Language Liberalism Freethought Birds
Verbing Weirds Language only if you're expecting it to work in a simple way. This is a special case of the more general truth that Language Weirds.
Only when a republic's life is in danger should a man uphold his government when it is in the wrong. There is no other time.
The church says Earth is flat; but I have seen its shadow on the moon, and I have more confidence in a shadow than the church.
If we can't find Heaven, there are always bluejays.
So this came up at work today: somebody arguing that you can't use "between" for more than two things. It's the old argument from etymology, it is.
"Between you, me, and the gatepost"
"He lives in that fertile farming country which lies between the mountains, the river, and the sea."
Labels: language
I used to teach Russian and Ukrainian, and some basic English, to civil servants. Now I teach Russian at a local continued-learning institute. I dabble in Gaelic and Welsh. I'm am amateur photographer and I love birding (in a small way). I'm a Progressive, and a Freethinker, and I know Evolution is a fact - that's FCD, Friend of Charles Darwin (look down the sidebar). I read a lot, and follow women's college basketball. Also I love astronomy, though I'm a rank amateur at it. Most of all, I like living in the reality-based community...
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2 Comments:
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At 8:48 AM, April 17, 2008
Barry Leiba had this to say...
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At 9:33 AM, April 17, 2008
The Ridger, FCD had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->No, sorry, I don't like it. The "gatepost" one is a folksy expression; we allow a lot in those, and one shouldn't gauge grammar or normal usage from them. In the geographic one, I have trouble getting where things are because of what I expect "between" to mean. If you're trying to describe a triangle, it fails to.
I much prefer restricting "between" to refer to two things -- either of which can be compound, so "he lives between the mountains and river [on one side] and the sea [on the other]" is OK, if a little hard to parse.
I'd prefer to say that the farming community is "nestled among the mountains, the river, and the sea," "in a triangle formed by the mountains, the river, and the sea," "surrounded by mountains, river, and sea," or something like that. Or one could go with, "lies in the valley between the mountains and the sea, a river to the north."
Of course, I also hold out for "either" to refer only to two things... so take my prescriptivism with a few grains of NaCl.
Well, here are many of Merriam-Webster Unabridged's usage illustrations for between:
two years of quiet talks between the three -- Time; there are many interrelationships, and many mutual interests, between linguistics, philosophy, and psychology -- J.B.Carroll; the fortune was divided between the four grandchildren; the food was shared between three families; an agreement between states; there is no continuity of mood between the three books -- F.A.Swinnerton, mutual understanding between the brothers; between making beds, washing dishes, sewing, cleaning, and raising her children, she was kept busy
So, I'm using a whole salt-shaker.
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