tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post8253141961417802418..comments2024-02-24T03:34:18.060-05:00Comments on Stealing Commas: I was asked to share this (What the corporate jet tax loophole could pay for if closed)chris the cynichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-47515345958992379872013-03-07T09:13:22.365-05:002013-03-07T09:13:22.365-05:00See also the distinction between the words pronoun...See also the distinction between the words pronounced "die-ssect" and "dis-sect" - the former has become the standard pronunciation in the UK, but simply means "cut in half" (like "bisect"), whereas the latter means to cut into many pieces...Firedrakenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-85752072514256737572013-03-06T11:48:05.142-05:002013-03-06T11:48:05.142-05:00When I look at the first three letters of that wor...When I look at the first three letters of that word I think "Dis" as a unit. (Oh yay, discussion of syllables when I just pointed out that they're a part of language I don't really notice.) If anyone else does the same, don't. "Di-" is a prefix, "syllabic" is what it's being attached to. While sometimes a prefix can meld with the base word it doesn't here.<br /><br />Di-syl-lab-ic.<br />I would probably pronounce it (don't laugh at my attempts to do phonetics without IPA) dee-sil-lab-ic but actually that first syllable should be pronounced "die" so I'd be wrong.<br /><br />Even in the accent where it does take it as "dis"* it still maintains the root word, instead doubling the "s" hence dis-sil...<br /><br />Worth noting that the dots in dictionary definitions ("di*syl*lab*ic"; I don't seem to have a "dot" character on my keyboard so I'm using asterisk as a stand in) are not, in fact, syllable breaks. They often line up with the syllable breaks and probably their placement was reflective of the syllable breaks when the convention they illustrate set in (though that's just a guess on my part, I never looked it up), but they are not syllable breaks. To find those you have to look in the pronunciation section that follows.<br /><br />What they are is typesetting breaks. If you want to run something right to the end of a line even if it means breaking a word in two, you can't just choose any old place to break it. There are standards. The dots are acceptable places to break. Thus in this example ("di*syl*lab*ic") it would be acceptable to have "di-" at the end of a line and "syllabic" at the beginning of the next, "disyl-" at the end of a line and "labic" at the beginning of the next, or "disyllab-" at the end of a line and "ic" at the beginning of the next.<br /><br />It's where you can use hyphens to break up a word to spread it across multiple lines which is usually indicative of syllable breaks, but not always. (Also, sometimes different accents have syllable breaks in different places.)<br /><br />-<br /><br />* Which seems a huge mistake to me because dis is a different prefix with a different meaning. It's both a Latin prefix in its own right and the Latin version of the Greek "dys" so it appears both in words with Latin roots and words with Greek roots that came to English through the Latin. The prefix "dis" means apart from, lacking, and things like that. The prefix "dys/dis" means "bad". Disaster means bad star. (Presumably, though I have not looked this up, from the belief that disasters happen under bad stars.) Astrology is in the language.<br /><br />Also, apparently we can blame the French for the extra s which they added and then was later taken back away. Someone saying dis-sil-lab-ic is harkening back to the French version (whether they know it or not.)<br /><br />In general, if there's something really weird in English you can blame the French. Which region and which time period depends on the oddity in question. It doesn't always come down to, "The French did it," but it does a lot.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-5984372752296790662013-03-05T18:58:09.811-05:002013-03-05T18:58:09.811-05:00And that's what I get for not thinking much ab...And that's what I get for not thinking much about that sentence. Yeah, if I'd just sounded the word out or something. I generally don't pay much attention to syllables so it really doesn't occur to me to think, "X word has Y syllables," but I <i>should</i> think to ask myself, "How many syllables does X have?" before I say, "X has Y syllables."<br /><br />Anyway, yes. Disyllabic.chris the cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06872875475212333027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3889388775673754833.post-4844117724282252572013-03-05T18:42:32.191-05:002013-03-05T18:42:32.191-05:00"info" being what happens to the word &q...<em>"info" being what happens to the word "information" via diminution to get a nice monosyllabic colloquial form.</em><br /><br />Disyllabic? *not the point*Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18034585577015417306noreply@blogger.com