La Superba (2008 Dec 18)

[Ed Dilgen]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html

A beautiful image indeed. I am not a scientist. I guess you could say I am an astronomy fan. However I do believe scientific language ought to be precise and correctly utilized. I was therefore jarred to see the author/editor of the text accompanying the Superba image using the term "loosing" as if loose were a verb. Clearly "losing" would have been the correct word. I see this abuse of the language too often even in our newspapers these days. It seems to me the practice began with people who simply did not know the correct spelling of lose and its variants. Perhaps I am fighting a lost cause (not loosed) and the misusage will soon become accepted. This would be the devolution of language, rather than its evolution.

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html
A beautiful image indeed.

http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/db/imag ... -print.jpg
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 7/03/full/
http://www.daviddarling.info/encycloped ... perba.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Superba

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Leporis


CW Leonis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC_%2B10216
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/irc10216.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010716.html

[Chris Peterson]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html

A beautiful image indeed. I am not a scientist. I guess you could say I am an astronomy fan. However I do believe scientific language ought to be precise and correctly utilized. I was therefore jarred to see the author/editor of the text accompanying the Superba image using the term "loosing" as if loose were a verb. Clearly "losing" would have been the correct word. I see this abuse of the language too often even in our newspapers these days. It seems to me the practice began with people who simply did not know the correct spelling of lose and its variants. Perhaps I am fighting a lost cause (not loosed) and the misusage will soon become accepted. This would be the devolution of language, rather than its evolution.

Hey, typos happen. I note that this one has already been corrected. That said, "loose" can be a verb, and there is nothing linguistically wrong with saying a star is "loosing its gases into the surroundings", although that might be a bit prosy for a scientific statement. Of course, "losing" and "loosing" mean different things, so the correct choice would depend on the intent of the author.

IMO, if "loosing" becomes synonymous with "losing", that just marks normal evolution of the language. Most of the words we use have changed in meaning over time, and were "incorrect" in their initial usage. The beauty of English, over most other languages, is its fluidity. But I can't really say I see a trend with "loosing"; it's simply one of those words that causes a bit of confusion sometimes.

[neufer]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html

A beautiful image indeed. I am not a scientist. I guess you could say I am an astronomy fan. However I do believe scientific language ought to be precise and correctly utilized. I was therefore jarred to see the author/editor of the text accompanying the Superba image using the term "loosing" as if loose were a verb. Clearly "losing" would have been the correct word. I see this abuse of the language too often even in our newspapers these days. It seems to me the practice began with people who simply did not know the correct spelling of lose and its variants. Perhaps I am fighting a lost cause (not loosed) and the misusage will soon become accepted. This would be the devolution of language, rather than its evolution.

Hey, typos happen. I note that this one has already been corrected. That said, "loose" can be a verb, and there is nothing linguistically wrong with saying a star is "loosing its gases into the surroundings", although that might be a bit prosy for a scientific statement. Of course, "losing" and "loosing" mean different things, so the correct choice would depend on the intent of the author.

IMO, if "loosing" becomes synonymous with "losing", that just marks normal evolution of the language. Most of the words we use have changed in meaning over time, and were "incorrect" in their initial usage. The beauty of English, over most other languages, is its fluidity. But I can't really say I see a trend with "loosing"; it's simply one of those words that causes a bit of confusion sometimes.

--------------------------------------------------
Lose, v. t. [OE. losien to loose, be lost, lose, AS. losian to become loose]
--------------------------------------------------
LOOSE, v.t. loos. [Gr.; Heb.]

1. To untie or unbind; to free from any fastening.

Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? Job 38.

Ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her; loose them, and bring them to me. Matt. 21.

2. To relax.

The joints of his loins were loosed. Dan. 5.

3. To release from imprisonment; to liberate; to set at liberty.

The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed. Is. 51.

4. To free from obligation.

Art thou loosed from a wife? see not a wife. 1Cor. 7.

5. To free from any thing that binds or shackles; as a man loosed from lust and pelf.

6. To relieve; to free from any thing burdensome or afflictive.

Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. Luke 42.

7. To disengage; to detach; as, to loose one''s hold.

8. To put off.

Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. Josh. 5.

9. To open.

Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? Rev. 5.

10. To remit; to absolve.

Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. Matt. 16.
--------------------------------------------------
LOOSE, v.i. To set sail; to leave a port or harbor.

Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga, in Pamphylia. Acts 42.

[bystander]

According to wiktionary, the primary definition of loose is a verb. The other definitions are derived from this meaning. The use of loosing in the APOD was in keeping with the first meaning of the verb, to free from restraint, to release.

[Wadsworth]

The language, at least its everyday use, seems to be losing (....) its beauty. That is, setting loose what it once held.
I saw the new version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing the other day on local TV and was drawn in to the beauty of the language perhaps more than the storyline or actors.

Seems like linguistic evolution is a looseding battle.

[neufer]

The language, at least its everyday use, seems to be losing (....) its beauty. That is, setting loose what it once held.
I saw the new version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing the other day on local TV and was drawn in to the beauty of the language perhaps more than the storyline or actors.

Seems like linguistic evolution is a looseding battle.

. Troilus and Cressida > Act V, scene II
.
TROILUS: Instance, O instance! strong as Pluto's gates;
. Cressid is mine, tied with the bonds of heaven:
. Instance, O instance! strong as heaven itself;
. The bonds of heaven are slipp'd, dissolved, and loosed;
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt.16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

[Chris Peterson]

The language, at least its everyday use, seems to be losing (....) its beauty. That is, setting loose what it once held.
I saw the new version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing the other day on local TV and was drawn in to the beauty of the language perhaps more than the storyline or actors.

English is vastly richer and more expressive today than it was in Shakespeare's time. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Or if you prefer the Bard, Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.

I think it is hard to hear much beauty in the common usage of one's native tongue. The content obscures the sound. But there is still much beauty in English (language) literature and poetry, where the goal is to turn a pretty phrase. I rather expect that you'd find less beauty in the vernacular (perhaps even vulgar <g>) English of Shakespeare's day than in his plays.

[neufer]

English is vastly richer and more expressive today than it was in Shakespeare's time. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. Or if you prefer the Bard, Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye.

I think it is hard to hear much beauty in the common usage of one's native tongue. The content obscures the sound. But there is still much beauty in English (language) literature and poetry, where the goal is to turn a pretty phrase. I rather expect that you'd find less beauty in the vernacular (perhaps even vulgar <g>) English of Shakespeare's day than in his plays.

----------------------------------------------------------------
<<Vogon poetry is of course the third worst in the Universe.

The very worst poetry of all perished along with its creator
Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Greenbridge, Essex, England in
the destruction of the planet Earth.

Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz smiled very slowly. This was done not so
much for effect as because he was trying to remember the sequence
of muscle movements. He had had a terribly therapeutic yell at
his prisoners and was now feeling quite relaxed and ready for a
little callousness.

The prisoners sat in Poetry Appreciation Chairs --strapped in.
Vogons suffered no illusions as to the regard their works were
generally held in. Their early attempts at composition had been
part of bludgeoning insistence that they be accepted as a
properly evolved and cultured race, but now the only thing that
kept them going was sheer bloodymindedness.

The sweat stood out cold on Ford Prefect's brow, and slid round
the electrodes strapped to his temples. These were attached to a
battery of electronic equipment - imagery intensifiers, rhythmic
modulators, alliterative residulators and simile dumpers - all
designed to heighten the experience of the poem and make sure
that not a single nuance of the poet's thought was lost.

Arthur Dent sat and quivered. He had no idea what he was in for,
but he knew that he hadn't liked anything that had happened so
far and didn't think things were likely to change.

The Vogon began to read - a fetid little passage of his own
devising.

"Oh frettled gruntbuggly ..." he began. Spasms wracked Ford's
body - this was worse than ever he'd been prepared for.

"... thy micturations are to me | As plurdled gabbleblotchits on
a lurgid bee."

"Aaaaaaarggggghhhhhh!" went Ford Prefect, wrenching his head back
as lumps of pain thumped through it. He could dimly see beside
him Arthur lolling and rolling in his seat. He clenched his
teeth.

"Groop I implore thee," continued the merciless Vogon, "my
foonting turlingdromes."

His voice was rising to a horrible pitch of impassioned
stridency. "And hooptiously drangle me with crinkly
bindlewurdles,| Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my
blurglecruncheon, see if I don't!"

"Nnnnnnnnnnyyyyyyyuuuuuuurrrrrrrggggggghhhhh!" cried Ford Prefect
and threw one final spasm as the electronic enhancement of the
last line caught him full blast across the temples. He went limp.

Arthur lolled.

"Now Earthlings ..." whirred the Vogon (he didn't know that Ford
Prefect was in fact from a small planet in the vicinity of
Betelgeuse, and wouldn't have cared if he had) "I present you
with a simple choice! Either die in the vacuum of space, or ..."
he paused for melodramatic effect, "tell me how good you thought
my poem was!"

He threw himself backwards into a huge leathery bat-shaped seat
and watched them. He did the smile again.

Ford was rasping for breath. He rolled his dusty tongue round his
parched mouth and moaned.

Arthur said brightly: "Actually I quite liked it.">>
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arthur Neuendorffer

[apodman]

let slip

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword

If you all ever get the language police to enforce standardized and correct spelling and usage, what arrrrrrgh ya' gonna do about pro-"noun"-ciation? Type the sentence "lose the s**t lest you get busted" and bring it to the nearest trailer park. Nine out of ten high school graduates will read out loud, "loose the s**t least you get busted." The great tide in the fluidity of language, alas, does not come from the refined end of the population.

---

Oh, and regarding the APOD:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081218.html

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/ ... arboni.jpg

Pictures of "interesting" deep sky objects and views with parts of the Milky Way in the background provide their own interest. Pictures entirely of stars (like this one except for one tiny patch I'm not 100% sure of) draw my interest more deeply into the picture. Same goes for live telescope views. Refer to the large picture at full size (not shrunk-to-fit). How great a range of magnitudes does the picture capture? How far into space am I looking for the dimmest stars shown? On a galactic scale, it's all pretty close, yet on an Earthly scale it is immensely deep.

[zbvhs]

I'm impressed. Nobody in all of the foregoing formed an atrociously misconstructed sentence using the word "there". When I was in engineering school my classmates complained over and over again about having to take English courses. After all, they were engineers and math was far more important. Attitudes like that are why languages "evolve".

[apodman]

... they were engineers ...

In my neck of the woods they used to say, "Yesterday I couldn't spell 'enginer' and now I are one."

That was academia. Out in the real world, things were better. The engineers refused to sharpen their pencils, regarding such matters as the domain of the artistic community - writers, illustrators, and the like. So the schematics looked like they were carved into the vellum with a 10-penny nail.

That was hardware engineering. Once software took over, things were better. The engineers didn't even have to show physical props any more to justify their time (kinda like golf vs. fishing), nor did they have to write anything down.

That was before APOD. Now things are better.

[NoelC]

Their they're, now.

Enginers hate to write documentation and so they do everything they can to impress management that they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a word processor.

Yet just watch them spell grep for "search" or throw together a 60 line sed script that works flawlessly the first time to munge a C file into Javascript...



I suppose I'm happy the language is being picked apart and not our image.

-Noel