User:Dmh

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Number 15

Background

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  • B.S. in math/computer science
  • Some graduate work in English literature
  • Have lived in
  • US: Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota, LA, Silicon Valley and North Carolina
  • Europe: Holland and London with extended visits to Lombardy and Geneva
  • Native speaker of American English, enough to get into trouble in
  • Dutch
  • Spanish
  • German
  • Italian
  • French
  • Maybe a phrase or two of
  • Hebrew
  • Japanese
  • Portugese
  • Romanian
  • Albanian
  • Welsh

Oh yes. I take my tea white, no sugar. Coffee likewise, preferring latte to cappucino.

Interests

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  • Linguistics, philology, lexicography
  • Cognitive science
  • Mathematics, theoretical and practical computing
  • Music theory and practice
  • Literature
  • Group work activities, including Wiki
  • Evolution, market economics and other emergent phenomena (including Wiki)

Wiktionaria

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A while ago I said

I'm currently jumping into whatever fray looks interesting at the moment. I tend to put most of my effort into:
  • Tracking down actual usage, particularly in response to assertions about what's "correct" or "must be" the case as opposed to what's actually done.
  • Poking holes in arguments that "X must be correct because ...". Not difficult, but it often leads to the previous item, which is usually more interesting.
  • Trying to help debug the various Wiktionary processes (e.g., the RfV process). They've been improving steadily over time with or without my participation, but I'd like to help.
  • Holding forth at excruciating length on this or that language-related topic.

My basic inclinations haven't changed greatly. I hope to continue supplying actual evidence in the face of bald assertions, only partly because I find bald assertions irksome. More importantly, the real picture is invariably richer and more interesting. The bald assertion is just a prod.

The Wiktionary process seems to have been improving steadily in my absence, which is great! I see more templates, more and better-developed policies, more cultural conventions, and new faces. All good. The CFI and RfV appear to be working well, which is especially nice.