David Crystal: Just a Phrase I'm Going Through

nickel

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Staff member
Πριν έρθει η ώρα να απολαύσω το βιβλίο, απόλαυσα την παρουσίασή του, στην εφημερίδα Times από τον Henry Hitching (ευχαριστώ, Αλέξανδρε):

David Crystal, language geek
Linguistic memoirs – with a whiff of anorak

Από την αυτοβιογραφία του Κρίσταλ:
The author’s generous, slightly puckish manner is audible in the anecdotes that appear throughout this volume. While working on the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk, he took a telephone call from someone who claimed to work at a smart London shoe shop. The caller wished to order some adjectives for a new batch of marketing material. Assuming he was on the receiving end of an academic wind-up, Crystal proposed selling him three dozen adjectives at threepence a go, along with two dozen each of nouns, verbs and adverbs – the verbs at a stiff ninepence apiece. Two days later, the order was confirmed by post. After a selection had with some sheepishness been put together and dispatched, a cheque for £2 followed.

Από το βιβλίο (μπορείτε να διαβάσετε μερικές σελίδες στο Amazon):

Being a linguist
[…]
It's not as if it’s the most obvious label for a way of earning a living, after all. Indeed, it’s a succulent irony that the very nature of the profession which has come to be known as ‘the science of language’ is itself ambiguous.
‘What do you do?’
‘I’m a linguist.’
‘Ah. And how many languages do you speak?’
‘Do you mean really fluently?’
‘Of course.’
‘Just one.’
‘But you said you were a linguist!’​

Και μια κλασική (πιο κλασική δεν γίνεται) παρατήρηση του Χίτσινγκ:
When it comes to staking out his legacy, the author is predictably modest. He mentions “Crystal’s Law”, which sounds as though it should be a distillation of his many discernments, yet is actually this: “when you randomly open a new book or journal, you will immediately see an uncorrected typo”. Not exactly a maxim to grace a portico. But it is borne out here: casually opening Crystal’s own book, I come across the question “Was Beethoven handicapped by deadness?”.
;)
 

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Zazula

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“when you randomly open a new book or journal, you will immediately see an uncorrected typo”
Ο Νόμος τού Κρίσταλ είναι όντως το αντίστοιχο του Νόμου τού Μέρφι για τον έντυπο λόγο. :)
 
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