Michael H Goldhaber on Sat, 25 Aug 2007 23:57:19 +0200 (CEST) |
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re:<nettime> language virus |
The way(s) in which you write or say something is not exactly the same as how you do it, in two ways. The first is simply one of emphasis, in which the longer locution gives greater weight to the thought. The second is that the former way focuses on process as opposed to all the other attributes implied in "how." "How is that cooked?" for instance is a different question from the admittedly clumsy "what was the way in which that was cooked?" So an effort to be precise may be involved here. But also, "with considerable stylistic improvement" is to some degree a moving target. Is it the same as "writing better?" According to what standard? Or, why? Best, Michael On Aug 23, 2007, at 10:38 AM, keith@thememorybank.co.uk wrote: > 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. # 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