Useless questions, part 1

[Cashews]

The first in an hopefully long and pointless serie of useless questions.

 

::Drum rolls::

Why the name Tutu?

 

Cheers!

[CamDawg]

BG1Tutu, "Baldur's Gate One to Two".

[Daulmakan]

I always wanted to know that one.

[Guest Guest]

Do they have to be related to gaming? Because I've always wondered this:

Am I the only person that thinks the phrase 'more easily' is a gross misuse of basic grammar? "Shorter fingernails will allow you to play more easily" which is a phrase in my piano book, and it drives me *batty.* How hard is it to write 'easier'?

[dragonjewel13]

That was me.

[Mike1072]

Am I the only person that thinks the phrase 'more easily' is a gross misuse of basic grammar? "Shorter fingernails will allow you to play more easily" which is a phrase in my piano book, and it drives me *batty.* How hard is it to write 'easier'?

I believe that 'more easily' (adv) is properly used and 'easier' (adj) is incorrect.

[Cashews]

BG1Tutu, "Baldur's Gate One to Two".

 

Ooooh. Thanks CamDawg. Make sense.

 

 

Do they have to be related to gaming?

 

Euh... no. Guess it doesn't have to be.

 

 

That was me.

 

Who came up with 'Tutu' or who came up with 'more easily'?

[Evaine Dian]

Am I the only person that thinks the phrase 'more easily' is a gross misuse of basic grammar? "Shorter fingernails will allow you to play more easily" which is a phrase in my piano book, and it drives me *batty.* How hard is it to write 'easier'?

I believe that 'more easily' (adv) is properly used and 'easier' (adj) is incorrect.

You are right, "to play" needs an adverb. The positive form is "easily", comparative is "more easily". "Easier" is the comparative form of the adjective "easy" and using an adjective in this case is wrong.

[berelinde]

Hey, you know your grammar, complete with the appropriate terms. That's cool!

 

(Sorry for the off-topic comment in the off-topic conversation, but while my grammar is generally OK, my knowledge of the formal rules for it is sadly lacking.)

[Evaine Dian]

Thanks! English is (audibly ) not my mother tongue, but I've been studying it for 12 years, first at school, now at university, and that means I had/have to take a lot of grammar classes, as well (which doesn't mean that I don't make horrible mistakes, though). Taking Latin classes generally helps, too, because you won't get very far if you don't know your grammar and technical terms well.

 

I must admit that the longer I think about such things, the more I doubt if it is really true and I am tempted to add an "I think" to my first reply.

[berelinde]

Can't give the specifics, because I never studied a language with that intensity, but I can tell you that your way sounds right to my native American English-speaker's ears.

 

Edit: spelling was never my forte, either.

[dragonjewel13]

I am in agreement with berelinde. My knowledge of the rules of grammar leaves much (much much much) to be desired, so I generally base my opinions on how the sentence sounds to my ear. 'More easily' is grammatically correct, but it just *sounds* wrong when spoken aloud.

[Mike1072]

I can't recite grammar rules either, but I've read quite a few novels and some sentences just *feel* right or wrong to me. If it's important, I'll look it up to make sure I'm not inventing things. I'd try to get this topic back on track but I can't think of a good useless question at this time.

[Evaine Dian]

"Shorter fingernails will allow you to play easier."

This sentence sounds very wrong to me. "More easily" sounds much more natural to me in this case.

 

I was more or less joking about my doubts. I'm pretty sure what I wrote is correct, it's just that the more you think about something like that, the more it confuses you.

 

What is it that bothers you here? The "more" or the "easily"?

I've checked several different dictionaries in the meantime and in addition to "easy" (adjective) and "easily"(adverb), they also listed "easy" as an adverb, but only in certain expressions, like "take it easy" or in a colloquial context. I'm not quite sure about the difference in meaning, though. Maybe that's what you mean?

[berelinde]

Actually, "more easily" sounds right to me. In fact, in the context it was given, it sounds very much like the violin course I took, where the author advocated keeping the fingers on the left hand short because it would enable the musician to play more easily.

 

Screwy language.