Eiron wrote:
Don Pearce wrote:

On Fri, 29 Dec 2006 22:12:57 -0500, "liquidator"
wrote:


And the fact that he makes grammatic errors only reinforces he's an
engineer.


Pot/kettle?

"grammatic" should be "grammatical"

"only reinforces he's" should be "only reinforces the supposition that
he's"

'Grammatic' is a valid alternative to 'grammatical' according to the OED.
A man should be praised, not criticized, for the breadth of his vocabulary.

Oh, definitely. One can easily become to pedantic, as we see so often
with the rote-learning, slow-learning "engineers" on these conferences.
But there is a fine line between civil tolerance of loose speaking and
being complaisant about the sort of barbaric mutilation Poopie
Stevenson and, even worse, his American counterpart Slapdash Krueger
inflict on the language.

I rather enjoyed "liquidator's" contribution. Reminded me of when TIME
Magazine asked why engineers are the ugliest people in the world and
went on to describe Poopie and Slapdash!

The main error, grammatic and otherwise, in this thread, is:
"There is a mechanical property of metals that most of the qualities in
a rod is concentrated in the narrow section of the rim."

Really? Perhaps you'd care to explain why, Eiron. Unless we're supposed
to divine what is in your mind by the magic of "homogenious" rods.
Meanwhile, I give it to your again in context:

*******

Graham "Poopie" Stevenson claims to be a qualified engineer. Yet he
wrote:

Andre Jute wrote:

There is a mechanical property of metals that most of the qualities in
a rod is concentrated in the narrow section of the rim.

Is that so Jootikins ?

We'll skip lightly over Poopie's exceedingly unprofessional lack of
professional gravitas.

I expect that if true, this knowledge must be widely available. How about a cite
?

We'll skip lightly over Poopie's illiterate use of the verb "cite" for
the noun, "citation", or Poopie's appalling misuse of that concept when
he means "reference".

But what sort of an engineer has never heard of Timoshenko's Strength
of Materials? Several hundred editions were published in the last
hundred years. It is a reference known to every engineer and techie, to
every scaffolder and rigger. But Graham "Poopie" Stevenson is ignorant
of Timo!

Is there is anyone who was at college with Poopie Stevenson who can
confirm his claim that he qualified as an engineer? Not that a diploma
guarantees competence -- we've seen quite a few diplomaed quarterwits
on these newsgroups over the years -- but at least its lack would be a
start towards explaining Poopie Stevenson's ignorance on this and other
matters essential to any self-respecting engineer.

Andre Jute
The trouble with Poopie is not what he doesn't know, but what he knows
for certain that isn't true. --- with apologies to Mark Twain