Talk:Maurice Cornforth

Latest comment: 9 years ago by JimFarm in topic Untitled


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I own the table which this fellow wrote his books on :) Anjow 12:42, 7 July 2006 (UTC)Reply

Far out! Zaslav 04:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)Reply

Plural of "conundrum": I have two seemingly strong reasons for thinking the best plural is "conundrums". (1) I have seen and heard this word in use over the past few decades and never, "well hardly ever", was it pluralized with "a" (and then it was in fun, as I remember). (2) I looked in 4 dictionaries. Two of them give no special plural, which meant the plural is formed with "s" (I verified this in one by checking "stratum", whose plural is specifically given as "strata"). The third (the oldest) gives the plural with "s", the fourth gives first the plural with s and second the plural with "a".

Some perhaps relevant remarks: (3) I recently read about a word ending with "um" (I wish I could remember it!) which is sometimes wrongly pluralized with "a", but due to how it derives from Latin (as a gerund), that is actually incorrect Latin. This shows that Latin "um" doesn't automatically pluralize to "a". (4) Many words that have been nativized into English take a plural in "s" at least optionally (that is, it's accepted) even if the plural with "a" is also used; e.g., "millenium". (5) The origin of "conundrum" seems to be something of a conundrum itself. (See a dictionary.) It isn't classical Latin. Zaslav 04:12, 24 October 2007 (UTC)Reply


The article perhaps needs to add that in his last book, Communism and Philosophy, Cornforth repudiated many of his earlier beliefs.

Rosa Lichtenstein (talk) 13:27, 11 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

Here is link to the preface of Communism and Philosophy, where Conforth gives a summary of how his philosophical and political views evolved over time.

http://www.autodidactproject.org/other/cornforth09/communphil_preface.html

JimFarm (talk) — Preceding undated comment added 14:36, 8 August 2015 (UTC)Reply