Timeline for Why doesn't "The Screwtape Letters" have the Saxon genitive in its title?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
23 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 28, 2023 at 15:30 | comment | added | Lambie | @TimPederick That's fine. I was nudging the thing as his contradiction of what I said seemed a bit specious to me. (The tapes comment). It still works the same way for an entire litany of terms. In answering, you can't always hit every single little thing: I was concentrating on "The x's of y" versus "The Y Xs" | |
| Dec 28, 2023 at 15:23 | comment | added | Tim Pederick | @Lambie I expect Edwin was referring to The Father Christmas Letters by J. R. R. Tolkien. The letters collected in that book are indeed (ostensibly) written by Father Christmas, to Tolkien’s children. Wikipedia article (In fact I’m now positive that Edwin meant that book, because he quotes the first line of that WP article.) | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 19:41 | comment | added | Lambie | @EdwinAshworth Last time I looked, children wrote to Father Christmas, he didn't write them...For every constant one can find in usage, there can be exceptions. But that tapes thing works the same way. I can't cover every single usage in English. You could have "The [x: proper name] Essays, Tapes, Sounds, Symphonies, etc. ad nauseum. | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 19:17 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | @Lambie A book which comprises a collection of letters. Like 'Letters from Father Christmas', formerly known as 'The Father Christmas Letters'. On the other hand, 'The Beiderbecke Tapes' drama admittedly doesn't comprise a collection of tapes, but references a key element in the plot. | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 18:43 | comment | added | RonJohn | Because English hasn't been Saxon in 1000 years. | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 15:03 | comment | added | Lambie | @EdwinAshworth The Screwtape Letters is the name of a book. | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 13:07 | comment | added | Tristan | 'does not contain the Saxon genitive "of Screwtape"' - "of Screwtape" isn't the Saxon genitive, which would be "Screwtape's". Was this meant to read 'does not contain the Saxon genitive of "Screwtape"' instead? | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 12:52 | answer | added | vectory | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 12:00 | answer | added | Greybeard | timeline score: 8 | |
| Dec 27, 2023 at 7:15 | answer | added | Tim Owens | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 23:59 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | Why do we say a hotel room and not a hotel's room? compares the Saxon genitive / attributive noun choice to a fair degree. But here, Screwtape’s letters is quite acceptable on one level, but loses gravitas for (as @Lambie says) an eminent collection. Note that 'the Nixon tapes' don't necessarily imply authorship. | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 23:23 | comment | added | Tinfoil Hat | For what it’s worth, Screwtape’s letters could as easily refer to the ones he received and is in possession of as to those that he wrote. | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 19:35 | history | became hot network question | |||
| S Dec 26, 2023 at 18:37 | history | suggested | GratefulDisciple | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
spelling correction
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| Dec 26, 2023 at 17:13 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Dec 26, 2023 at 18:37 | |||||
| Dec 26, 2023 at 16:06 | history | edited | Laurel♦ | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 2 characters in body
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| Dec 26, 2023 at 15:55 | answer | added | Lambie | timeline score: 10 | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 12:38 | comment | added | Stuart F | The Quiller Memorandum, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Caine Mutiny, The Bourne Identity, The Eiger Sanction, The Princess Diaries... See e.g. this, this and dozens of other questions. | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 12:18 | comment | added | TimR | Compare The Dreyfus Affair. | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 12:09 | comment | added | Conrado | The letters are from Screwtape, to Wormwood. | |
| Dec 26, 2023 at 11:38 | history | edited | Heartspring | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
deleted 13 characters in body
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| S Dec 26, 2023 at 11:34 | review | First questions | |||
| Dec 26, 2023 at 11:38 | |||||
| S Dec 26, 2023 at 11:34 | history | asked | andreasagninese | CC BY-SA 4.0 |