How about Latin? It already has a long and distinguished history of use in science. :)
Eric On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 4:54 AM, Tim Gruene <[email protected]> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Hi James, > > I once heard that in (European) law French is the language of choice > because it were the most precise one (which I find easy to believe). > Maybe we should try and convince journals to only accept articles > written in French - not sure, this will improve their quality, though, > comparing my level of French with my level of English ;-) > > Lovely discussion, > Tim > > On 11/15/2012 09:15 PM, James Stroud wrote: > > On Nov 15, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Tim Gruene wrote: > >> I have heard this discussion before and reminds me of people > >> claiming strawberries were nuts - which botanically may be > >> correct, but would still not make me complain about strawberries > >> in a fruit cake I ordered at a restaurant. > >> > >> My Pengiun English Dictionary states (amongst other > >> explanations) freeze: "to make extremely cold", > > > > > > Tim's comment strikes at the heart of the problem. > > > > I think the scientific community should decide a few points. > > > > 1. What is the approved language and dialect for science? 2. Within > > this dialect, what should be the authoritative dictionary? 3. Will > > we allow use of definitions that are not the primary definition > > (second, third, fourth). 4. Will we allow the use of homonyms? 5. > > If not, which homonyms should prevail? > > > > These are all very important questions if we completely disregard > > context in writing. > > > > James > > > > - -- > - -- > Dr Tim Gruene > Institut fuer anorganische Chemie > Tammannstr. 4 > D-37077 Goettingen > > GPG Key ID = A46BEE1A > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.12 (GNU/Linux) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iD8DBQFQpg1XUxlJ7aRr7hoRAl33AKCbSYXQmD2YyVug5s3i+2CYDVDzqQCfZ7Qz > 4IiEP5B5NrB+D0s+r/tIa6o= > =nN9O > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- >
