Ridiculous Prices for Out-Of-Print Materials?

[aokoye]

I suppose that's also a nice segway into mentioning Powells Bookstore

Thank you for increasing my vocabulary by one. I know that a segway is a recently-invented two-wheeled vehicle. I did not know it was also a "smooth transition from one topic to another". However, despite a lot of differences of opinion throughout the Internet, it appears that it should be spelled 'segue" for the latter meaning.

Merriam-Webster's position

Segway is how segue is pronounced in English. Segue, however, is a word that I can almost never remember how to spell and spell check can't pick up to say it's life. I was well aware of the misspelling - thanks French for giving us (English) that word and so many other French words that I can't spell to save my life.

I would also be unsurprised if I typed that on my phone at which point I really wouldn't be bothered with trying to find the correct spelling of segue. That, however, isn't a very good segue into the ridiculous prices of out of print materials but I could make it a segue into the ridiculous amount of Segway tours around Powells where you can get rather good deals on used language learning materials. If I really wanted to be correct I would spell it Powell's. That said I know of no one who does that in practice (outside of marketing and journalistic publications) and more importantly calling something "Powell's" in writing (we often drop "bookstore") with the possessive -s and no noun that it modifies is actually one small step too far into ungrammatical English (which is saying a lot if you've read some of my posts, and I know you have) as opposed to calling it "Powells" with the assumption that "Powells" isn't the name of a person. In spoken English when referring to the bookstore this isn't a major issue...just like segue and Segway (I didn't even try that time).

And yes - you did hit a tender spot.

[zenmonkey]

I suppose that's also a nice segway into mentioning Powells Bookstore

Thank you for increasing my vocabulary by one. I know that a segway is a recently-invented two-wheeled vehicle. I did not know it was also a "smooth transition from one topic to another". However, despite a lot of differences of opinion throughout the Internet, it appears that it should be spelled 'segue" for the latter meaning.

Merriam-Webster's position

Yes, it's segue and comes from music, theatre instructions. Then it entered film, PowerPoint presentations and iOS programming (where a segue is a transition from one screen to another).

It's a reasonable mistake but argue for Segway is just wrong. That's like supporting koo de tat.

[galaxyrocker]

Yes, the issue is that the algorithms log it as rare based on the low volume of sales on Amazon, and think they can get whatever price they want for it; what the algorithm doesn't realise is that the sales are so low because it's just a little book that hardly anyone's interested in. There was a little school grammar of Scottish Gaelic that this happened to. Because it was sold mainly direct to schools, not many of the print-run ended up sold via Amazon, and those that did tended to go out at certain times of the year (probably linked to evening class timetables and revision periods before high school exams). The algorithm probably took the rush periods as indicating a high demand, and the drop in sales as an indicator that it was low stock elsewhere, and as a result the price while it was still listed as in print went up into the hundreds, despite it being a pretty flimsy little paperback.

I've actually been wanting to pick up a few older lingusitics books that are no longer in print, and have run into this issue. One of them -- written in Irish no less -- is now well over $350. That said, I've been trawling Amazon's ToS and forums -- it does seem like you can message the seller and try to negotiate a price, as long as they (a) drop the price on all their items, so anyone can buy it there, or (b) give you a discount code or something. But, they cannot take it off Amazon to sell it. I might try that and see if I have any luck; after all, I figure they'd rather have the book sold and get paid than have it sit there at a price nobody will likely ever buy it at.

But, I guess that $350 could be worse. It could have jumped up to $23.6 million

[aokoye]

I suppose that's also a nice segway into mentioning Powells Bookstore

Thank you for increasing my vocabulary by one. I know that a segway is a recently-invented two-wheeled vehicle. I did not know it was also a "smooth transition from one topic to another". However, despite a lot of differences of opinion throughout the Internet, it appears that it should be spelled 'segue" for the latter meaning.

Merriam-Webster's position

Yes, it's segue and comes from music, theatre instructions. Then it entered film, PowerPoint presentations and iOS programming (where a segue is a transition from one screen to another).

It's a reasonable mistake but argue for Segway is just wrong. That's like supporting koo de tat.

I think too that Segway is spelled the way it is because it's reasonable to assume that there are going to be very few native English speakers, who don't have French as an L2, who could easily spell segue. I've never actually seen "segue" in a piece but the vast majority of instructions I see in scores are in Italian with a smaller, but sizable, amount being in German. It's probably pretty common in French opera scores though.

[Cainntear]

I think too that Segway is spelled the way it is because it's reasonable to assume that there are going to be very few native English speakers, who don't have French as an L2, who could easily spell segue. I've never actually seen "segue" in a piece but the vast majority of instructions I see in scores are in Italian with a smaller, but sizable, amount being in German. It's probably pretty common in French opera scores though.

It's intended as a play on words. The "way" bit references transport (e.g highway, railway) and implies both movement and progress (e.g. underway, headway). If they hadn't spelt it that way, it would have been a less obvious wordplay and a weaker brand.

[Josquin]

I think too that Segway is spelled the way it is because it's reasonable to assume that there are going to be very few native English speakers, who don't have French as an L2, who could easily spell segue. I've never actually seen "segue" in a piece but the vast majority of instructions I see in scores are in Italian with a smaller, but sizable, amount being in German. It's probably pretty common in French opera scores though.

I beg your pardon, but "segue" comes from Italian rather than French. And Italian is notorious for its phonetic orthography, which admittedly is quite different from English.

I've actually been wanting to pick up a few older lingusitics books that are no longer in print, and have run into this issue. One of them -- written in Irish no less -- is now well over $350.

You're not by any chance talking about Kim Mc Cone's Stair na Gaeilge ? I've wanted to get hold of this for like ever. I had the chance to have a look at it through interlibrary loan, but unfortunately I was only allowed to keep it for four weeks. It's an amazing book though.

[galaxyrocker]

You're not by any chance talking about Kim Mc Cone's Stair na Gaeilge ? I've wanted to get hold of this for like ever. I had the chance to have a look at it through interlibrary loan, but unfortunately I was only allowed to keep it for four weeks. It's an amazing book though.

That's it exactly! I was able to find a copy on another site for about half that.

[aokoye]

I think too that Segway is spelled the way it is because it's reasonable to assume that there are going to be very few native English speakers, who don't have French as an L2, who could easily spell segue. I've never actually seen "segue" in a piece but the vast majority of instructions I see in scores are in Italian with a smaller, but sizable, amount being in German. It's probably pretty common in French opera scores though.

I beg your pardon, but "segue" comes from Italian rather than French. And Italian is notorious for its phonetic orthography, which admittedly is quite different from English

Indeed it appears it does - I'll make a note I still haven't seen it in any scores, though I've never performed in an opera and I'd assume it would be more logical to find it there. That said, still not a word I can spell easily.

My main frustration about tommus' post to me was how it came across. It doesn't make to tell someone that they spelled a word wrong online in their L1 when that has nothing to do which the topic at hand (note I can think of situations where a misspelling or a poor word choice actually would be logical to point out). Had it had something to do with the thread then yea - tell me I spelled the word wrong in a sentence. Don't start, fasciously I'd assume, about how I've expanded your vocabulary with my misspelling of a word. Never mind that we could have a whole conversation about different registers and how having different registers is normal and a good thing. While tommus may not have intended his post to come off as rude, that is how I took it. Yes - I have my own baggage about people correcting the spelling of my L1 (and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way) so part of that is on me. That said, it also just wasn't done in a kind or considerate way. A logical thing would be to say, "Hey did you mean the word segue?" and leave it at that.

Never mind that I really don't see the point in correcting an L1 speaker on their language use outside of very specific contexts, none of which are present in this thread. I'm not a child, I'm not his student, I didn't ask him to proofread something, and I haven't expressly written in my signature that I welcome corrections (among many of the situations I can think of). I don't actually think I would correct a random kid on their English either though. My kid, yes. A good friend of mine's kid, probably. A random child I don't know, not so much. Note - if you want to correct me on my usage of any of my L2s have at it. That's been a theme of my past 48 hours in Berlin and it's great because it means that I'm doing a shit ton of speaking about pretty complex topics.

[tommus]

Never mind that I really don't see the point in correcting an L1 speaker on their language use ... I'm not a child, I'm not his student, I didn't ask him to proofread something, and I haven't expressly written in my signature that I welcome corrections

In a language learning forum, I believe that we should strive to write correctly in our native language (as shown in our profile). That way, learners of that language can have confidence that what they read is correct. That is one of the main reasons we have our languages in our profiles. I was not pointing out the correct spelling of segue to embarrass the writer but to correct the text for other readers. In fact, many native English speakers, including myself, may well have used that reference to "learn" (incorrectly) that segway was the correct word. On a language learning forum, we are all trying to improve our languages, sometimes also including our own.

[aokoye]

Never mind that I really don't see the point in correcting an L1 speaker on their language use ... I'm not a child, I'm not his student, I didn't ask him to proofread something, and I haven't expressly written in my signature that I welcome corrections

In a language learning forum, I believe that we should strive to write correctly in our native language (as shown in our profile). That way, learners of that language can have confidence that what they read is correct. That is one of the main reasons we have our languages in our profiles. I was not pointing out the correct spelling of segue to embarrass the writer but to correct the text for other readers. In fact, many native English speakers, including myself, may well have used that reference to "learn" (incorrectly) that segway was the correct word. On a language learning forum, we are all trying to improve our languages, sometimes also including our own.

I really think you should look at the way you worded your original reply to me (the correction). There are a number of ways that you could have written that in which it wouldn't have come off as flippant. I would gently suggest not correcting people, in general, in the way that you corrected me, no matter if it's correcting their L1 or the L2. I write and speak in a number of registers while I generally hold my grammar to a higher standard on this forum than on a few others others that I'm on, there's no way in hell that I'm going to hold my writing to the same standard that I would in any of the academic spaces I'm in. This forum is not a space where I am going to be super picky about what I write and you know what, that's ok. It doesn't mean that I'm not, in general, trying to improve my English, it means that the register that I use here is less formal than I would in other spaces.

Moreover - I'm going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and assume that I was typing the post you originally replied to on my cellphone. Assuming I did I was probably short for time. It is unreasonable to a. expect there be no typos on posts that are typed on phones (or on physical keyboards for that matter) and b. to expect that everyone has the time to look through the internet (either via google to figure out how to spell words that spell check is just not picking up.