I need a dictionary
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I came across this in MSDN: "To get the genitive form of the month name...". Genitive? WTF? Is this something to do with gender? Or maybe an NT-specific kind of month name I had not heard of? I had to look it up - all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that? Well, I learned a new word.
Best wishes, Hans
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I came across this in MSDN: "To get the genitive form of the month name...". Genitive? WTF? Is this something to do with gender? Or maybe an NT-specific kind of month name I had not heard of? I had to look it up - all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that? Well, I learned a new word.
Best wishes, Hans
[CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]
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I came across this in MSDN: "To get the genitive form of the month name...". Genitive? WTF? Is this something to do with gender? Or maybe an NT-specific kind of month name I had not heard of? I had to look it up - all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that? Well, I learned a new word.
Best wishes, Hans
[CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]
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I came across this in MSDN: "To get the genitive form of the month name...". Genitive? WTF? Is this something to do with gender? Or maybe an NT-specific kind of month name I had not heard of? I had to look it up - all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that? Well, I learned a new word.
Best wishes, Hans
[CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]
Genitive (oh how I remember my Latin Lessons!) is a possessive case. It does not exist in English, as we use an apostrophe as a metaphor for the case. (In Latin, for example, the word will undergo a morphological construct, in other languages there will be declension.) Why MSDN would use this term is beyond me, except that someone is trying to portray themselves as cleverer than they actually are. Unless the underlying basis of computer programming is Latin? (Actually, not far off the truth, the rigid construccts and rules of grammar are closer to Latin than English!). EG: Genitive : The Man's ( The Man's Hat) Nominitive : The Man (He is The Man) Dative : To the Man (I gave the Hat To The Man) Accusitive : The Man (I saw The Man) Ablative : From/Of/With etc The Man (The Hat is Smaller than The Man) Latin is great, more should learn it, that would stop morons misusing it!
------------------------------------ "May I introduce Blon Fel-Fotch Pasermeer-Day Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, known by her friends as Margaret" The Doctor
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I came across this in MSDN: "To get the genitive form of the month name...". Genitive? WTF? Is this something to do with gender? Or maybe an NT-specific kind of month name I had not heard of? I had to look it up - all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that? Well, I learned a new word.
Best wishes, Hans
[CodeProject Forum Guidelines] [How To Ask A Question] [My Articles]
Hans Dietrich wrote:
all it really means is possessive. Why not just say that?
Because "Genitive" has a very precise meaning, and is actually the appropriate word in that case (pun intended), even if some people don't know what it means. As a computer specialist, you probably use words like "DHCP lease", "preemptive multitasking", "packet switching" that most users don't understand; you would probably not want to use another, less appropriate word instead...
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. http://streambolics.flimbase.com S. L.
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Genitive (oh how I remember my Latin Lessons!) is a possessive case. It does not exist in English, as we use an apostrophe as a metaphor for the case. (In Latin, for example, the word will undergo a morphological construct, in other languages there will be declension.) Why MSDN would use this term is beyond me, except that someone is trying to portray themselves as cleverer than they actually are. Unless the underlying basis of computer programming is Latin? (Actually, not far off the truth, the rigid construccts and rules of grammar are closer to Latin than English!). EG: Genitive : The Man's ( The Man's Hat) Nominitive : The Man (He is The Man) Dative : To the Man (I gave the Hat To The Man) Accusitive : The Man (I saw The Man) Ablative : From/Of/With etc The Man (The Hat is Smaller than The Man) Latin is great, more should learn it, that would stop morons misusing it!
------------------------------------ "May I introduce Blon Fel-Fotch Pasermeer-Day Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, known by her friends as Margaret" The Doctor
"Genitive" is useful for people writing in German (and many other germanic languages,) Russian (and many other slavic languages.) Sorry for all those I forgot to mention. Oh, by the way, "4th of july" is actually the genitive form :-)
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. http://streambolics.flimbase.com S. L.
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"Genitive" is useful for people writing in German (and many other germanic languages,) Russian (and many other slavic languages.) Sorry for all those I forgot to mention. Oh, by the way, "4th of july" is actually the genitive form :-)
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. http://streambolics.flimbase.com S. L.
Capital J surely? Also, it is in this case July that is the Genitive, although I would wonder, as Fourth is an Adjective, not a Noun possibly? I need to think about this!
------------------------------------ "May I introduce Blon Fel-Fotch Pasermeer-Day Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, known by her friends as Margaret" The Doctor
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Capital J surely? Also, it is in this case July that is the Genitive, although I would wonder, as Fourth is an Adjective, not a Noun possibly? I need to think about this!
------------------------------------ "May I introduce Blon Fel-Fotch Pasermeer-Day Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, known by her friends as Margaret" The Doctor
Dalek Dave wrote:
Capital J surely?
Ooops ! Indeed ! Sorry, English being only my third language, I sometimes make silly mistakes like forgetting to use uppercase for capitals where appropriate, and misplace punctuation marks. You may have seen the space before the exclamation marks, which is a sign that I usually try to stick to French typography rules. Don't mention the mistakes I make in Klingon (which is actually a language that I don't speak, but in which, I suspect, the genitive is strongly enforced due to its 'possessive' nature.)
Dalek Dave wrote:
Also, it is in this case July that is the Genitive, although I would wonder, as Fourth is an Adjective, not a Noun possibly?
Let's assume for a few microfortnights that "4th of July" is the short form for "The fourth day belonging to the month named July itself belonging to either an unspecified year, or all years when the appropriate calendar was in use and when it actually mattered that it was that particular day, maybe because the streets were closed to traffic due to some celebration." In that case the noun would be "day". I imagine however that for some unspecified reason, most people prefer the short form, especially when they are born on that day. However, seeing the quote in your signature, is it safe to infer that you are either unaffected by the celebrations taking place on the day we just mentioned, or sad that your country lost a colony populated by people who chose Cardiff to sail to the New World ? [please insert here any sign that would indicate that everything I said was meant to entertain you]
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. http://streambolics.flimbase.com S. L.
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Dalek Dave wrote:
Capital J surely?
Ooops ! Indeed ! Sorry, English being only my third language, I sometimes make silly mistakes like forgetting to use uppercase for capitals where appropriate, and misplace punctuation marks. You may have seen the space before the exclamation marks, which is a sign that I usually try to stick to French typography rules. Don't mention the mistakes I make in Klingon (which is actually a language that I don't speak, but in which, I suspect, the genitive is strongly enforced due to its 'possessive' nature.)
Dalek Dave wrote:
Also, it is in this case July that is the Genitive, although I would wonder, as Fourth is an Adjective, not a Noun possibly?
Let's assume for a few microfortnights that "4th of July" is the short form for "The fourth day belonging to the month named July itself belonging to either an unspecified year, or all years when the appropriate calendar was in use and when it actually mattered that it was that particular day, maybe because the streets were closed to traffic due to some celebration." In that case the noun would be "day". I imagine however that for some unspecified reason, most people prefer the short form, especially when they are born on that day. However, seeing the quote in your signature, is it safe to infer that you are either unaffected by the celebrations taking place on the day we just mentioned, or sad that your country lost a colony populated by people who chose Cardiff to sail to the New World ? [please insert here any sign that would indicate that everything I said was meant to entertain you]
-- Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur. http://streambolics.flimbase.com S. L.
WilliamSauron wrote:
is it safe to infer that you are either unaffected by the celebrations taking place on the day we just mentioned, or sad that your country lost a colony populated by people who chose Cardiff to sail to the New World ?
Unaffected? Most Definitely! Lost a colony? No way, we managed to convince all the Mad and Impoverished to bugger off! :) The US is this nation's recalcitrant teenage son, but they will learn! Oh look, they too now crave an Empire like Mummy had!
------------------------------------ "May I introduce Blon Fel-Fotch Pasermeer-Day Slitheen from the planet Raxacoricofallapatorious, known by her friends as Margaret" The Doctor