[geeks] KDE "konsole" cluebat?

[der Mouse]

>>>> "Looks like[sic] it was[sic] printed on paper" 
>>> Pedantry without reference is so annoying.
>> The "like" should be a phrase with "as", such as "as though" or "as
>> if".
> Only in formal communications.  [...]
> Little, Brown, 3rd edition, page 281.

Fine.  Go ahead and be sloppy, you and everyone else who thinks
"descriptive" authority is a suitable reference for correctness.  I'll
think less of you for it, me and probably everyone else of my
linguistic generation, but presumably you don't care about that.
(There's a place for descriptive authority, but a reference for
correctness is not it.)  I was taught by a very strict old-school
grammarian, and ended up with a position somewhat like Nero Wolfe's:
describing sloppy usage does not render it correct.

>> "Looks like print on paper" would be an example of a correct use of
>> "like" carrying roughly the same meaning.
> I only occasionally use print as a noun, and "looks like print on
> paper" sounds wrong.  It doesn't convey what I was thinking of,
> because it leaves out the action.

Then it's not a suitable way of expressing the exact shade of meaning
you wanted.  Nor did I claim it was, you may note; I said only "roughly
the same meaning", which I still think is fair.

If a verb is what you want, perhaps "looks like characters printed on
paper"?

> You might like to briefly argue over split infinitives.

Not really.  To baldly split infinitives does not a sin seem to me.
(Or does it to you?  I rather doubt it, if you consider a descriptive
reference authoritative for correctness.)

If you know how and when to use metaphor and simile, know the
difference between them, and "get it wrong" deliberately, for effect,
that doesn't bother me nearly as much.  But that was not my impression
of the quote that started this side-thread off.

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