Michael Ash wrote:
> Erik Max Francis <max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Michael Ash wrote:
>>
>>> Isn't that kind of backwards? The fact that it was listed in a
dictionary
>>> *sup****ts* the idea of "officially correct". Unless you're thinking
that
>>> it can only be officially correct to the exclusion of the other one,
which
>>> doesn't have to be the case.
>> It sup****ts that both forms were used enough to warrant entry in a
>> dictionary, which is something I'd never disputed. My point is that
>> there is no such thing as "officially correct" in a language like
English.
>
> But then a dictionary entriy should have no bearing on it one way or
> another.
Well, remember I wasn't the one who even brought up dictionaries.
> While you're right that strictly speaking there's no such thing as
> "officially correct", it's not particularly twisted to use that term to
> mean something which can be found in a dictionary agreed upon by the
> parties in question to be authoritative. In this case, a word would
> generally be "officially correct" if enough of the population used it to
> get it in the dictionary, which is a fairly sensible position to take,
> since it has a direct bearing on your ability to be understood, your
> liklihood of running across that usage, etc.
Sure. That would be a fairly reasonable definition, though I doubt
you'd get the nitpickers here to agree to it. But the dictionary
argument was brought up to point out that _both_ pronunciations are
listed. By your definition, _both_ pronunciations are "officially
correct." Which, again, is at odds with the original claim of the "ji-"
pronunciation is actually the "officially correct" one.
But since the original claim was pretty silly to begin with (there being
no such thing as "officially correct" pronunciation in English), that
goes without saying.
--
Erik Max Francis && max@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
&& http://www.alcyone.com/max/
San Jose, CA, USA && 37 18 N 121 57 W && AIM, Y!M erikmaxfrancis
The cost of living has gone up another dollar a quart.
-- W.C. Fields
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