Re: Treeviews

docdwarf_at_panix.com
Date: 02/27/05 

Date: 26 Feb 2005 22:42:24 -0500

In article <38cktfF5l4mtrU1@individual.net>,
Pete Dashwood <dashwood@enternet.co.nz> wrote:
>
><docdwarf@panix.com> wrote in message news:cvpslc$5r0$1@panix5.panix.com...
>> In article <1109369817.028632.317290@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
>> Richard <riplin@Azonic.co.nz> wrote:
>> >> The original post states 'my teacher said dialogue is the correct verb
>> >> since the purpose of the "dialog" box is to converse with the end-user.';
>> >
>> >It also had:
>> >
>> >>> I use the Dialogue Editor to
>> >
>> >Which I would say is a) incorrect because it is a product name, b) if
>> >it wasn't a trade name, is using 'dialogue' as a noun, possibly
>> >adjectivally.
>>
>> How does citing a properly-capitalised Product Name (International
>> Business Machines and all that) change the cite I provided, Mr Plinston?
>>
>> >
>> >> it is used to dialogue (or dialog) with the user.
>> >
>> >While you may be contriving to use the word as a verb I would suggest
>> >that is unusal usage, especially in recent times.
>>
>> Mr Plinston, I have cited Merriam-Webster and the American Heritage
>> Dictionary as both definine 'dialog' as a variant of 'dialogue' and both
>> as a verb. Are you able to generate a cite to the contrary of this?
>>
>> >It would be more
>> >common to say that it interacts.
>> >
>> >Of course americans seem to be able to abuse the language in more ways
>> >than I can imagine.
>>
>> Most courageous, Mr Plinston, to admit to your limitations in so open and
>> public a manner... but this one American can use The Compact Oxford
>> English Dictionary, c.1971, to turn to page 715, sub-page 312, column 1,
>> and look at the first entry on the page. This shows a 'v' after
>> 'Dialogue', indicating that it is defined as a verb... but some might
>> consider use according to OED definition as 'abuse', I guess.
>
>I watched this exchange with some amusement. As usual the Doc has an
>impeccable argument backed up by good authorities.
>
>There is no doubt you are correct, Doc.

Shucks, you'se jes' easily impressed.

>
>However, my sympathies here lie with Richard.
>
>See, those of us who love the ENGLISH language (and this is not to decry or
>diminish the AMERICAN dialect of it...which is perfectly valid, (especially
>if you live in America)), ...we do find it discordant to hear words we
>normally expect to be nouns, used as verbs.

Mr Dashwood, in the case at hand the OED cites uses of 'dialogue' as a verb
by Shakespeare. Are you trying to say that the Bard of Avon was in the
habit of using the AMERICAN (caps original) dialect of English?

>
>I would have taken Richard's position myself, because I have never, until
>this discussion, heard 'dialogue' used as a verb. But, in America, it has
>been common practice for around 50 years now, to push nouns into use as
>verbs.

According to the OED, Mr Dashwood, Coleridge and Carlyle also used
'dialogue' as a verb... had they spent so much time in America that
their dialects had shifted?

>
>It isn't 'right' or 'wrong', it just is.
>
>To an English English speaker, it grates. But so what?
>
>The fact that the OED now recognises it (and did in 1971), simply shows that
>the scholars at Oxford are resigned to the changing nature of language and
>see no reason not to make it official. (I do not dispute your authorities
>here, Doc - I couldn't <G> - but I would be extremely surprised if an OLDER
>edition of the OED - say, prior to 1930 gave the same definition...)

Mr Dashwood, Shakespeare died in 1616. Coleridge died in 1834. Carlyle died
in 1881. Assuming their use of 'dialogue' as a verb predated their deaths
one might conclude that, OED citing or not, their uses still stand.

[snip]

>Churchill's famous quote summed it up nicely: "Britain and America: two
>great countries divided by a common language"

This might just be why no uses by American writers were cited.

DD

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