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Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:29:14 +0000
From: Richard Polhill <richard.news@polhill.vispa.invalid>
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Subject: Re: English Lesson: Monty Python
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Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
> Miss Elaine Eos schrieb:
>> In article <54lkrsF216qpuU1@mid.individual.net>,
>> Einde O'Callaghan <einde.ocallaghan@planet-interkom.de> wrote:
>>> In my opinion, complaints about split infinitives are the province of
>>> pedants.
>> Is not pedantic equivalent to academic or learned?
> No. According to thze Merriam Webster dictionary "pedantic" means
> "narrowly, stpodgily and often ostentatiously learned" or
> "unimaginative, pedestrian". As for "pedant" there is an onbsolete
> meaning "a male schooteacher" but the modern meaning is "a: one who
> makes a show of knowledge b: one who is unimaginative or who unduly
> emphasizes minutiae in the presentation or use of knowledge c: a
> formalist or precisionist in teaching". These pejorative meanings are
> the ones I intended.
>> Your sentence sounds a bit like "In my opinion, complaints about
>> sloppy English are the province of those concerned with correct English."
> The rule about split infinitives has nothing to do with "correct
> English". They have existed in "learned, educated" usage since the 14the
> century, e.g. in Wycliffe. Only in the 19th century did some pedantic
> grammarians see fit to complain about it - indeed the term the term
> itself is quite late - according to the OED it dates from 1897.
> Even the Fowler brothers, who are often cited as THE arbiter of correct
> English usage, had the following to say: "The 'split' infinitive has
> taken such hold upon the consciences of journalists that, instead of
> warning the novice against splitting his infinitives, we must warn him
> against the curious superstition that the splitting or not splitting
> makes the difference between a good and a bad writer."
> So not only do I think that the "rule" against splitting infinitives is
> the result of pedantic hyper-correctness, it would seem that even the
> doyens of the "prescriptivists" are of a similar opinion.
> There are, of course, constructions where for reasons of style it might
> be best to avoid "splitting the infinitive" but there are equally cases
> where artificially avoiding a "split infinitive" can change the intended
> meaning of the sentence.
> Regards, Einde O'Callaghan
Einde the truth speaketh.
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