Interesting read about the future of Ubuntu

[Richard Owlett]

Doug wrote:
> On 12/27/2010 03:45 PM, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> Goh Lip wrote:
>>> On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 20:32:29 +0800, Richard Owlett<rowlett at pcnetinc.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Signage" is a collective noun implying the group has a quality
>>>> in common. Saying "the signs are confusing" implies each sign
>>>> individually is confusing. While "the signage is confusing"
>>>> implies that although individual signs may not be confusing, the
>>>> group as a whole is confusing.
>>> .
>>> .
>>>> In the first, "motorcycles" is a noun and "parking" is a verb -
>>>> there is an implied "are" before "parking".
>>>> In the second, "motorcycle" is an "adjective" and "parking" is a
>>>> noun.
>>> Thanks Richard, for taking the trouble to explain.
>>> Regards, take care - Goh Lip
>>>
>> I'm actually more interested in language/linguistics than
>> operating systems. "Thank you high school English teachers of 50+
>> years ago." One did her master's thesis on Indoeuropean and the
>> another read us Beowulf in the original (with a running translation).
>>
>> Computers are tools. Language is fun.
>>
> I agree, language is fun. I was in high school almost 60 years ago.
> I never had a grammar school or high-school English teacher
> who taught any useful grammar at all.  I learned all my
> grammar when I took German in HS, and it had to be explained,
> _in English_!  (Rather than the gobbledeygook English teachers
> used.)  Unfortunately, I discovered that when my kids took German
> some 20 years later, they were using the gobbledeygook!  I
> doubt that either of them could get along in the language
> today, but when I went to Germany on business in 1975, I
> got along pretty well. (I carried a pad and wrote down all the
> unfamiliar words, and looked them up later.)
>
> No doubt those who studied Latin also learned grammar, even
> some of it that is wrong for English.  Regardless of what the old
> prudes say, you _can_ split an infinitive in English without defiling
> the language.  (It's impossible in Latin, which is where they got
> the idea from. Oops! I used a preposition to end a sentence with!
> Shame on me!)
>
> --doug
>

*LOL* !!!!
I learned/understood more English grammar in LATIN CLASS than in 
"English" class.

Similarly I got more calculus in college physics than in college 
calculus.