Hollow
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| ComputerBob Sep 22, 2011 10:11 PM EDT |
The expression is "hollow victory," not "hallow victory." The word "hallow" means "holy." |
| gus3 Sep 22, 2011 10:30 PM EDT |
And "tout" rather than "tote". |
| jdixon Sep 23, 2011 8:56 AM EDT |
There are enough non-native English articles on LXer that I usually discount such mistakes here. Of course, then I see them on an ad here in the US, and it makes me want to pull my hair out. |
| Jeff91 Sep 23, 2011 9:22 AM EDT |
Good catch. Will update the post - thanks. ~Jeff |
| skelband Sep 23, 2011 1:04 PM EDT |
One of my pet hates here in Canada is seeing blatant errors in "professionally" produced signs. How the writers of the signs can't see the errors is beyond my ken I'm afraid. Some examples: "Burried cable" on a building site next to my house. Printed professionally onto plastic bases with about 5 or 6 around the site. "How to pay for parking?" I'm guessing this is a translation from a non-English language that doesn't quite work. We all do accidental typos from time to time, myself included, but I reckon that if you make signs for a living, you should be fairly competent at spelling and grammar. |
| ComputerBob Sep 23, 2011 2:34 PM EDT |
Years ago, I noticed a printing company's huge banner, hanging from the top of its building, listing several types of things that they print, including "calenders." I stopped in and told them that it was spelled wrong. The response: "Only two people have ever noticed it, and it would cost a lot of money to rent a crane to take it down and change it." Another time, I ate at a "Hungry Howie's" pizza placet, and brought it to the manager's attention that his store's receipts all said "Hungary Howie's". He got mad at me. But my favorite is how many, many businesses don't know the difference between dollars and cents. Every time I see a sign that says "Hamburger .59 cents," I want to order three of them, hand them 2 pennies and tell them to keep the change. |
| jdixon Sep 23, 2011 2:46 PM EDT |
> Every time I see a sign that says "Hamburger .59 cents," I want to order three of them, hand them 2 pennies and tell them to keep the change. If it's an advertising sign that actually says that, you could get away with it, or get them for false advertising. If it's their menu, they're probably safe. |
| caitlyn Sep 23, 2011 2:57 PM EDT |
Even some native English speakers seem to have problems with the English language. I'm amazed how many people don't know the difference between lose and loose. I'm also amazed how many people who write incredibly poorly and have to know they do are still willing to have their writing out there for all to see. |
| gus3 Sep 23, 2011 4:39 PM EDT |
English is a pick-pocket language, just one step away from being a creole or pidgin mash-up. That so many dialects' speakers recognize the same language in them, is nearly... Unpossible. |
| Scott_Ruecker Sep 23, 2011 5:39 PM EDT |
I fixed the newswire item. Scott |
| flufferbeer Sep 23, 2011 5:48 PM EDT |
Tank yu fer fixxin' da noozweyer eyetm! :D -fb |
| djohnston Sep 23, 2011 5:48 PM EDT |
Just one more, Jeff. "Some thirteen months later it appears that the Meego project is waining in supporters though." The correct spelling is "waning". |
| gus3 Sep 23, 2011 6:19 PM EDT |
Who Rae Fore Spiel Chuckers! |
| BernardSwiss Sep 23, 2011 7:13 PM EDT |
It actually makes good sense with either "tote" or "tout". "Tote" can mean to count or tally. And that makes perfect sense. As much sense as "tout" -- to proclaim or advertise. My first reaction was "Ooops -- he goofed". But as I was reaching for my keyboard I realized "Wait, maybe not. He might have meant exactly what he said, and only my own over-familiarity with the standard, near-cliche expression tripped me up." I like it as is -- it's a pleasant change from the tired out conventional expression. Of course, it doesn't mean exactly the same thing, and perhaps people will be too distracted by the "obvious mistake" to actually discuss the article? |
| BernardSwiss Sep 23, 2011 7:15 PM EDT |
An excellent summary, Jeff. I sometimes wonder if returning to the story of the printer would help, at least as a lead-in to the issues of "why (software) freedom matters", or even a simple "just whose gadget is this, anyways?" dialog. Unfortunately, in practice I find that even the minority who are willing to look past the illusion of "but it's so convenient (expedient aka 'pragmatic', common practice, just the way things work)" tend to be deeply mired in the bogus assumptions of "intellectual property" and the supposed inherent free-market underpinnings of providing techno-magical goodies to us mere consumers. Achieving real progress on these kinds of issues depends on getting the general public to understand, at least on a basic level, that their unconsidered assumptions on these matters is highly suspect and largely serves to promote their legal exploitation (ie. ripping them off), by denying them real control over the own property -- under the guise that the technology as implemented is about "enabling" them. :-P I have no idea how to actually do this effectively. |
| TxtEdMacs Sep 23, 2011 8:03 PM EDT |
Do I dare? What the H., sure I do: Hey B_S_, Here is what I thought seeing tote (definition): Quoting: [...]Informal. 1. To haul; lug. 2. To have on one's person; pack: toting guns. n. 1. Informal A load; a burden [...] which is very different from either his probable intent or your interpretation. As always, YBT |
| BernardSwiss Sep 23, 2011 8:40 PM EDT |
Well, if you want to play duelling dictionaries... http://www.thefreedictionary.com/tote http://www.answers.com/topic/tote American Heritage Dictionary: tote1 (tōt) pronunciation tr.v. Informal, tot·ed, tot·ing, totes. 1. To haul; lug. 2. To have on one's person; pack: toting guns. n. 1. Informal. A load; a burden. 2. A tote bag. [Perhaps (via Black West African English) of Bantu origin, akin to Kongo -tota, to pick up, and Swahili -tuta, to pile up, carry.] totable tot'a·ble adj. toter tot'er n. tote2 (tōt) pronunciation tr.v. Informal, tot·ed, tot·ing, totes. 1. To determine the total of; add up. 2. To sum up; summarize. tote3 (tōt) pronunciation n. Informal A pari-mutuel machine. (Words can have more than one meaning) |
| ComputerBob Sep 24, 2011 10:21 AM EDT |
If someone misuses a recognized expression, my first instinct is to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that maybe they are creatively playing with words -- after all, I do it myself all the time, intentionally making up and combining words in my own writing. But then, if I don't see any contextual evidence that the misuse was intentional, I have to conclude that it was caused by either a typo or by the writer having never really understood what the expression is. For example, when I read the expression, "hallow victory" (instead of "hollow victory") in Jeff's article, I TRIED to give him credit for being really clever and creative -- but then, the context of the article didn't contain any evidence that he meant "hallow" (holy) victory." In fact, the context of the article made it clear that what he had actually intended to say was "hollow victory." Therefore, I had to conclude that "hallow victory" was either an unintentional typo, or that Jeff has always incorrectly thought that the expression was "hallow victory." Applying that same thought process to "tout vs tote" and "waining vs waning," I have to conclude that, although Jeff has some good ideas, he could use both a spell-checker and a good editor. |
| Jeff91 Sep 24, 2011 11:38 AM EDT |
ComputerBob, I think you are confusing spelling and grammar. All of those words are spelled correctly, they just do not make sense due to the fact I obviously intended them to be something else - thus making it a grammar issue. If you are going to nit-pick at least be correct about it. EDIT: Thanks for the corrections BTW, makes it look a bit more professional when more people find the article later on ;). That being said this is a personal blog, not professional. It's meant for simply sharing my thoughts on things I think are at least mildly relevant in FOSS today. I am very much not a professional writer and have never claimed to be such. ~Jeff |
| ComputerBob Sep 24, 2011 8:02 PM EDT |
Your writing wouldn't be such a big target if you didn't constantly submit it here for publication. Like you, I'm not a professional writer, but I know that when you choose to jump into the game and play with the big boys and girls, you have to expect to be treated like one of them. |
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