2026-04-21 14:07 UTC
@adamgreenfield I don't know, I mean I guess you can't argue someone out of a pet peeve, but "da Vinci" was a way to distinguish him from other people named Leonardo, and that's where many surnames came from. So why is "da Vinci" different from all of these other surnames that came about in this way? Because Leonardo himself wouldn't have recognized it as such? "Socrates" wouldn't have understood the way we call him in English, is that different? If so, why?
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@adamgreenfield@social.coop 2026-04-21 14:14
@pjw For the same reason I wouldn’t say “for all intensive purposes,” or refer to the human population of a place as its “populous,” i.e. because I prefer not to commit patent illiteracies? Since when does correct usage require justification?