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According to websters, the second definition for diphthong is digraph, which would seem to suggest that though they are different things, the term is commonly used to indicate both.

diphthongs and triphthongs are the vowel-only subsets of digraphs and trigraphs.

diphthongs and triphthongs are the vowel-only subsets of digraphs and trigraphs.

diphthongs and triphthongs are the vowel-only subsets of digraphs and trigraphs.

diphthongs and triphthongs are the vowel-only subsets of digraphs and trigraphs.

Grammar Nazi is a moron (definition #1, of all things...).

(Note this is a reply to an Anonymous Coward which is probably being filtered out for you; in this case, justly so.)

However, the sort of phonetic bridges like the one I gave should be much less ambiguous; e.g. most dictionary phonetic tables use sample words. Techniques like consonants modification are used routinely in teaching foreign languages.

I for one prefer the internal phonetic alphabet, as used by the OED.

Bias. Big conspiracy. There's a big difference.

Bias. Big conspiracy. There's a big difference.

Hey Hemos, maybe you could hook some derivative of this up to your fingers so that you'll have enough energy to visit Merriam-Webster to find out that 'PROLLY' IS NOT A WORD, DAMN IT!

Geez, Louise! Learn to spell and quit being lazy!

And for all you dumbasses that don't know the difference between their, there, and they're as well as it's and its, step in line behind Hemos at Merriam-Webster

Have a good day,
Spelling and Grammar Dad

Hey Hemos, maybe you could hook some derivative of this up to your fingers so that you'll have enough energy to visit Merriam-Webster to find out that 'PROLLY' IS NOT A WORD, DAMN IT!

Geez, Louise! Learn to spell and quit being lazy!

And for all you dumbasses that don't know the difference between their, there, and they're as well as it's and its, step in line behind Hemos at Merriam-Webster

Have a good day,
Spelling and Grammar Dad

The BBC often says "thousand million" to avoid confusion; "billion" means 1E9 in the USA, and 1E12 in Britian. See
http://www.m-w.com/mw/table/number.htm

A fundemental weakness of the grid is its over-centralisation. Another argument for environmentally friendly local power generation schemes.

Actually, a fundamental strength of the grid is its centralization. A central facility generating gigawatts of power can afford to spend millions of dollars ekeing the last few percentage points of efficiency out, and wiping out the last few percent of emissions, because the economies of scale kick in.

Local power schemes, since they will be purchase by The General Public, can not and will not spend the money on these extra niceties, and as a result will necessarily be less efficient and more polluting per watt then centralized power. There is no way around this, there is no argument that can wipe it away, it's a fundamental economic fact of life.

Local power generation is one of the boondogles the bad environmentalists promote, without stopping for a moment to think that it's even worse then the alternative. (Altogether too many environmentalists aren't bothered by little things like "truth" or "evidence", which is why I can't call myself one, even though in theory I ought to be able to.)

Can you spell megalomania?

After all, they're just a corporation. It's the responsibility of the government to decide, if someone should be punished. There are courts for that.

I have done alot of the same also..

I have installed OO on all of my installs/reinstalls instead of M$ orfice.

Openoffice has had no problem opening any type of orfice file.

The customers absolutley love it.. They get a excellent product and they don't have to pay the increasingly excessive M$ vigorish (which is a HUGE issue in todays economy).

Using the wrong vowel isn't a logical idiocy like asking where the "Any Key" is. It's a simple failure of having learned every possible word by rote.

No, it is the logical idiocy of failing to RTFM. Standardized consistent spellings coincided with the rise of dictionaries, which are the authority on spelling and usage of words. Every child should have learnt in grammar school (they did in *my* day, by God!) that if they were not absolutely certain of the proper spelling or usage of a word they should consult a dictionary. If you do not, you have failed to RTFM.

Dictionaries are there precisely because humans cannot necessarily be expected to remember by rote every word which must be spelt, particularly in English or French which mutually created insidious spellings on purpose and then infected one another with them. People using computers attached to the internet have no excuse, since almost every application, even on Linux, has at least the possibility of using a spelling checker automatically, and there exist a plethora of reference resources on the web including Merriam-Webster and Google which can be used for free (gratis).

Slashdot has no spelling checker but you are attached to the internet and there is a preview button for a reason. If you misspell things you are just being lazy. Now, if you go over my posts you will see typos because sometimes I am being lazy myself. Personally I blame computers for getting people used to automatic spell checks instead of making people proofread their work, and ephemeral communications like email and chat in which typos are acceptable in the interest of expedience, thus training people to be lazier typists. Perhaps we should go back to the old days when people got rapped on the knuckles with a ruler for making writing mistakes.. ;)

"Componentry?" Er, what? I'm going to label this one a bullshit buzzword. It does not seem to appear in the dictionary, and the obligatory GoogleFight would seem to confirm that "components" is the accepted term.

Timothy, perhaps you are confused by standard English usage patterns. You see,

toilet -> toiletry and
bigot -> bigotry,
but
apple -> apples and
component -> components.

Worth his mettle, dammit!

Sorry. Couldn't stand it.

It's chaos.

I'm pretty sure if you use your awesome mind powers you will be able to surf to various dictionary websites. You might notice that the definition of censorship only implies authority, not government. If my ISP uses SPEWS it gives spews the authority to remove or supress email it thinks is objectionable. If you restrict people from voicing their opinion on your network it IS censorship. But you have every right to censor them because you are a private entity.

Being listed first does not always, in fact, indicate that it is preferred. This varies from dictionary to dictionary. (Not all dictionaries should be created equally.)

You must read the pronunciation guide or other explanatory notes for dictionary of interest.

For example, Merriam-Webster online includes the following entry:

Main Entry: gigawatt
Pronunciation: 'ji-g&-"wat, 'gi-
Function: noun
Date: circa 1962
: a unit of power equal to one billion watts

In the Pronunciation Guide (http://www.m-w.com/pronguid.htm), it is noted:

All of the pronunciations recorded in this book can be documented as falling within the range of generally acceptable variation, unless they are accompanied by a restricting usage note or symbol or a regional label.

Thus, both pronunciations are considerd by Merriam-Webster to be generally acceptable.

Merriam-Webster has it this way. We don't always stick with the root pronounciations, for example Celtics is often pronounced Seltics, when it probably should be Keltics.

Sumptuous.

You flunk your Slashdot Editor application.

On second thought, you pass.

(Message kept short to minimize potential errors. ;-) )

Proud patriot and republican voter.

The word "perogative" lost all its dignity when Will Smith explained it to the masses.

The word prerogative lost all its dignity when everyone started pronouncing it "perogative". :-)

Perhaps you might want to check those SAT-preparation flash cards a little more closely.

The dictionary is your friend: brouhaha.

Sincerely,
The Spelling Police

(obOnTopicComment: I like your idea. Instead of sticking card into three readers, how about having a large number of readers, all of them provided by different organizations and built by different manufacturers. The voter would be required to put the card in two randomly-chosen readers.)

Ya I think the root of it all is related to someone who set standards, hence the ordinance was the standard ammunition (example: 7.62 mm ordinance or something) so coordinates where just to arrange things by standard hence the original ordinate person...then zoom forward ot now I guess what ever that french post says about it as far actual "ordinateur" goes.

So it looks like the whole root of the thing comes from "ordinare" in latin.

So i suppose "ordinary" is just what ever is of the preordained type thus being ordinary.

Merriam Webster gives a little background, latin roots, old english variations etc. so you can sort of get a general idea where it came from even if it's not exactly definitive.

Actually, I use Merriam-Webster. You get sound samples.

yet another specie we can drive to extinction in the name of technology.

Main Entry: nought
Pronunciation: 'not, 'nat
variant of NAUGHT

Main Entry: naught
Function: noun
Date: before 12th century
1 : NOTHINGNESS, NONEXISTENCE
2 : the arithmetical symbol 0 : ZERO, CIPHER

I don't think RMS is fanatical, even when I disagree with him.

Uhm: Merriam-Webster dictionary, fanatical:

: marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion

And how does RMS not fit that description?

1 capitalized : a member of a fanatical sect arising in Judea during the first century A.D. and militantly opposing the Roman domination of Palestine

2 : a zealous person; especially : a fanatical partisan

here, let me save you the effort. as the parent implies, there is no irony present in this situation.

irony

Pronunciation: 'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -nies
Etymology: Latin ironia, from Greek eirOnia, from eirOn dissembler
Date: 1502
1 : a pretense of ignorance and of willingness to learn from another assumed in order to make the other's false conceptions conspicuous by adroit questioning -- called also Socratic irony
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning b : a usually humorous or sardonic literary style or form characterized by irony c : an ironic expression or utterance
3 a (1) : incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result (2) : an event or result marked by such incongruity b : incongruity between a situation developed in a drama and the accompanying words or actions that is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play -- called also dramatic irony, tragic irony

Funny, the Merriam-Webster definition of virus says that the "Sanskrit" origin is VISA. Sort of explains why I've hardly got any money left!

I think it's an abbreviation for SCOW which is a Dutch (not Danish) word for the common trash barge. In slang I think it would be referred to as "a floating pile of sh*t".

While you are right that freedom of speech is protected from governmental interferance, this can still be considered censorship. Just because you are not the federal government doesn't mean that you can't censor someone.

censor

"to examine in order to suppress or delete anything considered objectionable"

They are deleting accounts which they find objectionable, and it is perfectly right for them to do it, it's there website, their rules, their "house". If these fakesters don't like it, they can go someplace else. But that doesn't change the fact that is still is considered censorship.

YOU cannot use them to surf the internet or check your email, you dumb-ass.

Why don't you try reading the parent post I was replying to? That's the entire point of my post, and thus the sarcastic "Let me get this straight ..." prefix. Idiot.

The other, though, is the result of fat accumulation in this area...

Ah. You refer to steatopygia. The type you find attractive would be considered callipygian.

The other, though, is the result of fat accumulation in this area...

Ah. You refer to steatopygia. The type you find attractive would be considered callipygian.

Jeez, would it kill you to look in a dictionary (second definition)?

You're right on the second count, though. There's no need to schizophrenically change spelling styles in midsentence.

yours

Which one? Dictionary.com? Merriam-Webster? The American Heritage? The Oxford English Dictionary? I can't find it.

Remember, this is the land where the mear act of opening some plastic wrap constitutes acceptance of an EULA.

We too should attempt to use it to our behoove.

From Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry: behoove
Pronunciation: bi-'huv
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): behooved; behooving
Etymology: Middle English behoven, from Old English behOfian, from behOf
Date: before 12th century
transitive senses : to be necessary, proper, or advantageous for <it behooves us to go>
intransitive senses : to be necessary, fit, or proper

In addition to providing more safety to soldiers and civilians on the ground, the new, low collateral damage munitions will also minimize the rebuilding that is needed after a war.

The word piracy is inofficially and officially synonymous with copyright infringement in one of its meanings. Unofficially, because everybody uses it. Officially, because it is documented as in common use.

Look up piracy in Merriam-Webster and you will find the following definition (among others):

3: the unauthorized use of another's production, invention, or conception especially in infringement of a copyright

You can't turn the clock backwards. People have always resisted the evolution of language and it's about as useless as trying to stop the grass from growing.

If you want to truly change the language, then take the word back instead -- claim you're a pirate, bear the title with pride, and portray it as positive. Several minority groups have done this successfully with terms that have been seen as derogatory in the past.

You can evolve, but never make unevolved.

(As an ending note, the partial copying from Merriam-Webster above was not authorized by the publisher.)

I have a link for you: Definition of Sarcasm.

Enjoy your newfound sense of humor!

Remeber when the war was going on?(some say it still is but that is debatable)

What's debatable? American soldiers are still getting killed. Iraq still isn't "liberated", and the Bush regime keeps increasing their estimates of how long that will take. (Oh, and Saddam is still around. And we still haven't found those pesky "weapons of mass destruction" that are the Bush regime's excuse for its illegal war.) How is this "over"?

Like CNN showinf dead Iraqi children but never showing someone dying from 9/11.

Since IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11 , and since 9/11 is not news, there's no reason for anyone to be showing footage of 9/11 victims. Unless, of course, they're engaing in pure propaganda.

But I would rather be ignorant than uninformed like you.

Priceless! You are obviously squarely in the middle of the Fox News target demographic: ignorant and uninformed.

(Free clue: ignorant. See defintion 2.)

Anyway, regarding this case: like the raisethefist.com case discussed yesterday, the plea bargain deal makes any admission questionable.

Acronym
Main Entry: acronym
Pronunciation: 'a-kr&-"nim
Function: noun
Etymology: acr- + -onym
Date: 1943
: a word (as NATO, radar, or snafu) formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term.
(emphasis mine).

M.A.T.R.I.X is not an acronym.

Re: your sig...

"effect" can also be a verb, as in "Joe effected the change in policy." From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: 2effect Function: transitive verb Date: 1533 1 : to cause to come into being

Fascism: a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. (Emphasis mine)

Capitalism: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market. (Emphais mine)

Socialism: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods. (Emphasis mine, again)

I've always had it explained that fascism is a political philosophy and capitalism is an economic system. The Nazis were socialist (German National Social Worker's Party), not capitalists.

Although, I'm curious to hear of a free market, socialist economy.