SP + mis-placed modifiers: "My opponent...sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terro

[patrice]

rists..." This is a misplace verbal, an infinitive i believe, verbals are verb forms used as adjectives so this statement = America is so imperfect that it palls around with terrorists.

Maybe I'm the only person who worries about the logic of English, spoken and written. Though the example I've cited may be so obvious that many will just discount it, imagine the thousands and thousands and thousands of communications about important things or just mundane things like "how to _______" anything, in which the logic of the communication is fucked-up.

Sometimes I feel like we are losing our collective mind along with our tenuous, at best, grasp upon the logic of our language.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. America IS imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists.

We palled around with the Ayatollah in Iran-Contra; we palled around with Saddam and Osama in the old days. We palled around with Pinochet. We palled around with Noriega. Etc.

[Spritz57]

2. Good point!

And let's not forget the venerable Ferdinand Marcos!

[amdezurik]

5. Oh and the old Shah of Iran that began

most of this shit...

[patrice]

10. Ah, toooooo True and from the mouth of the Killa from Wasilla, no less.

[garlicmilkshake]

3. Actually there isn't much logic in "our language"

One mouse, two mice - one house, two hice? And what the hell is the plural of moose? :eyes:


tough
dough
bough
cough

We drive on the parkway and park on the driveway.

We get in the car but on the plane. :wtf: is up with that?

Most people will say "I could care less" when they mean "I couldn't care less"


I could go on and on but for the sake of our sanities I won't. :D :rofl:

[patrice]

4. I guess you'll have to tell Noam Chomsky that Transformational Grammar is an illusion.

There is a basic, though imperfect, logic to syntax and grammar. The rules ARE functional whether you've ever been taught that or not.

[patrice]

9. And oh yes, don't forget to inform all of the researchers in Cognitive Psychology too.

They need to know that the neural pathways that they've been identifying aren't really related to one another functionally.

[fasttense]

6. What's with her putting "also" at the end of her sentences?

What's with Palin putting the also at the end of a sentence?

It's as if she forgot to add it in the correct place and adds it at the last minute to the end of her sentence.

Here is an example:

Couric: The United States is deeply unpopular in Pakistan. Do you think the Pakistani government is protecting al Qaeda within its borders?

Palin: I don’t believe that new President Zardari has that mission at all. But no, the Pakistani people ALSO, they want freedom. They want democratic values to be allowed in their country, ALSO. They understand the dangers of terrorists having a stronghold in regions of their country, ALSO.

She sounds very strange also.

[patrice]

8. I also find that un-natural and have decided that it is a marker for @ memorized talking point.

I do something similar in conversation, ending sentences with "...so." I think I'm thinking that there's another related point, but I'm not concentrating on being coherent, so if that related point doesn't just present itself in my verbal processing the sentence just ends up hanging. Bad habit!

[kestrel91316]

7. Word salad. What do you expect from somebody who got 841 on her SAT?

Besides, word salad fools enough of the people enough of the time..........

[patrice]

12. Yes, either fool them into thinking something has been "said" or that nothing makes sense, so anythi

ng goes.

[eeyore]

11. Um, Patrice....

There's only one l in pal, just so's ya know. :)
Thought you might want your spelling to be spot on in a grammar rant.

I agree though, she's a verbal trainwreck. She's a great example of the lowering of expectations in our country. She shouldn't be running for the school board, let alone the VP.

[patrice]

13. Thanks. I stand DU-ly corrected.

[eeyore]

14. Just doing my job...

:toast: