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Wén Shào

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Dec 18, 2011, 7:33:52 PM12/18/11
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Hi All,

Our lecture website says: Contact hours for student: after the lecture or per email. What does "per email" mean here? Shouldn't it be "via email" or "by email"?

Cheers,

Wén

Eric Walker

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Dec 18, 2011, 8:35:49 PM12/18/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:33:52 -0800, Wén Shào wrote:

> Our lecture website says: Contact hours for student: after the lecture
> or per email. What does "per email" mean here? Shouldn't it be "via
> email" or "by email"?

Yes, it should be "by". Moreover, a comma is needed after "lecture",
because the contact hours are not after per/via/by email, which is how it
reads without the comma.

Even among native speakers of English, there is a silly but strong
temptation to resort to foreign or technical terms when some plain Anglo-
Saxon word suffices.


--
Cordially,
Eric Walker

semir...@my-deja.com

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Dec 18, 2011, 10:18:57 PM12/18/11
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"Per" is Latin for "by" , so the expression is not wrong.
Latin and Ancient Greek were once considered essential
parts of a good education

James Silverton

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Dec 18, 2011, 11:58:42 PM12/18/11
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Not that I let it bother me but I did study Latin in school and I was
taught that "per" applied to words of Latin origin and "by" to those of
Germanic. How one ascribes "email" is an interesting question.

--


James Silverton, Potomac

I'm *not* not.jim....@verizon.net

James Hogg

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Dec 19, 2011, 1:54:05 AM12/19/11
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The OED has an entry:
c. By means of. Chiefly in phrases relating to conveyance, as per
bearer, per carrier, per express, per post, per rail, per steamer, etc.
Also in humorous use, as per foot, per boot, etc. Now rare (chiefly arch.).

--
James

Harrison Hill

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Dec 19, 2011, 2:00:30 AM12/19/11
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On Dec 19, 12:33 am, Wén Shào <90b5.6...@gmail.com> wrote:
I agree with the others, but "per" is used all the time - especially
in a humorous or informal way: "as per instructions" - so your
webmaster is displaying a good grasp of English!

Evan Kirshenbaum

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Dec 19, 2011, 2:10:47 AM12/19/11
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Eric Walker <em...@owlcroft.com> writes:

> On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:33:52 -0800, Wén Shào wrote:
>
>> Our lecture website says: Contact hours for student: after the lecture
>> or per email. What does "per email" mean here? Shouldn't it be "via
>> email" or "by email"?
>
> Yes, it should be "by". Moreover, a comma is needed after "lecture",
> because the contact hours are not after per/via/by email, which is how it
> reads without the comma.

That's how I read it, and it made sense to me. Contact hours are
after the lecture or according to what is said via e-mail. In other
words, if you want to talk other than after the lecture, send us
e-mail and we'll tell you when we can meet.

> Even among native speakers of English, there is a silly but strong
> temptation to resort to foreign or technical terms when some plain Anglo-
> Saxon word suffices.

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |A specification which calls for
SF Bay Area (1982-) |network-wide use of encryption, but
Chicago (1964-1982) |invokes the Tooth Fairy to handle
|key distribution, is a useless
evan.kir...@gmail.com |farce.
| Henry Spencer
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/


Stan Brown

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Dec 19, 2011, 7:26:26 PM12/19/11
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On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:33:52 -0800 (PST), Wén Shào wrote:
>
> Our lecture website says: Contact hours for student: after the
> lecture or per email. What does "per email" mean here? Shouldn't it
> be "via email" or "by email"?

"Per" can mean through. But "via" would be more natural, and "by"
would be even more natural. :-)



--
"The difference between the /almost right/ word and the /right/ word
is ... the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning."
--Mark Twain
Stan Brown, Tompkins County, NY, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com

semir...@my-deja.com

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Dec 19, 2011, 9:12:36 PM12/19/11
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On Dec 19, 12:33 am, Wén Shào <90b5.6...@gmail.com> wrote:
"Using email" would be another non-standard but unexceptionable
way of conveying the same meaning.

John Varela

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Dec 20, 2011, 5:29:09 PM12/20/11
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On Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:10:47 UTC, Evan Kirshenbaum
<evan.kir...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Eric Walker <em...@owlcroft.com> writes:
>
> > On Sun, 18 Dec 2011 16:33:52 -0800, Wén Shào wrote:
> >
> >> Our lecture website says: Contact hours for student: after the lecture
> >> or per email. What does "per email" mean here? Shouldn't it be "via
> >> email" or "by email"?
> >
> > Yes, it should be "by". Moreover, a comma is needed after "lecture",
> > because the contact hours are not after per/via/by email, which is how it
> > reads without the comma.
>
> That's how I read it, and it made sense to me. Contact hours are
> after the lecture or according to what is said via e-mail. In other
> words, if you want to talk other than after the lecture, send us
> e-mail and we'll tell you when we can meet.

I read it to mean that contact hours would be announced at the end
of the lecture or in a broadcast email from the lecturer. Inclusive
or.

--
John Varela

Evan Kirshenbaum

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Dec 21, 2011, 12:29:56 PM12/21/11
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That works, too. In either case, the "per" is "as stated in".

--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |"You can't prove it *isn't* so!" is
SF Bay Area (1982-) |as good as Q.E.D. in folk logic--as
Chicago (1964-1982) |though it were necessary to submit
|a piece of the moon to chemical
evan.kir...@gmail.com |analysis before you could be sure
|that it was not made of green
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |cheese.
| Bergen Evans


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