Naked Science Forum
General Discussion & Feedback => Just Chat! => Topic started by: Eric A. Taylor on 10/11/2009 08:01:50
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This is from Dr. Chris's profile:
"Medical Degree and PhD at Cambridge University, neuroscience degree from UCL. Founder of The Naked Scientists Radio Show and website. Currently clinical lecturer in Virology at Cambridge University."
I'd like to point out that is is technically improper to call it a "show" as nothing on the radio can been seen. The Naked Scientist is a very good radio PROGRAM. It is very sad when an American needs to correct and Englishman's English but there you are.
Maybe I'm being a bit foggy here, but I have Aspergergers and these things are important to me, especially coming from an educator.
I'll share with you a funny story. My family visited friends in the Netherlands in 1986. I was 16 and due to fears of terrorism we'd all gotten European hair cuts and dressed to blend in. While traveling from Holland to England by boat (over night) I'd awoke early and had gone on deck to see if I could spot land. England was visible and I met an older lady who I spoke with who was going home after teaching English in Holland. She spoke with an extremely proper British accent. She asked me what year I was in (going into year 11) and finally commented that I spoke very good English for a lad. Finally she asked me where I was from. I told her California and she got a very confused look on her face. When she asked me where California was I taught maybe she was a bit "daft". I told her that California was on the West coast of the United States between Oregon and Mexico. She looked horrified. I think she thought I was Dutch. I wonder if her opinion on my language skills changed?
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Maybe I'm being a bit foggy here, but I have Aspergergers and these things are important to me, especially coming from an educator.
Deeply foggy. "Radio show" is common usage this side of the pond. Sorry, you'll just have to adjust to it.
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Just because it's "common usage" doesn't make it right. It's still improper. Unless maybe the BBC has done something incredible with radio. Can you guys in England see the naked scientists? Personally I don't care to see Chris naked, but I might enjoy Kat naked....
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Actually, now I come to think of it there's a studio webcam when the show's live, I imagine it's on the BBC website, but it's certainly on the website frontpage.
Happy now?
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I'm the first person to argue for the "proper" use of language, but let's face it, language is a communication tool, and it evolves. In a colloquial context, and perhaps in some academic/professional contexts, the "common usage" really is the correct usage. Words are just sounds and symbols that humans arbitrarily attribute meaning to.
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There's a radio show ?
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The Oxford English Dictionary includes (as a colloquialism) any performance as a "show".
It is, therefore, correct English usage.
Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language gives "A public presentation of entertainment eg a play or radio program" among the definitions.
Many people would take this as evidence that it's correct American as well.
What evidence is there that "is is technically improper to call it a "show" as nothing on the radio can been seen"
Incidentally radio programme but computer program if you want to be really foggy.
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It is very sad when an American needs to correct and Englishman's English but there you are.
I've only just seen this, but - once again (see bold above) - Eric's not quite got the art of engage brain before opening metaphorical mouth.
Just in case you're wondering, Eric, you should have written "correct an Englishman's..."
You really haven't mastered the art of the pick-up have you?
There's an old saying about people who live in glass houses and throwing stones...I can't quite remember it though. Funny that.
Chris
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a gam of samantics
the meening of meening
to be constatly corected
can oftern be displeeasing
speeling as oftern bean my week point.
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Right, here's a spelling test for you all.
I want you to spell 'Antidisestablishmentarianism'. (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fbestsmileys.com%2Fdoh%2F2.gif&hash=fef6931e562a6dc5fd0fd29a97202c70)
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... The Naked Scientist is a very good radio PROGRAM. It is very sad when an American needs to correct and Englishman's English but there you are...
*puts pedant cap on*
In the Queen's English, the correct word is programme, not program. A program is a set of instructions for a computer...
(Subtle, I admit)
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Oh, yes, I missed that other mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
Chris
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... The Naked Scientist is a very good radio PROGRAM. It is very sad when an American needs to correct and Englishman's English but there you are...
*puts pedant cap on*
In the Queen's English, the correct word is programme, not program. A program is a set of instructions for a computer...
(Subtle, I admit)
Well, in that case, the Queen needs to go back to school. There is no difference between a Programme and a Program. I always Programme my computer. The use of Progam is merely an Americanism that somehow crept into UKspeak.
....and, while we're at it, since when did a "k" start to mean 1000. Obviously, a "k" as in "kilobyte" means 1024. So, the next time your boss gives you raise of one k, ask him what he did with the other 24 quid.
.....and, while I'm up on my high horse, since when did a "byte" come to mean eight bits? A byte can be any subdivision of a "word". I used to programme a computer that had four five bit bytes in a twenty bit word! Sheesh....
Right Honourable Geezer.
Founder Member "Society for preservation of English like wot she ought to be spoke"
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... The Naked Scientist is a very good radio PROGRAM. It is very sad when an American needs to correct and Englishman's English but there you are...
*puts pedant cap on*
In the Queen's English, the correct word is programme, not program. A program is a set of instructions for a computer...
(Subtle, I admit)
Thanks for pointing that out (about 3 weeks after I did).
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k as in kilo or kilowatt is 1000 - that's where people get the k suffix
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k as in kilo or kilowatt is 1000 - that's where people get the k suffix
You could be right, but I seem to remember the "k" word was first bandied about by computer Johnnies in the context of memory size in the UK, even before the UK decimalized its currency. Thereafter it became common parlance for 1000. Either way, "k" is slightly ambiguous. It might have been better if we had landed on a better term than "kilobyte".
To confuse things even more, DEC actually described their computers as having 65k memories because 64k is 65,536 decimal! I suspect it was a marketing guy that came up with that one, but I can't prove it.
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The prefix "K" means thousand except in compurerspeak where they can't count. They often start counting at zero and they don't realise they have reached 1000 untill they have missed it by about a couple of dozen.
It's part of this lot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Si_prefixes
And, while we are at it, while Geezer might programme his computer, the OED wouldn't, they program theirs.
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Not to be overly pedantic BC, but should that not be "k"? Mind you, it would be a bit more consistent if it was "K". I see there are proposals to change it to "K".
BTW, the reason computer types have so much difficulty counting is because they don't count on their fingers. I think they use their head or something instead.
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There's an old saying about people who live in glass houses and throwing stones...I can't quite remember it though. Funny that.
People who live in glass house should not throw stones at others
Did omid get it right? [:-\]
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you sure did omid