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I swear I still can't figure out what German grammar crossover prompted your correction.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:11:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Makes perfect sense to me, and I don't speak German.
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:13:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
But doesn't "between" include "to and from"?. Why the correction?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:14:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It's a fair question. In Uzbekistan in 1991, my parents had a visa allowing them to be in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, and this sort of implied that they weren't allowed anywhere in between. Teleportation would have been handy.
by Alex in Toulouse on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:17:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
How about air space?

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:18:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I gather air space would have been fine, but they never had the opportunity to test that possibility. They waited for a better visa, the following year, by which they were then allowed to be anywhere in the country.
by Alex in Toulouse on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:32:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes and no.  Between in that context would usually be understood to mean from one place to the other.  But technically it could just mean you are in the act of walking and you are geographically located somewhere between Aberdeen and Beijing; you could just be going to the store in Warsaw.

Reading that meaning into it, however, would be rather pedantic, and would probably be a joke, because the meaning is clear.  It's kind of like can and may.

by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:27:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You're right, I think, but now I'm going to have to go and read an English grammar.

There's also between and in between...

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:29:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
to-may-to, to-mah-to...
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:43:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
po-tay-to, po-tah-to, po-ta-toe

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 10:48:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
<another head explodes>

Please, my English pronounciation is bad enough, would you explain what the above is about?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 07:56:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If you're asking about Migeru's last comment, then it's that old bit about British English and American English pronouncing potato and tomato differently.
by Alex in Toulouse on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:03:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
With a little Dan Quayle spelling thrown in, just for kicks....
by the stormy present (stormypresent aaaaaaat gmail etc) on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 03:59:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong: Let's call the whole thing off
Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that,

Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don't know where I'm at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done:

You say either and I say either,
You say neither and I say neither
Either, either Neither, neither
Let's call the whole thing off.

You like potato and I like potahto
You like tomato and I like tomahto
Potato, potahto, Tomato, tomahto.
Let's call the whole thing off

But oh, if we call the whole thing off
Then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you like pyjamas and I like pyjahmas,
I'll wear pyjamas and give up pyajahmas
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the whole thing off
Let's call the whole thing off.

You say laughter and I say larfter
You say after and I say arfter
Laughter, larfter after arfter
Let's call the whole thing off,

You like vanilla and I like vanella
You saspiralla, and I saspirella
Vanilla vanella chocolate strawberry
Let's call the whole thing off

But oh if we call the whole thing of then we must part
And oh, if we ever part, then that might break my heart

So if you go for oysters and I go for ersters
I'll order oysters and cancel the ersters
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let's call the whole thing off.

I say father, and you say pater,
I saw mother and you say mater
Pater, mater Uncle, auntie let's call the whole thing off.

I like bananas and you like banahnahs
I say Havana and I get Havahnah
Bananas, banahnahs Havana, Havahnah
Go your way, I'll go mine

So if I go for scallops and you go for lobsters,
So all right no contest we'll order lobseter
For we know we need each other so we
Better call the calling off off,
Let's call the whole thing off.



A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 05:06:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
This was my motivation for the correction.

in this English grammar, they give five usages for between:


Between
    1. An intermediate location:  Toronto lies between Montreal and Vancouver.
    2. An intermediate time:  between Christmas and New Year's Day
    3. Intermediate in a series:  B comes between A and C in the alphabet.
    4. An intermediate amount:  between five and ten people
    5. Within a group of two:  The money was shared between two people.

That would imply to me, that "between" can not be used to describe a movement, more a location. (Accusativic rather than Ablativic in a Latin sense - says he talking rubbish)

I just felt, it was not quite right, but I know all my English teacher would laugh at me heartily. (I was consistently their worst pupil...)

by PeWi on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 11:46:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
So, according to this grammar, "go between A and B" is incorrect?

Usages 2 and 3 are metaphorical motion (but 4 isn't, that's what distinguishes 3 and 4, but I have some doubts about that), as George Lakoff would say. However, you are right, it does not seem to include the endpoints.

It is interesting that one can say 'from A to B' or 'from B to A' but there is no way to indicate going from one point to the other while leaving the direction ambiguous. This is why oriented manifolds are an easier concept to grasp than unoriented ones (and the integers an easier concept to grasp than parity).

I'll stop now.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Mar 31st, 2006 at 11:53:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"there is no way to indicate going from one point to the other while leaving the direction ambiguous"

I thought about this for a moment, and was wondering whether any of the following could work:

"go from A towards B" (some ambiguity remains)
"go from A straight to B" (little or no ambiguity?)
"go east from A to B"

?

by Alex in Toulouse on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 05:25:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No you don't get it. Migeru looks for a form in which it is not defined whether you go from A to B or vice versa, only that you travel between these two endpoints.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:01:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh damn you're right, I misread Migeru's "ambiguous" for "unambiguous" (I have no idea why).
by Alex in Toulouse on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:08:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Now I suppose you could only come close to finding a solution to Migeru's dilemna by using a area or a path rather than two points. Because by using two points you define a direction, even unwillingly, since the 1st point you write will be assumed to be the starting one for your direction.

With paths it's easier ... "he travelled on the road between A and B" ... though using sequential letters may through you off here (try instead: "he travelled on the road between Paris and Berlin for months")

With surfaces even easier ... "he travelled in Germany" (which to the alert reader is the zone that lies roughly between A and B)

by Alex in Toulouse on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:17:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean "may throw you off"
by Alex in Toulouse on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:18:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Actually, in German rail magazines, if they only say a pictured train runs between say Berlin and Hamburg, I find direction is often not what you'd assume from the word order.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Apr 1st, 2006 at 08:23:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Which I suppose means I was right in assuming there was something about german grammar inplicit in PeWi's comment.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 05:09:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, my native, english speaking wife, was laughing her head of, when I told her about this problem - so yes, German Grammar overload...
by PeWi on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 10:28:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
interesting side issue to this.

They did some research in Franken and asked people about the direction to the next village and found correlation between the relative age of the villages and the prepositions used to describe the way. So "over there, " the other village was younger, and "back there" the village was older.
Funny eh.

by PeWi on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 10:32:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Wow.

A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Sun Apr 2nd, 2006 at 03:52:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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