[VERY OT] a linguistic question (.sig-related, xposted)

[Michele Dondi]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

utterly stupid claim

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

utterly stupid claim

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

Michele
--

It's because the universe was programmed in C++.

No, no, it was programmed in Forth. See Genesis 1:12:
"And the earth brought Forth ..."
- Robert Israel on sci.math, thread "Why numbers?"

 

[A. Sinan Unur]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

While I do not mind the question, I have a feeling you are going catch a
lot of flak for bringing back 'Purl Gurl'

 

[Cameron, Charles B.]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

Michele

As I'm sure you'll soon see, this is a matter of opinion.

I would opt for "in" because you are quoting something "in" a posting, a usage very like a reference to something being "in a book" or "in a magazine article".

Those who opt for "on" will probably base their choice on the use of "on" in expressions like "on television", "on the radio", or "on the newswires".

Charles B. Cameron

 

[Keith Davies]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

FWIW, I don't bother with either; from my current .sig:

"Your ability to bang your head against reality in the hope that
reality will crack first is impressive, but futile"
-- Geoffrey Brent, rec.games.frp.dnd


Keith

 

[Ala Qumsieh]

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

I might be wrong, but I would think people write *in* posts *on* newsgroups.

But, why do you care? Most newsreaders strip out .sigs anyway

--Ala

 

[Brooks Moses]

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

[...]

My experience has been that the traditional preposition for this purpose
is "in", not "on".

- Brooks

 

[Richard Morse]

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

IMO, FWIW, 'in'.

In all of the conversations that I've seen, most people use 'in' to
refer to newsgroups, 'on' to refer to IRC channels.

Of course, I'm just a random guy. I have no claim to any expertise on
this topic (or would that be 'in this topic' .

HTH,
Ricky

 

[Eduardo Chappa]

*** Brooks Moses ([email protected]) wrote in...:

Michele Dondi wrote:
> I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
> USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
> preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use
>
> > utterly stupid claim
> witty cmt
> - J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
> ^^

My experience has been that the traditional preposition for this
purpose is "in", not "on".

I agree, I think that the problem is that this sentence does not have a
verb. If you insert one, like in "Hacker wrote in comp.foo.bar", it's
clear to me that "in" is appropriate, but "on" is not, since "on" would
indicate the subject, which is unlikely to be "comp.foo.bar".

Eduardo
http://www.math.washington.edu/~chappa/pine/

 

[Eduardo Chappa]

*** Brooks Moses ([email protected]) wrote in...:

Michele Dondi wrote:
> I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
> USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
> preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use
>
> > utterly stupid claim
> witty cmt
> - J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
> ^^

My experience has been that the traditional preposition for this
purpose is "in", not "on".

I agree, I think that the problem is that this sentence does not have a
verb. If you insert one, like in "Hacker wrote in comp.foo.bar", it's
clear to me that "in" is appropriate, but "on" is not, since "on" would
indicate the subject, which is unlikely to be "comp.foo.bar".

Eduardo
http://www.math.washington.edu/~chappa/pine/

 

[David Kastrup]

IMO, FWIW, 'in'.

In all of the conversations that I've seen, most people use 'in' to
refer to newsgroups, 'on' to refer to IRC channels.

I'd say the latter is wrong.

J. Random Hacker on anything, "..."

means that J. Random Hacker has a comment concerning `anything', and
the comment is "...".

Like David Kastrup on commenting: "Don't use on here".

David Kastrup on comp.text.tex: "Some nice people hanging out there.
Well, and myself."

 

[Richard Morse]

I might be wrong, but I would think people write *in* posts *on* newsgroups.

But, why do you care? Most newsreaders strip out .sigs anyway

They do? Mine does for replies, but still shows them while reading...

But then, I may be in a minority?

Ricky

 

[Richard Morse]

I'd say the latter is wrong.

J. Random Hacker on anything, "..."

means that J. Random Hacker has a comment concerning `anything', and
the comment is "...".

I agree with you if the word 'on' is followed by a topic or subject,
however I've often seen:

silly_user_name on #mychannel said "foo".

or even:

silly_user_name on #mychannel: "foo"

Ricky

 

[Giuseppe Bilotta]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

I'm not a native speaker, but I would go for "in"; "on" sounds a
little like Mr. Hacker was talking *about* comp.foo.bar, rather tha
posting *to* the newsgroup.

--
Giuseppe "Oblomov" Bilotta

Can't you see
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollar and cents
Pounds shillings and pence
(Roger Waters)

 

[John M. Gamble]

I'm sorry for this OT, but these seemed to me the best NGs, amongst
those that I subscribe, to ask this question, and I don't know where
else I could do it.

I like to gather witty cmts or otherwise interesting sentences from
USENET posts to quote in .sigs: now I have a doubt about the
preposition to use when citing the author, i.e. should I use

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker in comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

or

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker on comp.foo.bar, "Re: Fred Mbogo"
^^

Michele

If it must be one or the other, I would pick "in." It is
a thing (the newsgroup) that has content (the messages).

However, i myself don't bother. Here's an example:

"See, I get grumpy when people put 'SA doesn't have to think' into a
sentence. Not that I don't appreciate the sentiment of making thing easy,
but having the SA conscious during some point of their career is a bonus."
Elaine Ashton, perl5-porters mailing list, 3 August 2001

 

[Michele Dondi]

While I do not mind the question, I have a feeling you are going catch a
lot of flak for bringing back 'Purl Gurl'

Please check better: she had already come back here, even though only
since yesterday or so, at most...

At least she was sensible enough to keep her trolling within the
realms of clpmisc! (Followup-To set back there for this post)


Michele

 

[Michele Dondi]

Michele, on April first, wrote in her article,

^^^

Thank you very much for that! Please, do not think I'm sexist, because
I'm not, but I'm *not* a woman, either...


Michele
--
#!/usr/bin/perl -lp
BEGIN{*ARGV=do{open $_,q,<,,\$/;$_}}s z^z seek DATA,11,$[;($,
=ucfirst<DATA>)=~s x .*x q^~ZEX69l^^q,^2$;][@,xe.$, zex,s e1e
q 1~BEER XX1^q~4761rA67thb ~eex ,s aba m,P..,,substr$&,$.,age
__END__

 

[Michele Dondi]

I'm not a native speaker, but I would go for "in"; "on" sounds a
little like Mr. Hacker was talking *about* comp.foo.bar, rather tha
posting *to* the newsgroup.

Grazie, sembra che la maggior parte della gente sia d'accordo con
questa opinone!

[Thank you, it seems that people mostly share this opinion!]


Not a native speaker either,
Michele

 

[Michele Dondi]

Yes, I realized this instantly upon reading
your personal level childish insult, in
your previous article.
Huh?!?

Clearly I credited you too much by assuming
you to be female.

Nice to see you're always in your usual good mood, btw!!


Michele

 

[Michele Dondi]

My choice of date is a rather a subtle hint, yes?

So what?!? I thought that the joke was related to the rest of your
message. Actually most non-italian people tend think mine is a
feminine name, possibly misspelling it for "Michelle". (I guess!)


Seeya!
Michele

 

[J. Romano]

I'm not a native speaker, but I would go for "in"; "on" sounds a
little like Mr. Hacker was talking *about* comp.foo.bar, rather tha
posting *to* the newsgroup.

Grazie, sembra che la maggior parte della gente sia d'accordo con
questa opinone!

[Thank you, it seems that people mostly share this opinion!]

This might be a little late, but I'd like to say that I also agree
with "la maggior parte della gente" that say "'in' a newsgroup" sounds
better than "'on' a newsgroup". But you could also rephrase the quote
to say:

utterly stupid claim

witty cmt
- J. Random Hacker, "Re: Fred Mbogo" (posting to comp.foo.bar)


But now that I've answered your linguistic question, can you answer
some of mine?

How would I say, "I write programs in Perl"? Do any of the
following choices sound right? If not, how would you say it?

"Scrivo programmi in Perl."
"Scrivo programmi con Perl."
"Scrivo dei programmi usando Perl."

And how would I say, "I will write in Perl in May"? Would any of
these be accurate?

"Scrivero' un programma in Perl in maggio."
"Scrivo in Perl a maggio."
"Quando viene il maggio, scrivero' Perl."

And can "Perl" be used as a verb? For example, does the phrase
"Happy Perling!" have a translation? My best guess would be:

"Perlisci con felicita'!"
or maybe:
"Perla felicemente!"

And, finally, can "Perl" be used as an adjective (like "perlish" in
English)?. Would the translation of "This program seems a bit
perlish" be "Questo programma mi sembra un po' perluto"?

I know you probably weren't expecting these questions, Michele, but
I'm asking them to you because I always have a hard time saying to
Italians that I program in Perl (they seem to understand what I mean,
but I never kow what's correct). As you know, prepositions like "to",
"at", "with", "in", and "on" are difficult to use correctly in another
language, so I'm hoping you can help me out here.

Mille grazie,

Jean-Luc Romano