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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004twins and triplets
I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough playfulness to keep an older person entertained. Ecch! How revolting! I just described myself as an older person! A portent of thing to come? I read somewhere that middle age is when you stop complaining about older people and start complaining about young people. I'll have to stop that. Anyhow ... in the book, the "Quagmire triplets" are Isadora and Duncan. They resent being called twins because doing so disappears their brother, who lost his life unfortunately in a fire some time before the main characters met them. So, are they triplets or twins? cheers Chrissy > I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > Chrissy Triplets. The Dionne quintuplets, after all, remained the Dionne quintuplets (sometimes referred to as the "surviving Dionne quintuplets") even after one of them died in 1954.  SignatureRaymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com In alt.english.usage on Tue, 30 Dec 2003 04:15:07 -0600 "Raymond S. Wise" <illinoisNOSPAM@mninter.net> posted: >> I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next >> door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >(sometimes referred to as the "surviving Dionne quintuplets") even after one >of them died in 1954. Sadly, the press stupidly renamed the Conspiracy 8 into the Conspiracy 7, just because Bobby Seale's trial was held separately. He was still charged with conspiring with the other 7. s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years > Sadly, the press stupidly renamed the Conspiracy 8 into the > Conspiracy 7, just because Bobby Seale's trial was held separately. > He was still charged with conspiring with the other 7. I don't think I've ever heard them called the "Conspiracy 7/8". Google shows 408 "Bobby Seale" "Chicago Seven" 415 "Bobby Seale" "Chicago Eight" 252 "Bobby Seale" "Chicago 8" 216 "Bobby Seale" "Chicago 7" 2 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy 8" 1 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy Seven" 0 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy Eight" 0 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy 7" [one spurious] SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |I like giving talks to industry, 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |because one of the things that I've Palo Alto, CA 94304 |found is that you really can't |learn anything at the Harvard kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com |Business School. (650)857-7572 | Clayton Christensen | Harvard Business School http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ In alt.english.usage on 30 Dec 2003 11:16:45 -0800 Evan Kirshenbaum <kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com> posted: >> Sadly, the press stupidly renamed the Conspiracy 8 into the >> Conspiracy 7, just because Bobby Seale's trial was held separately. >> He was still charged with conspiring with the other 7. > >I don't think I've ever heard them called the "Conspiracy 7/8". Still sounds familiar to me, but maybe you're right. ;) Please replace the word Conspiracy in what I said, and replace it with Chicago. It was stupid of the press to try to rename the 8 as 7. >Google shows > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > 0 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy Eight" > 0 "Bobby Seale" "Conspiracy 7" [one spurious] s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years In our last episode, <f8f1b420.0312300154.333b6f00@posting.google.com>, the lovely and talented chrissy broadcast on alt.usage.english: > Anyhow ... in the book, the "Quagmire triplets" are Isadora and > Duncan. They resent being called twins because doing so disappears > their brother, who lost his life unfortunately in a fire some time > before the main characters met them. > So, are they triplets or twins? Isn't it rather the point that it is a paradox? Each is a triplet, forever and always, but more than that I will not say. SignatureLars Eighner -finger for geek code- eighner@io.com http://www.io.com/~eighner/ I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure--which is: Try to please everybody. --Herbert B. Swope > > Anyhow ... in the book, the "Quagmire triplets" are Isadora and > > Duncan. They resent being called twins because doing so disappears > > their brother, who lost his life unfortunately in a fire ... > Isn't it rather the point that it is a paradox? Er... no. SignatureMark Brader | "But [he] had already established his own reputation Toronto | as someone who wrote poetry that mentioned the el." msb@vex.net | --Al Kriman > I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > So, are they triplets or twins? From a usage point of view, I think it is the tripleness of the birth that defines "tripletness" and death doesn't change this. I had a school friend who had younger siblings - two girls and a boy - who were triplets. Sadly, the brother died when they were about nine years old. Thereafter the two girls described themeselves as triplets but I don't know whether they continued to do so as adults. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) > I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > So, are they triplets or twins? Triplets. Everything from twins to gazilliontuplets is defined by circumstances of birth. Elvis always properly referred to Jesse as his twin. A cousin of my wife's had that unfortunate experience when she was a teenager of having a surgeon discover the remains of an unborn twin inside her. So she had been a twin for 16 years without knowing it. -- John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply In alt.english.usage on 30 Dec 2003 01:54:00 -0800 chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com (chrissy) posted: >I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next >door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough >playfulness to keep an older person entertained. Ecch! How revolting! >I just described myself as an older person! Well you're older than your child, aren't you? Science has come a long way, but I don't think it's going to be able to change that. > A portent of thing to >come? I read somewhere that middle age is when you stop complaining [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >So, are they triplets or twins? triplets >cheers > >Chrissy s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years > In alt.english.usage on 30 Dec 2003 01:54:00 -0800 > chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com (chrissy) posted: [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Well you're older than your child, aren't you? Science has come a > long way, but I don't think it's going to be able to change that. That a person of your undoubted insights can infer from the phrase "older person" that I am either the child's parent, or old enough to be so lay at the heart of my reservations about using the phrase. I am older than him of course, by nine years. cheers Chrissy In alt.english.usage on 31 Dec 2003 23:36:31 -0800 chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com (chrissy) posted: >> In alt.english.usage on 30 Dec 2003 01:54:00 -0800 >> chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com (chrissy) posted: [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >be so lay at the heart of my reservations about using the phrase. I am >older than him of course, by nine years. Oh, it says the "child next door." Didn't notice that. >cheers > >Chrissy s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years In alt.usage.english chrissy <chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com> wrote: > I read somewhere that middle age is when you stop complaining > about older people and start complaining about young people. I'll have > to stop that. Old age is when you're afraid to go to sleep for fear you won't wake up. "tomcatpolka" typed: >> I read somewhere that middle age is when you stop complaining about >> older people and start complaining about young people. I'll have to >> stop that. > > Old age is when you're afraid to go to sleep for fear you won't wake > up. And I thought old age was when you can't sleep without taking sleeping pills. SignatureAyaz Ahmed Khan Yours Forever in, Cyberspace. http://adic.netfirms.com/fastce/home.html Old age is, according to the lyrics in a Tom Waits song, when everybody you know is either dead or dying. Happy New Year Hank > "tomcatpolka" typed: > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > And I thought old age was when you can't sleep without taking sleeping > pills. >I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next >door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >about older people and start complaining about young people. I'll have >to stop that. Chrissy, you will know that you're an older person when you find that you cannot distinguish young people from middle-aged people just by looking at them. Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin 'juvenile but not delinquent' Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England In alt.english.usage on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:48:26 +0000 Dr Robin Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com> posted: >>I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next >>door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >cannot distinguish young people from middle-aged people just by looking at >them. I guess that makes sense. I can't tell a 15 year-old girl from a 30-year old, if I ever could. s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response. Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 20 years > In alt.english.usage on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:48:26 +0000 Dr Robin > Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com> posted: [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > I guess that makes sense. I can't tell a 15 year-old girl from a > 30-year old, if I ever could. Can you tell the word 'jailbait' from the word 'relationship'? -- John Dean Oxford De-frag to reply >> In alt.english.usage on Wed, 31 Dec 2003 00:48:26 +0000 Dr Robin >> Bignall <docrobin@ntlworld.com> posted: [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >Can you tell the word 'jailbait' from the word 'relationship'? I'm 64, so simple arithmetic tells me that four girls of 16 (or two women of 32) would seem to be an interesting relationship. IMD! Signaturewrmst rgrds Robin Bignall Quiet part of Hertfordshire England chrissy_brady1@yahoo.com spake thus: > I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > So, are they triplets or twins? This is almost exactly the position of my mother. She was born the oldest of triplets, but one of the three girls died within a few hours. In public, we refer to Mum and her sister as twins, but in the family we know they are triplets. Come to think of it, when I organised their 70th birthday party, they were referred to as twins. Mum calls her sister her "twin". But of course, they never knew the one who died. SignatureDavid ===== > I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just enough [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > So, are they triplets or twins? Dunno, but from my point of view, 'disappear' is intransitive. -- Mark Wallace ----------------------------------------------------- For the intelligent approach to nasty humour, visit: The Anglo-American Humour (humor) Site http://earth.prohosting.com/mwal/ ----------------------------------------------------- >> I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next >> door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Dunno, but from my point of view, 'disappear' is intransitive. Broaden your horizons, then. It is not a common usage, though, I'll grant you. MWCD10: Main Entry: dis·ap·pear Pronunciation: "di-s&-'pir Function: verb Date: 15th century intransitive senses 1 : to pass from view 2 : to cease to be : pass out of existence or notice transitive senses : to cause the disappearance of - dis·ap·pear·ance /-'pir-&n(t)s/ noun SignatureSkitt (in Hayward, California) www.geocities.com/opus731/ > >> I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child next > >> door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old -- just [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Broaden your horizons, then. It is not a common usage, though, I'll grant > you. It's USish only. -- Mark Wallace ----------------------------------------------------- For the intelligent approach to nasty humour, visit: The Anglo-American Humour (humor) Site http://earth.prohosting.com/mwal/ ----------------------------------------------------- "Mark Wallace" <mwallace@dse.nl> wrote on 01 Jan 2004: >> >> I'm continuing to read the Lemony Snicket series to the child >> >> next door. It's not a bad book series to read a ten-year-old [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] >> Broaden your horizons, then. It is not a common usage, though, >> I'll grant you. But the OED2 recognizes it: 3. trans. To cause to disappear. 1897 Chem. News 19 Mar. 143 We progressively disappear the faces of the dodecahedron. 1949 Amer. Speech XXIV. 41 The magician may speak of disappearing or vanishing a card. so that means it's international and can be used, by those who choose to do so, in BrE as well. SignatureFranke: EFL teacher & medical editor. |
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