a joke about two pere ubuists

[Paul Mackin]

On Sat, 2003-03-08 at 07:41, Abdiel OAbdiel wrote:
> 
> --- Malignd <malignd at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > I won't quote him here, but I largely agree with
> > David Morris's response regarding the value of the
> attempt to prescribe, even if ultimately impossible.
> 
> 
> 
> It's impossible. That's a fact.  Why prescription? Who
> will benifit? Why? The notion that prescription is
> tied to precision and complexity of thought is utter
> nonsense. As I said previously, there is a linguist in
> the world that believes such nonsense. 

Dunno myself. I learned Latin grammar before English grammar. The carry
over is substantial. Lying in bed last night thinking of prescriptive
grammar the memory suddenly appeared of Dr. Avril Incandenza (the moms)
in Infinite Jest having been the holder of the Macdonald Chair in
Prescriptive Usage at the Royal Victoria College of McGill University. 

Note to Richard: Infinite Jest also has a long involved search for a
certain length of "footage" in it. Various individuals and organizations
are vying to obtain the master copy of "Infinite Jest,"  a movie said to
be so entertaining that anyone who watches it loses all desire to do
anything but watch it.

P.