Re: [OT] The stigma of schema

[Bob DuCharme <bob@udico.com>]

Uche Ogbuji wrote:

> But all that aside, my argument for "schema", "schemata" go beyond respect
> for the original language: it includes respect for English.
>...
> Newspeak in Orwell's 1984 is not just about efforts to
> place political codes into speech

As a matter of fact, Orwell is the reason that I prefer "schemas" to
"schemata." From his "Politics and the English Language"
(http://eserver.org/langs/politics-english-language.txt):

"Bad writers, and especially scientific, political and sociological writers,
are nearly always haunted by the notion that
Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones."

I like to think that this applies to pluralizing suffixes as well as to
entire words.

Bob DuCharme          www.snee.com/bob           <bob@
snee.com>  "The elements be kind to thee, and make thy
spirits all of comfort!" Anthony and Cleopatra, III ii