[Bill Graham]

Don Pearce wrote:
On Wed, 29 Jun 2011 22:11:24 -0700, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

Frank wrote:
I'm certainly not going to pick on older people, but I have
encountered a few recently who refer to almost any form of recorded
media (aside from a phonograph record), such as a CD or DVD, as a
"tape". Drives me nuts, especially when they send me an e-mail
message asking if I've received the tape that they sent to me.

If you understood what they meant, and they understand what you
mean, then there is no poroblem as far as I am concerned. After all,
that is the purpose of language. But you are certainly encouraged to
be as correct as possible, especially when you write something for
general consumption......

Exactly the view of the founding Fathers when they penned the second
amendment. Of course they thought they were dealing with an
intelligent, enlightened population rather than dingbats who thought
they could pick and choose among the words, ignoring the vital
qualification.

d

"dingbats who pick and choose" are in the eyes of the beholder. There is no
way to go back and interrogate the founding fathers. However, we can inspect
and read their personal letters and writings, and when one does that, one
finds that they agree with the dingbats I know rather than the ones you seem
to know.