The "Idiot Error" in My Christmas Arrangements

[Mikelynch]

Wade--If that is your most idiotic mistake in the past 15 years, we all kneel in awe, sir!

Oh, if only my record were so good....even just this week...

[sungfw]

The usage in the USMC motto is a behavior where the title of this carol is a noun. (I am faithful, versus I am one of the faithful.)

Uh ... the spellings are different, because they have different grammatical functions, not because one is a behavior and one is a noun. The Latin Fidelis, Fidele is an adjective. It's Nominative Singular in the USMC motto because it's the predicate of the sentence, "A Marine is …"; it's Vocative Plural in the carol because it identifies (and delimits) the addressee of the 2nd person Present Plural Imperative (adeste, "Come, you faithful ones").

[iiipopes]

But is it "Adeste Fideles" — "es" on the end and not "is". So when I was looking up some information on the piece today I could not find "Adeste Fidelis" anywhere, but Google helpfully offered up a spelling suggestion that got me many, many hits.

Then I looked up "fidelis" (NO, DAMMIT, I JUST TOLD YOU THAT I AM NOT TRYING TO TO TYPE "FIDDLES"!) and discovered that the two are both correct spellings, but that they are for different cases. The usage in the USMC motto is a behavior where the title of this carol is a noun. (I am faithful, versus I am one of the faithful.)

You are both always faithful and one of the faithful. Thanks for great arrangements.

[sungfw]

Uh… an adjective describes a behavior or attribute of a noun.

No, adjectives describe a quality, quantity, or extent of a noun. Behaviors are expressed by verbal forms such as infinitives, gerunds, and participles. A participal denoting a behavior may function adjectivally, but it is a verbal construction, not an adjectival one.

Uh… also, do you not consider an adjective and a noun to have different functions?

Yes and no: nouns and adjectives ordinarilly serve different grammatical functions, but adjectives have wider range of usage than nouns, one of which is substantiation, e.g., adjectives can function nominally if/when the nouns they modified is left unstated or is implied, e.g., "Old Faithful (geyser)", "New York (city/state)", "the rich/poor/black/white/brown (people)", etc.

Uh… and the term does not mean "A Marine is Always Faithful" but simply "Always Faithful".

Not so fast, my friend!

The expression means "always faithful," but a motto is not merely an expression or collocation of words: it is a concise statement, made by an individual or a group, that formally summarizes the individual's/group's general motivation, aspiration, or intention. An expression only becomes a motto when it is appropriated by an individual or a group as a marker of its identity in order to distinguish it from other individuals or groups. As such, a motto encompasses and is inseparable from the history and identity of the individual or group adopting the underlying expression as its motto. The individual or group identiy is integral to the meaning of a motto, and is therefore implicitly invoked in the recitation of the motto, whether or not the motto explicitly verbalizes it.

Wikipedia lists over a dozen individuals and groups that adopted the expression Semper Fidelis as their motto prior to its adoption by the Marine Corps. What distinguishes the Marine Corps' use of Semper Fidelis from that of other groups using the motto is its specific function as the Corps' answer to the prior questions inherent in its use as a motto, namely, "What is a Marine?" (A Marine is always faithful) and "To what or to whom is a Marine always faithful"? (Corps and country.)

That the Marine Corps' motto has in view the individual Marine, rather than a unit or the Corps as a whole, is articulated in its use of the Singular fidelis[/] as opposed to the Plural fideles, and the Masculine/Feminine form fidelis rather than the Neuter form fidele.

[roughrider]

[quote="the elephant"]Hey, congratulations, you win the Internet.

So that was a first class job showing off how smart you are at my expense; I assume you have a need to correct others by pissing in their corn flakes?

[SIDEBAR: Should "corn flakes" be capitalized as a proper name, or should it be lower case as a generic term? HELP ME, Letterman! I don't know whether I am speaking about a Kellogg's product or just "corn flakes" in the more general sense!]

BAHAHAHA!!!

[/quote
The perfect response! Well said, Elephant!