifted in M.E. through "hinder, delay," to "linger" (c.1200, as
> still in phrase to dwell upon), to "make a home" (c.1250). Dwelling
> "place of residence" is attested from 1340.
But I really think it's too thin a justification for using "dwell" in the
ordinary prose of the book, as opposed to (for instance) some character's
clearly archaic speech.
--
Tim Pederick
Other related posts:
