[TheForge] Auto darkening helmet

[Andrew Vida]

xlch58 at swbell.net wrote:
> On 6/3/2011 12:39 PM, peter fels wrote:
>> While technically the distinction matters,
>> if you know what the speaker meant...
>> the difference is like picking fly dung out of pepper.
> I remember years ago (30) taking the postal exam.  There was a whole 
> section where there was a series of questions that gave directions using 
> common misapplications of the English language.   Your available 
> responses ranged from near random to appropriate to the speakers actual 
> request or appropriate to the speakers actual intent.   Of course being 
> a know it all English major at the time, I answered appropriate to the 
> speakers actual request.   My buddy went the other way.   He outscored 
> me and is still working for the Postal service.

Seems you got the better end of the deal.

I am a firm believer in the value and significance of language. 
Language is the single most important thing we ever learn, bar none. 
Nothing else even comes close, because without it our world could not 
exist.  Short of walking, breathing, sleeping, crapping, and screwing, 
there is very little that we are able to do without language and the 
conceptual frameworks that it provides.

Abuse of language is one of the most seriously egregious habits we 
develop.  It is the cause of all manner of problems, the list of which 
is too long to contemplate.