Wednesday, 30 May 2007

pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

I think I'll just quote [livejournal.com profile] conuly, which is where I saw this:

Here's the first bit.
And here's an explanation.

I'd just advise everybody to take whatever precautions, from nothing to full-on-paranoia, that they think is necessary to protect their own journals.

What's * than a *?

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 17:04
pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

Feeling random just now, I googled for "what's * than a *".

You try it, too, if you're feeling serendipitous. All sorts of comparisons.

Random thought

Wednesday, 30 May 2007 17:13
pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)

I wonder whether there are languages that distinguish comitative with ("I peeled the potatoes with a friend") and instrumental with ("I peeled the potatoes with a knife")—e.g. by having separate cases or separate usual prepositions.

They're the same in English (with), German (mit + dat.), French (avec), Greek (με + acc.), and Russian (с + instr.), as far as I know.

(Now that I've said it, I'm sure there are such languages; only I don't know of an example off-hand.)

Of course, it's possible to distinguish between the two by using synonyms or other word choice (e.g. together with to emphasis comitativity), but as for the basic choice?

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pne: A picture of a plush toy, halfway between a duck and a platypus, with a green body and a yellow bill and feet. (Default)
Philip Newton

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