Dave's Free Press: Journal
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal
violence, pornography, and rude words for the web generationen-us2012-09-02T22:01:04Z Kindle in India
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/kindle-in-india
Electronic books have been around for ages - I was paying for them back in 1999 and classics have been available electronically for at least 40 years, thanks to <a href=http://www.gutenberg.org/>Project Gutenberg</a>. But it's only recently that they've become a mass market, and this is largely down to Amazon's Kindle. Oh sure, there are lots of other "e-readers", but the Kindle is the market leader.<p>The last couple of years have, not coincidentally, seen an explosion of independent authors. Now that you don't need to print books, many authors who don't already have publication contracts are cutting out that particular middleman and self-publishing, using Amazon for distribution.<p>The Kindle and Amazon ecosystem does, of course, have drawbacks. But by getting e-books out into the mainstream, something that normal people read and not just weird geeks, Amazon have enabled other sources of e-books to exist. Remember how cider used to be marginalised until Magners came along with their bloody awful pap and their enormous advertising budget? They made cider mainstream, and created a market for smaller producers of better-quality products. Amazon's mainstreaming of e-books has enabled sites like <a href=http://www.smashwords.com/>Smashwords</a> to also take off. Most indie authors who self-publish on the Kindle also use sites like Smashwords to sell to users of non-Kindle devices.<p>And now, the Kindle has launched in India. India is, as well as being the world's greatest democracy, the largest English-speaking country. I'm confident that the Kindle in India will precipitate a boom in electronic self-publishing there just as it has in the US and UK. And, of course, they'll want to sell world wide <em>and won't have any idiot publishers to stop them</em>. I'm looking forward to it! 2012-09-02T22:01:04Z Strong vs weak
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/strong-vs-weak-verbs
Confused of Edinburgh writes:<p><blockquote>Dear Mr Free Press<p>Not so much a rant but a question related to <a href=/david/journal/index.pl/id_ise-vs-ize?comments=1>my previous one</a>.<p>Why is the past tense of run RAN?<p>I walked down the street<p>I jogged down the street<p>I runned down the street doesn't quite work.</blockquote><p>This is because <em>to run</em> is a strong verb. As a general rule, strong verbs do not take <em>-ed</em> to form the past tense but instead change a vowel. Other examples are the verbs <em>to sing</em>, <em>to drink</em>, and <em>to write</em>. Naturally, the opposite of a strong verb is a weak verb. They generally take <em>-ed</em> to form the past tense.<p>There are several classes of strong verb, characterised by the pattern of vowel changes from one tense to another. This is why <em>drink</em> goes to <em>drank</em> but <em>think</em> doesn't go to <em>thank</em>.<p>Over time, some verbs which used to be strong have become weak, and vice versa. The overall trend, however, is one of weakening - between two thirds and three quarters of the verbs that were strong in English a thousand years ago are now weak.<p>Wikipedia has a lengthy but frankly rather tedious <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_strong_verb>article</a> on the subject. I don't suggest reading it beyond the "general developments" section.<p>Also, I don't recommend running down the street. It's undignified. Try sauntering instead. 2010-10-17T22:13:16Z -ise vs -ize
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/ise-vs-ize
Outraged of Edinburgh writes:<p><blockquote>Dear Mr Free Press<p>Check out the Oxford English Dictionary online.<p>It's AMERICAN!<p>I wanted to check my use of "utilise" ('scuse the pun) but it wasn't there, only "utilize". Organize is but not organise.<p>Think I'd better give up the writing and go back to colouring in pictures(or is that coloring?)</blockquote><p>Outraged is quite wrong. To start with, in almost all cases you can use "use" instead of "utilize". Shorter words are generally better than longer words with the same meaning, longer ones only serving to obfuscate or to show off.<p>Getting to the meat of Outraged's question, -ize is better, as it corresponds better to the Greek ending -ιζειν. -ise corresponds to Latin -itia. In general, one should use -ize for verbs and -ise (or -ice) for nouns, but, English being irritatingly inconsistent, there is no hard-and-fast rule, and in all but a very few cases, -ise and -ize are both acceptable in verbs.<p>In <a href=http://dictionary.oed.com/>the OED</a>, see -ise(2) and -ize.<p>-ize is sometimes thought of as being an American novelty because the spelling diverged after the foundation of the Colonies. However, as in so many cases, it is English that has diverged while the ever-conservative Damnyankees have remained true to the mother tongue. In this case, the switch from -ize to -ise was part of a wider Frenchification of the written language in the 18th century, by writers who thought that so doing made them appear to be more kulchural. This arrant nonsense also brought us "theatre" instead of "theater". 2010-10-12T00:09:57Z Wii FAIL
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/wii-fail
<img src=/david/journal/images/wii-fail.png align=right> Oh dear. I think someone needs to tell the Japanese that "UK & Ireland" isn't a language.<p>(Yeah, I know, none of the others are too) 2009-03-25T22:09:16Z Whisky vs Whiskey: a style guide:
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/whisky-vs-whiskey
The booze columnist for the New York Times recently made a <a href=http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/whiskey-versus-whisky/>frightful error</a>. But to give credit where credit is due, he then <a href=http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/09/for-whiskey-everything-in-its-place/>Did The Right Thing</a> and got his editors to correct their style guide. However, while the new style guide is better than the previous one, it's still wrong. The rules for when to spell it <em>whisky</em> or <em>whiskey</em> are as follows:<p><ul> <li>Malt never has an 'e', <em>unless</em> made in Ireland or the US, in which case it always does; <li>Everything else always has an 'e', <em>unless</em> it's Canadian or a Scottish blend, in which case it never does.</ul><p>"Citation needed!" I hear you cry!<p>Very well! A citation you shall have! Stroll leisurely over to your drinks cabinet, and from it extract bottles of Amrut (a single malt from India) and Yamazaki (a single malt from Japan). Notice how they spell 'whisky' - without an e. Then visit one of your friends who lacks taste, and examine his bottle of Famous Grouse. That too has no e. Now, look at your bottles of Jameson's, Knob Creek and Blanton's. They all spell it 'whiskey'. Finally, look at the website for that rare bird, the <a href=http://clearcreekdistillery.com/products.html>American single malt</a>, and also at one for <a href=http://www.glenoradistillery.com/glenbreton.htm>a Canadian single malt</a>. Notice that the American distillery uses an e, where the Canadian one doesn't.<p>Thankyou for your attention. 2009-02-11T20:43:58Z More new words
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/more-new-words
Now that the OED have <a href=/david/journal/index.pl/id_LJIMPORT-New-words>added</a> one of the two words I informed them of to their colossal organ, I feel I should see if they'll pick up on some words I created.<ol><li><em>Bankocalypse</em>: in Financial mythology, what happens to banks at the time of Lendnarok; a disaster resulting in drastic irreversible damage to their bottom line and share value.<li><em>Econoclasm</em>: the breaking or destroying of economies; the overthrow of institutions and cherished beliefs such as "my house will always go up in value", now regarded as fallacious or superstitious.</ol><p>You are all encouraged to use these fine words, get them in print, and then <a href=http://dictionary.oed.com/readers/research.html>tell the OED</a> where they were published! 2009-01-28T20:49:11Z New words
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/LJIMPORT-New-words
[originally posted to <a href=http://therealdrhyde.livejournal.com/54863.html>my old livejournal</a> on 2006-03-12]<p>I just found my second real word that's not in the OED 2nd edition. Yay!<p>The first one I found was some time ago - hardbody, which appears in print in "American Psycho". The second is prannet, which as well as being in Ian Dury's most excellent little ditty "Billericay Dickie" also appears in Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta".<p>[update: 2009-01-27]<p>Prannet is now listed in the <a href=http://dictionary.oed.com/cgi/lclogin>online edition</a> which is accessible with your library card number. Hurrah! 2009-01-27T12:58:50Z Language-targetted spam?
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/language-targetted-spam
Today I got spam about "activation keys". Nothing unusual there. However, while I got a couple of copies of it in English sent to two of my usual addresses, I also got a copy in German that had been sent to an address on a machine I have in Germany.<p>While all spam is of course evil and its perpetrators should have divers cruel and unusual things done to them until they are no longer unusual, this is a Good Thing. It means that I should start to get less spam in those odd foreign languages that seem to be spelt "??? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ???? ???". 2008-11-10T22:55:27Z I am out of the office, please try later
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/i-am-out-of-the-office
Even if you don't speak Welsh, surely it's obvious that <a href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7702913.stm>if you get an instantaneous reply from a state employee something's gone wrong</a>. 2008-10-31T21:25:30Z Lip-reading lessons
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/lip-reading
Recently a brochure dropped into my doormat listing a load of courses offered by my local borough council's adult education department.<p>Many of you will be aware that I am somewhat deaf, and getting deafer. That brochure arriving caused something that Earl Filthy of Monkeyshire, OBE, WTD, KFC had said a few months ago in't pub to rise from the vile and putrid depths of my brane (it had presumably been rooting around in the basement for pornography or zombie flicks. Or both), and so I was prompted to look in the brochure for lip-reading courses.<p>And lo! There was one! But unlike every single other course, it didn't say when, where, or how much. So I emailed them. No response. I phoned them. Got through to a lovely young lady who told me that the person dealing with that course was off having her lunch but she'd phone me back.<p>Did they phone back? Did they fuck.<p>So, can anyone point me at a Lip-reading For Complete Beginners course, either in Croydon or central London, which isn't run by disorganised fuckwits? 2008-07-30T16:14:44Z The Olympics: now available in Welsh!
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/olympic-language
The 2012 Olympics, which are to be held in the east end of London, in <em>England</em>, and which are already billions of pounds over budget, will now have to be <a href=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7389087.stm>bi-lingual</a> in English and in a little-known language spoken by just 750,000 people. Of those 750,000, a mere 50,000 live in London (making up just 0.6% of the population), and of those 50,000, there can't be more than 10 who aren't also fluent in English.<p>Naturally, the extra costs incurred in hiring people fluent in Welsh for no other reason than that they are fluent in Welsh, and in translating printed and electronic materials, will not be covered by the Welsh Language Board.<p>Thankyou very fucking much Rhodri Glyn Thomas you <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodri_Glyn_Thomas>sheep-shagging nationalist CUNT</a>. 2008-05-08T20:22:17Z Cricket, Rain and Old English
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/cricket-rain-old-english
It was dad's birthday last week, so on Monday I took him to see Sussex play Ireland at Hove in the ECB Trophy. Predictably, being a bank holiday, it rained all bloody day so there was no play. Thankfully, we can use the tickets in two weeks time to see Sussex against Essex at Arundel in the same competition. Unfortunately this means that I can't go Ða Engliscan Gesiðas's Old English learning day which is at the same time. Bah.<p>It's a shame we couldn't see <a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_cricket_team>Ireland</a> play. They did very well indeed in the recent World Cup, and it would have, I am sure, been an entertaining game. 2007-05-31T22:26:25Z A list ...
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/five-books-everyone-should-read
of five works of fiction in English that everyone should read and most of you haven't:<p><ul> <li>The King James version of the Bible <li>Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (at minimum, read the Miller's Tale and the Wife of Bath's Tale) <li>Farmer Giles of Ham, by JRR Tolkien <li>Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury <li>How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn</ul><p>Also consider reading News From Nowhere by William Morris, 1984 by George Orwell, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and The Lay of Havelok the Dane.<p>And here's five that you should read in an English translation, and again probably haven't:<p><ul> <li>Hrafnkel's Saga <li>The Iliad and The Odyssey <li>The Quran <li>Asterix and the Golden Sickle <li>Medea, by Euripides</ul> 2007-03-28T20:08:02Z A big "well done" to news organisations
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/well-done-news-organisations
You all did so well in picking up the story about a new oil field being found in Poland. I'm sure it's a minor oversight that none of you bothered putting it on your web sites, leaving world-wide publicity of this momentous find to <a href=http://www.yleradio1.fi/nuntii/id7224.shtml>YLE Radio 1 in Finland</a>, whose <em>Nuntii Latini</em> news programme I picked it up from.<p>Incidentally, can any classicists out there think of a better way of translating "oil field" than the very literal "campus petrolei"? 2006-09-02T21:08:08Z New Evil Plan
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/new-evil-plan
I have a new plan for taking over the world. I will find a cute Czech girl, and a handsome Welsh man (OK, that could be a bit of a problem), pay them to marry, and then - bwahahahahahahahahha - I will hold the global consonant supply hostage! Governments will uie i ae ea! Corporations will ue and nations a a y ee! 2006-08-16T19:37:00Z Police-speak migrates
http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david/journal/id/police-speak-in-RISKS
The <a href=http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks>RISKS Digest</a> is one of my regular reads, and jolly good it normally is too. But <a href=http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/24.22.html>vol 24 issue 22</a> had me foaming at the mouth with anger. It seems that police-speak has infected this august and normally intelligent journal.<p>Police-speak is that curious language used by police officers when speaking to the press when they talk about how officers "did arrest" people instead of just arresting them, or they talk about "incidents". They clearly do this in an attempt to make themselves sound more important and eloquent than they really are, and to avoid giving real meaningful answers to questions. Police-speak is a dialect of <a href=http://www.linguasphere.org/dictionary/n-50732-officialese.html>officialese</a>.<p>Back to RISKS - according to that issue, a plane "ran out of fuel and collided with terrain". In English, we'd say that it "ran out of fuel and crashed". The writer of that piece, who otherwise writes well, should be ashamed. 2006-04-07T12:47:13Z