keith@thememorybank.co.uk on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 16:15:40 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> language virus |
I wonder if nettimers can help me with a query that I have never until now turned into an enquiry. I have noticed for years the growing insertion of the phrase 'the way(s) in which' into English sentences. In almost all cases the three-letter monosyllable 'how' can be substituted without loss of meaning and with considerable stylistic improvement. I have come to regard this linguistic tick as a virus. At first it was largely restricted to academics, but by now it is much more general, threatening to become an epidemic. So three questions: 1. What is the history of the phenomenon? Presumably search engines can help. Google throws up this high up for 'the way in which': http://blog.welldesignedurls.org/2007/05/19/seeing-things-the-way-in-w hich-o ne-wants-them-to-be-not-the-way-they-are/ But I need time-depth and the Oxford dictionary isn't onto it yet. 2. Why? I have several hypotheses but would prefer to know yours. 3. What similar language viruses have people noticed? I realize that once I picked up on this one, I started noticing it everywhere. So I may have missed others. Keith Hart # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@kein.org and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org