Have A Stab...

[JohnW2]

Sadly making mistakes is a fact of life and many making the same mistake will eventually cause that mistake to become correct or fact. That is the beast called progress.

True, but the question here (as with so many discussions with EFLI) is what actually qualifies as a 'mistake - and, then, whether 'mistakes' are always undesirable.

Let's face it, without 'mistakes' none of us (and probably no form of life) would exist, since Darwinian Evolution is totally dependent upon 'mistakes'.

 

[SUNRAY]

They did but, as I've just written, the main difference is whether or not the materials were man-made, given that natural 'rubber' is, I think, primarily polyisoprene ( unlike PVC, a true "hydrocarbon polymer").

Im comfortable with the 'rubber' being either natural or manmade, My theory being natural dries out and disintegrates into a dust but manmade goes soft and/or sticky.

I may be completely wrong as I have never looked into rubber production and manufacturing.

 

[JohnW2]

Does the same apply to your work?

That can certainly happen in many walks of life - a good few things (some of them pretty important things0 have been 'invented' or 'discovered' as the result of mistakes.

 

[JohnW2]

Im comfortable with the 'rubber' being either natural or manmade,

I wasn't really making any comparison between naturally-occurring and man-made rubbers. I was merely pointing out that rubbers (whether natural or man-made) are just as much polymers (and, generally, polymers of hydrocarbons) as are the polymers we have come to call "plastics".

My theory being natural dries out and disintegrates into a dust but manmade goes soft and/or sticky.

I think that is fact, rather than theory. Synthetic rubbers (like 'silicone rubber') have been specifically designed to not have some of the shortcomings of natural ones (particularly the deterioration over time). I don''t know,,but imagine that we probably still call them "rubbers" because when they started being synthesised, the 'modern' use of the word "plastic" had not become established.

 

[SUNRAY]

Sadly making mistakes is a fact of life and many making the same mistake will eventually cause that mistake to become correct or fact. That is the beast called progress.

Does the same apply to your work?

Well I'm human... so to misquote Pope yes I err... make mistakes, hopefully I find those before others, not as to hide my mistakes but to prevent others being put out by them. When I overheard one of my employers talking with a competitior about finding good workers I felt rather proud when he mentioned me and included: "... not the quickest but doesn't have to come back..."

However as John has already mentioned; I, like many others have leant things as I have blundered my way through life and an amount of that has very likely involved mistakes.

 

[JohnW2]

However as John has already mentioned; I, like many others have leant things as I have blundered my way through life and an amount of that has very likely involved mistakes.

Quite so - as I wrote, in many fields things have been invented/discovered as a result of 'mistakes'. There are a good few culinary examples. The discovery of penicillin was really due to 'a mistake' (allowing a bacterial culture plate to become contaminated by fungi spores) etc. etc. etc.

Probably more to the point, as I also wrote, biological evolution is totally dependent upon 'mistakes'!

 

[EFLImpudence]

You do, but that doesn't help me to understand whether you feel that (as happened "in the past") the word "plastic" coming to be used to refer to certain types of polymer was "incorrect".

Have you not just written that it was?

If that is your view, what do you feel should have happened - do you perhaps feel that some brand-new word should have been invented to refer to these materials, or what?

People should have been corrected - but obviously it is too late now.

I fail to see why you do not understand - or maybe that is the problem.

Never assume that those in charge know what they are doing.

 

[securespark]

I thought we were talking about PVC and Polyethylene?

 

[JohnW2]

Have you not just written that it was?

Not really. I merely pointed out that a word that had previously been used as an adjective subsequently became also used as a noun to refer to particular types of new material. Whether that was 'a mistake' is essentially a subjective question.

There is plenty of precedent for words having different meanings in different contexts, or when used in different ways (e.g. as an adjective or a vowel), or for words to require additional meanings with the passage of time. Words like "switch", "cable", "lamp", "plug", "socket", "terminal", "fuse", "conduit" etc. etc. all had meanings long before anyone had heard of electriocity - so it it a 'mistake', or 'incorrect', that we use such words in an electrical context?

People should have been corrected - but obviously it is too late now.

One can only correct 'mistakes'/'errors'- and, as above, whether a change ualifies as 'a mistake' is largely a subjective question.

I fail to see why you do not understand - or maybe that is the problem. ... Never assume that those in charge know what they are doing.

Well, I'm certainly not 'in charge' of anything. I obviously understand all of what you say, but don't necessarily agree with it.

What I also understand is that you appear to exercise what I can but describe as 'intellectual arrogance', by seemingly assuming that there was something magic about the point in time at which you learned ('correct') English. You seem to feel that the language you were then taught back then was 'correct', and any subsequent changes 'incorrect', despite the fact that your parents, and all their predecessors, undoubtedly thought that some of the things you were taught were 'incorrect' (in relation to what was regarded as 'correct' when they had learned the language).

 

[JohnW2]

I thought we were talking about PVC and Polyethylene?

We were. but EFLI likes to bring his views about "words" into many things!

 

[EFLImpudence]

Not really. I merely pointed out that a word that had previously been used as an adjective subsequently became also used as a noun to refer to particular types of new material. Whether that was 'a mistake' is essentially a subjective question.

There is plenty of precedent for words having different meanings in different contexts, or when used in different ways (e.g. as an adjective or a vowel), or for words to require additional meanings with the passage of time. Words like "switch", "cable", "lamp", "plug", "socket", "terminal", "fuse", "conduit" etc. etc. all had meanings long before anyone had heard of electriocity - so it it a 'mistake', or 'incorrect', that we use such words in an electrical context?

One can only correct 'mistakes'/'errors'- and, as above, whether a change ualifies as 'a mistake' is largely a subjective question.

Well, I'm certainly not 'in charge' of anything. I obviously understand all of what you say, but don't necessarily agree with it.

What I also understand is that you appear to exercise what I can but describe as 'intellectual arrogance', by seemingly assuming that there was something magic about the point in time at which you learned ('correct') English. You seem to feel that the language you were then taught back then was 'correct', and any subsequent changes 'incorrect', despite the fact that your parents, and all their predecessors, undoubtedly thought that some of the things you were taught were 'incorrect' (in relation to what was regarded as 'correct' when they had learned the language).

Good grief, John.

 

[EFLImpudence]

We were. but EFLI likes to bring his views about "words" into many things!

You started it today.

 

[JohnW2]

Good grief, John.

If you disagree with what I wrote, you would have to be more specific before I would be able to comment.

 

[JohnW2]

You started it today.

I merely observed (I imagine correctly) that you might well regard the use of a previous verb as a noun to refer to newly invented materials as being 'incorrect'.

 

[pete01]

OMG