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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
Usage
Interrogative-ordinal sighting
Threads in this newsgroup have occasionally lamented the fact that standard English does not allow us to ask "Whatth birthday are you celebrating?" or "Whichth president of the U.S. is George W. Bush?". I am happy to see in George Orwells complete works that he tackled this problem in a letter so early as 1935:
I was also reading for the I don't know how many-th time, Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" and "La Maison Tellier."
I suspect Fowler, whom he happens to mention in the same letter, would have made that "the I-don't-know-how-manieth time".
Joe Fineman joe (Email Removed)
I was also reading for the I don't know how many-th time, Maupassant's "Boule de Suif" and "La Maison Tellier."
I suspect Fowler, whom he happens to mention in the same letter, would have made that "the I-don't-know-how-manieth time".
Joe Fineman joe (Email Removed)
Top answer
[nq:1]Threads in this newsgroup have occasionally lamented the fact that standard English does not allow us to ask "Whatth birthday ... [/nq] No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.
- [nq:1]Threads in this newsgroup have occasionally lamented the fact that standard English does not allow us to ask "Whatth birthday ...
- [/nq] No!
- English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.
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5 Answers
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[nq:1]Threads in this newsgroup have occasionally lamented the fact that standard English does not allow us to ask "Whatth birthday ... Tellier." I suspect Fowler, whom he happens to mention in the same letter, would have made that "the I-don't-know-how-manieth time".[/nq]
No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.
No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.
00
[nq:1]No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye[/nq]
Or, equivalently, before Sparky was an oar in his daddy's well.
Steny '08!
Or, equivalently, before Sparky was an oar in his daddy's well.
Steny '08!
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[nq:2]Threads in this newsgroup have occasionally lamented the fact that ... the same letter, would have made that "the I-don't-know-how-manieth time".[/nq]
[nq:1]No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.[/nq]
How is that interrogative?
john
[nq:1]No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.[/nq]
How is that interrogative?
john
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[nq:2]No! English has a word used long before Orwell was a spark in his daddy's eye umpteenth.[/nq]
[nq:1]How is that interrogative?[/nq]
It is not by itself, and neither is many-th. I suspect that Joe Fineman's Fowler passage reflects an unease with the Orwellianism.
"Umpteenth", used bare, in a sentence like Orwell's would imply questioning of number without having to invoke any
[nq:1]How is that interrogative?[/nq]
It is not by itself, and neither is many-th. I suspect that Joe Fineman's Fowler passage reflects an unease with the Orwellianism.
"Umpteenth", used bare, in a sentence like Orwell's would imply questioning of number without having to invoke any
00
[nq:2]How is that interrogative?[/nq]
[nq:1]It is not by itself, and neither is many-th. I suspect that Joe Fineman's Fowler passage reflects an unease with the Orwellianism.[/nq]
Well there is the unease of not being sure what the -th has been added to. I was imagining at first that it belonged to "how many", which introduces a substantive clause made from the interrogative "how many...?"
[nq:1]It is not by itself, and neither is many-th. I suspect that Joe Fineman's Fowler passage reflects an unease with the Orwellianism.[/nq]
Well there is the unease of not being sure what the -th has been added to. I was imagining at first that it belonged to "how many", which introduces a substantive clause made from the interrogative "how many...?"
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