Excellent link, Geoff. Any thoughts? Is the author right, do you think, that most academics are descriptivists? I question that.

The two linguists we used to have on this board were.

I think the author implies that almost all academic linguists are descriptivists.

It's funny how the anti-decimate-as-annihilate peevers are not upset by such horrors as "14-day quarantine". It's etymologically "forty days".

Perhaps it's because it's from Italian, not Latin.

As for decimate, I thought that was Lucille Ball.

Good to see you again, Jim!

Love the link, Geoff. We humans tend to live in our heads; nice to see even our unique brain-product-- speech-- evolves in an organic way. Not so different from the floa et al fauna.

Interesting about quarantine , zmj. I had not known that.

Gosh, we've been missing you. Arnie too. I know that life moves on, but, still, arnie and zmj were staples here.

Staples? I wish they'd screw up their resolve to nail down a time to be here regularly!

BTW, what ever became of Graham Nice? Or Greg? Or Museamuse? Or RJA? Or Trossl? Or Caterwauler?
With libraries shut, surely Cat's got some time for us?

Yes, there are so many, Geoff. I think Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and other platforms have been drawn our members away. I know that other forums have suffered as well. Not sure what to do about it, but I sure am open to suggestions.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Please see your PM, Geoff. I've tried to reach out to people. If I've missed some, please let me know.

Good work, Kalleh! I see RJA commented for the first time in YEARS!

How about Stella?

I can reach out to her, too.

I do worry that some may not get their notifications in their emails, but we shall see.