Is learning our earnest? LO20552

Bill Harris (billh@lsid.hp.com)
Tue, 2 Feb 1999 11:11:57 -0800 (PST)

Replying to LO20533 --

> Eventually I decided to use "earnest" as a noun, knowing that the phrase
> "Is learning our earnest?" would sound awkward to the ear of mother tongue
> speakers of Modern English. I hoped that the dissonance would cause
> English speakers to think about the word "earnest" and what the meaning
> which I tried to convey by it. That is why I supplemented it with

At,

Your terminology sometimes makes me uncomfortable, as I struggle to
understand what you might mean behind your unfamiliar use of English
words.

I value that! Thanks. (And yes, I also value that you are open to
suggestions for better terms.)

(You usually have a very good reason for your choice, much better than my
choice of words when I lived in a different culture and used the closest
word I knew to various concepts, often providing a great source of
hilarity to my colleagues.)

Bill

-- 
Bill Harris                                 Year 2000 Program Office
mailto: bill_harris@am.exch.hp.com          Hewlett-Packard Company
phone: (425) 335-2200                       M/S 330C
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