You mean I have to get SEVEN supplements to have the whole thing? eeek. I will get them for Christmas, then.
I wonder if ebay...?
Yes, of course there is the question of who ARE the most sophisticated users. I, personally, choose to figure my friends, who are almost all writers and editors, are the most sophisticated! It happens that all our good friends are from that world, and even the ones who are lawyers and academics also write books. With the exception of a few painters and a cartoonist and a printmaker, I think that is true. These happen to be the people we meet. And I know for a certainty that not a one would use dialogue as a verb! But you may be sure I shall do it soon, and when it provokes "DID I HEAR WHAT I THINK I DID?"s from the assembled, I shall tell them what you proved! It will be fun.
Still, I wouldn't use it unless I knew I would get to say hahahaha to them, because I have my pride!-- and to my ear it is in a category with those corporate noun-verbs, or "share" instead of tell, or "animus against" when the "animus" you mean contains the "against" within it (special to Joan!<g>, and even though <g>, I mean it!)
Here is an exact quote from a meeting in a Washington D.C. office:
Question was, Where's Sam?)
Answer was, He shared that he was going to the bathroom.
(That was just for your amusement.)
As for ranking users of the language, it is personal, of course. I agree that there are a lot of impressive and expressive and creative minds, and users of English, here. To me, Steven is, in his expression, so elegant and eloquent, and so often and apparently effortlessly, that he came to mind as a paragon. (Though I suppose I shouldn't have given him the satisfaction, what with his recent positions on various things!)
I could go along with your penultimate para, btw!
This has been fun. |
