Math vs Maths - grammer fight
well as it seems to now be the case that inaccurate grammar and spelling is deemed a matter of personal choice, I have decided in future to avoid punctuating any sentences and whilst I am at it, I will desist from using any spaces,youwillallbeabletoworkoutwhatimeananywaywhoneedsrulesandspellingwhen langaugeisallowedtoevolvethroughlazinessthanksdustinforshowingmethetruepathhere.
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it's not personal choice...it's the choice of millions of people. it's the masses that change ever so slightly a word, it's meaning, it's ending, or whatever. 200 years ago, if some scottsman read the way you right NOW, smedz, he might not understand it, and think a child wrote it. language is a natural thing, it grows, evolves, and changes.
just get over yourself already, you stupid Cu*t (was that playful enough?)
just get over yourself already, you stupid Cu*t (was that playful enough?)
the majority of the people in the world use a language which has no spacing and very little punctuation, so if you stick at it, maybe English will get there soon too...smedz wrote:well as it seems to now be the case that inaccurate grammar and spelling is deemed a matter of personal choice, I have decided in future to avoid punctuating any sentences and whilst I am at it, I will desist from using any spaces,youwillallbeabletoworkoutwhatimeananywaywhoneedsrulesandspellingwhen langaugeisallowedtoevolvethroughlazinessthanksdustinforshowingmethetruepathhere.
djdee wrote:djdee is embarrassed by his countrymen's pedantry.
Especially as most English people can't even speak or write their own language correctly.
Two pertinent words from the English teacher: job securitydustin wrote:English teachers may not like it, but that's how languages work.
Thanks for asking ... pretty much maintaining a vigil for an extremely ill mother.Drifter wrote:Where in the world is pls during this?
"Maths" and "math" are both correct. Just depends upon which side of the pond you reside. If I talked about a bonnet, you'd look for an artifact at one end of a human being. If smedz talked about a boot, I'd be looking for an artifact at the other end of said human when he'd be looking at the arse end of a four-wheeled conveyance.
Finally, when some jerk informs me via e-mail that my PayPal "informations" need(s) to be updated, I know I just received a message from some spamscum in Russia. Nuances in language can be quite useful ...
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I'm going to stick my neck out there and try and give an opinion based on a mathematician's understanding of history (rather than a Classicists' or an English professor's) -- but of course, keep in mind that mathematicians are notoriously bad historians (in maths, it's not the historically correct methods that survive, but the most concise and elegant).smedz wrote:Can we please all get something straight, the word origin is MathematicS thus the abbreviation HAS to be Maths.
Of all the american bastardisations of English, this must be the one that gets furthest up my nose.
If you don't stop misusing the language I will have to adopt the persona of an enraged high school student and gun you feckers down!
Mathematics in America was a very late development. Before 1780, only a handful of texts were imported from Britain to America (one of them being an English translation of Euclid's Elements). Most of America's mathematics was later heavily influenced by the Germans and the French (in the 19th century) -- in fact, today, mathematics in America is more like German mathematics than British mathematics.
With this in mind, it's hardly surprising that America lost the 's' in mathematics (with the German "Mathematik" and the French "Mathematiques" -- the latter pronounced with a silent 's').
This is all conjecture on my part -- I'm not a historian. But some people here carry on as if they think mathematics was a British invention. Given that American mathematics was more strongly influenced by the French and Germans, and more or less separate from the British, then one can argue that America has every right to use "math" instead of "maths". You want to talk about American bastardization of English, but what about English snobbery?
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What's wrong with bringing this one back to the forefront? Much of the original posters are AWOL anyway.....
Since "math" or "maths" is an abbreviation for mathematics, I don't see what the probelem is in using either. The best parallel I can draw is from "economics" where students say they are studying "econ." I have yet to meet anyone who is studying "econs"....
Since "math" or "maths" is an abbreviation for mathematics, I don't see what the probelem is in using either. The best parallel I can draw is from "economics" where students say they are studying "econ." I have yet to meet anyone who is studying "econs"....
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Let's look at it this way. How are Americans taught mathematics? They are broken down into subjects Algebra/Geometry/Trig etc... it's not taught collectively... therefore, it is not plural. If you're taking a "Math" class in America, you're probably only doing one PART of Mathematics. Hence Math, and not Maths.
I do believe that in other countries "Maths" is taught collectively, in which case the term Maths would in fact be plural and the correct term.
I do believe that in other countries "Maths" is taught collectively, in which case the term Maths would in fact be plural and the correct term.
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