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Mere days after the wise ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ealuscerwen told me that Bill Bryson is sometimes wrong and unscholarly, I've found an example myself, although it's not in the field of language/linguistics. Discussing 'mean, median, midpoint, average' etc, he correctly defines 'mean' (although, unsurprisingly, doesn't mention arithmetic and geometric ;-), but states that it means (ha ha) the same as 'average', with no further comment on the broader meaning of 'average', or that if you used them interchangeably in technical writing, you would be making a mistake.
Strangely, noticing this pleases me. I don't really think of maths as my field any more, not least because many of my friends have so much more of a claim, but something like this (even though it's something I'd know if I'd done no non-compulsory maths) reminds me that there's still a bond between me and the subject I abandoned.
The first rule of shopping, for those who find it difficult, is that you should never buy things you can't use in their current state. This rule applies double to the hopelessly disorganised, like me. I've broken it twice recently, buying too-long trousers with the intention of shortening them. Today, on returning from buying the second of these, I got out my sewing machine, and I shortened my trousers. I'm proud of me.
Finally, we've been weeding the library, and now have lots of books we don't want. Some of them we inherited, some are duplicates, some things we like but won't read again, some things we don't like, some things I'm admitting I'm never going to read... So if anything on the list below takes your fancy, leave a comment and it's yours (this includes people I don't know, if there's some way of getting the book to you). I'll give the rest to charity.
It's a bit worrying that the shelves look no less full, even though presumably they were previously holding the large piles of books which now cover the floor.
( List of books here )
ealuscerwen told me that Bill Bryson is sometimes wrong and unscholarly, I've found an example myself, although it's not in the field of language/linguistics. Discussing 'mean, median, midpoint, average' etc, he correctly defines 'mean' (although, unsurprisingly, doesn't mention arithmetic and geometric ;-), but states that it means (ha ha) the same as 'average', with no further comment on the broader meaning of 'average', or that if you used them interchangeably in technical writing, you would be making a mistake.Strangely, noticing this pleases me. I don't really think of maths as my field any more, not least because many of my friends have so much more of a claim, but something like this (even though it's something I'd know if I'd done no non-compulsory maths) reminds me that there's still a bond between me and the subject I abandoned.
The first rule of shopping, for those who find it difficult, is that you should never buy things you can't use in their current state. This rule applies double to the hopelessly disorganised, like me. I've broken it twice recently, buying too-long trousers with the intention of shortening them. Today, on returning from buying the second of these, I got out my sewing machine, and I shortened my trousers. I'm proud of me.
Finally, we've been weeding the library, and now have lots of books we don't want. Some of them we inherited, some are duplicates, some things we like but won't read again, some things we don't like, some things I'm admitting I'm never going to read... So if anything on the list below takes your fancy, leave a comment and it's yours (this includes people I don't know, if there's some way of getting the book to you). I'll give the rest to charity.
It's a bit worrying that the shelves look no less full, even though presumably they were previously holding the large piles of books which now cover the floor.
( List of books here )
