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To: Almagest; Virginia-American
Magrisre, I don't mean to lecture you. I shall yield to your conclusions, which are far more informed than my own. But I have one observation to offer:

Res incepti is good. It's too good, actually, because it looks like a perfectly reasonable field of study. It lacks the often negative connotation that the English suffix "ism" can provide (communism, racism, etc.). Indeed, such negativity is what the creationists themselves attempt when they label evolution as "Darwinism." Because they've set the rules for this controversy (that is, no rules), they can't complain when their own tactics are employed.

I've made a fast search for some rarely-used case or construction that hints at irony, or derision, but I can't find it. I suspect that such exists as an oddball poetic device.

If nothing else is available, I'd just toss the thing into the ablative case, to show how weird it is. Ah, wait! The dative case is used with verbs like credo, confido, etc. That hints (at least to me) of something less than directly comprehended. Thus: rebus inceptis Fortunately, the dative and ablative plural for res are both rebus, so we can't miss. It's the same with 2nd declension nouns like inceptum, therefore inceptis works either way.

214 posted on 05/21/2006 5:30:39 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Unresponsive to trolls, lunatics, fanatics, retards, scolds, & incurable ignoramuses.)
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To: Almagest; Virginia-American
Magrisre Magistre

[Arrrrrrgghhhhh!!]

216 posted on 05/21/2006 8:54:31 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Unresponsive to trolls, lunatics, fanatics, retards, scolds, & incurable ignoramuses.)
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To: PatrickHenry


<< I've made a fast search for some rarely-used case or construction that hints at irony, or derision, but I can't find it. >>


So -- now we're back to "stercus tauri." LOL!


217 posted on 05/21/2006 10:32:44 AM PDT by Almagest
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