small grammar patch

[Chester R. Hosey]

On Fri, 2005-08-12 at 09:53 -0500, Marc Powell wrote:
> > Not saying it's not commonly pre-pended with "from", but that doesn't
> > make it any less questionable.
> 
> And from dictionary.com 
> 
> http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=whence
> 
> "Usage Note: The construction from whence has been criticized as
> redundant since the 18th century. It is true that whence incorporates
> the sense of from: a remote village, whence little news reached the
> wider world. But from whence has been used steadily by reputable writers
> since the 14th century, most notably in the King James Bible: "I will
> lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help" (Psalms).
> Such a respectable precedent makes it difficult to label the
> construction as incorrect. Still, it may be observed that whence (like
> thence) is most often used nowadays to impart an archaic or highly
> formal tone to a passage, and that this effect is probably better
> realized if the archaic syntax of the word without from is preserved as
> well."
> 
> All this over a tiny little word ;)

I wasn't going to do it, but what the heck.

Merriam-Webster lists "from whence" as legitimate usage, with no
notation that it might be grammatically naughty.

For something less questionable, isn't _anyone_ else annoyed that
"suppress" is missing a 'p' on the 2d status map? There's a checkbox
labeled "Supress popups" that's driving me nuts.

Chet


-------------------------------------------------------
SF.Net email is Sponsored by the Better Software Conference & EXPO
September 19-22, 2005 * San Francisco, CA * Development Lifecycle Practices
Agile & Plan-Driven Development * Managing Projects & Teams * Testing & QA
Security * Process Improvement & Measurement * http://www.sqe.com/bsce5sf