Re: White Coat Day

Al in Dallas <alfargnoli@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:38:03 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

blmblm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
In article <468007ec$0$16347$88260bb3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Mike Lyle <mike_lyle_uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Skitt wrote:
Mike Lyle wrote:
J. J. Lodder wrote:
<blmblm@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
[...]
your posts appear to be a kind of free verse -- but
I'm really curious about whether this is deliberate on your part,
or an artifact of your newsreader [...]

It's not an artifact.
[...]

Others should see the same,

Funny,
how "artefact"
has changed not only its meaning
but even
its spelling.

[ snip ]

*Artefact* is
a chiefly British variant
of *artifact*,
says M-W Online.

"Artefact" is a slightly strange truncation, I suppose; but
truncating it _and_ swapping in the dative instead of the ablative
makes "artifact" even odder. But the shift in meaning is more
interesting.


What shift in meaning is that? the one from "product of human
activity" to "product of [something else, such as a newsreader in
this example]"?

Yes: the difference between an intended product and an accidental one is
radical. Not quite one of our treasured autoantitheses, but close.

You remind me that someone in AUE once quoted someone from medieval
times as having said "awful and artificial." The poster went on to
state that, at the time, it was high praise. It meant something like
awe-inspiring and well designed. Meanings do seem to wander over the
centuries.

They had artificers for that, in the olden days,

Jan

--
There is one art, no more, nor less:
to do all things with artlessness.
(Piet Hein)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: White Coat Day
    ... or an artifact of your newsreader ... It's not an artifact. ... But the shift in meaning is more interesting. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: White Coat Day
    ... or an artifact of your newsreader ... It's not an artifact. ... But the shift in meaning is more ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: White Coat Day
    ... or an artifact of your newsreader ... It's not an artifact. ... But the shift in meaning is more ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: answer to Lloyd and Dylan. - definition artifact/artefact
    ... Artifact definition found here: ... These technical vocabularies often become a short hand ... to cover all usages of all words from the widest range of sources. ... that the technical scientific 'shorthand' meaning which is ascribed to ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: White Coat Day
    ... It's not an artifact. ... how "artefact" ... "Artefact" is a slightly strange truncation, ... But the shift in meaning is more interesting. ...
    (alt.usage.english)