[Noisebridge-discuss] Noisebridge Lending Library?

[Seth David Schoen]

Mikolaj Habryn writes:

> On Tue, Feb 9, 2010 at 2:58 PM, Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com> wrote:
> > A sticker or stamp serves a different purpose than a checkout system.
> > There is no reason I can think of not to have a stamp like:
> >
> >  Ex Libris Noisebridge
> > If found, please return to
> >  2169 Mission, 3rd floor
> >  San Francisco, CA, USA
> >
> > also with the logo & URL of course.  A checkout/reminder system is
> > separate and I personally have no opinion on that.
> >
> > Will anyone actually object if I order a stamp as I have described above?
> 
> Yes. It's syntactically incorrect. In this context Noisebridge should
> be in the genitive case, and since the word fits best into the third
> declension formwise, it should be Ex Libris Noisebridgis. Furthermore
> the address should be Via Ecclesia MMCLXIX, Solum Tertium, Oppidum
> Sancti Francisci.

Some foreign words are indeclinable (traditionally Hebrew names, for
example) and I was inclined to think that "Noisebridge" was a plausible
example of this if given in English.  One reason that many authors, like
Linnaeus, Latinized their names was to allow them to fall into a Latin
declension, maybe because they regarded non-Latin names as indeclinable.

Via Ecclesia(e) is five blocks to the west.

Some people say Franciscopolis (loc. Franciscopoli).

http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciscopolis_%28California%29

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Qué empresa fácil no pensar en
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   | un tigre, reflexioné.
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |            -- Borges, El Zahir