On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 22:43:43 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

> On 15 Oct 2024 19:43:59 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 05:33:01 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>>> On 4 Oct 2024 20:58:30 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>>>
>>>> Apart from the cultural war I hate that use of 'they'. You're reading
>>>> along ...
>>>
>>> “You’re” ... “you are” ... is that talking about multiple characters
>>> or a single character?
>>
>> Singular.
>
> Then why “are” and not “is”?

Are you sure English grammar is completely logical? Note that I'm not
addressing DFS, Joel, or anyone else but Lawrence as native English
speakers would understand the sentence in a face to face conversation. Of
course, if I were standing on a podium addressing a crowd 'Are you sure
you want four more years of this?' would also work or the construction
'you're' in either case. It is ambiguous and depends on the context.

The same could be said of 'they' when it is used as sort of a vague
reference to an indeterminate entity but the usual interpretation is a
plural, not that purple haired, pierced person of indeterminate sex over
there in the corner.

On 16 Oct 2024 01:01:30 GMT, rbowman wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 22:43:43 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> On 15 Oct 2024 19:43:59 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>>
>>> On Tue, 15 Oct 2024 05:33:01 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 4 Oct 2024 20:58:30 GMT, rbowman wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Apart from the cultural war I hate that use of 'they'. You're
>>>>> reading along ...
>>>>
>>>> “You’re” ... “you are” ... is that talking about multiple characters
>>>> or a single character?
>>>
>>> Singular.
>>
>> Then why “are” and not “is”?
>
> Are you sure English grammar is completely logical?

Logical or not, I was quoting a precedent.

In the past, there was a second person singular, “thou/thee”, and the
related form of “to be” was “art” -- “thou art”. “You” was supposed to be
a plural. Nowadays, the old singular form is obsolete, and we use “you”
for the singular form as well.

So when the same thing starts to happen with “they/them” becoming used for
a singular, who is the one assuming that English is “completely logical”:
the one objecting to the shift, or the one accepting it?

On Thu, 03 Oct 2024 10:14:40 -0400, Joel wrote:

> ... in the time of Win7 where he demonstrates MinWin ...

Ah, MinWin. Whatever happened to that? A failed attempt to try and produce
a cut down Windows-based core with the efficiency of Linux ...

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

>> ... in the time of Win7 where he demonstrates MinWin ...
>
>Ah, MinWin. Whatever happened to that? A failed attempt to try and produce
>a cut down Windows-based core with the efficiency of Linux ...

It was more of a concept thing, not really useful for much.

--
Joel W. Crump

Amendment XIV
Section 1.

[...] No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.

Dobbs rewrites this, it is invalid precedent. States are
liable for denying needed abortions, e.g. TX.

On Sun, 20 Oct 2024 22:10:42 -0400, Joel wrote:

> Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>
>>> ... in the time of Win7 where he demonstrates MinWin ...
>>
>>Ah, MinWin. Whatever happened to that? A failed attempt to try and
>>produce a cut down Windows-based core with the efficiency of Linux ...
>
> It was more of a concept thing, not really useful for much.

A botched PR attempt at trying to associate the words “svelte” and
“Windows” in people’s minds.

Wasn’t this around the time of the netbooks? Where Microsoft had to eat
humble pie and postpone the demise of XP, just so it could try to oust
Linux from the market.