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#187897 - 11/20/09 01:43 PM Re: stunned [Re: dalehileman]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3738
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
"I wonder if this isn't just another example of an existing word taking on new meanings until ultimately you'll be able to write anything at all with a series of words chosen at random, the recipient of which will read into it anything he wishes."

The end of all verbal combat.

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#187898 - 11/20/09 03:49 PM Re: stunned [Re: Faldage]
latishya Offline
enthusiast

Registered: 11/24/07
Posts: 387
Loc: कहीं &...
Originally Posted By: Faldage
Originally Posted By: dalehileman
I wonder if this isn't just another example of an existing word taking on new meanings until ultimately you'll be able to write anything at all with a series of words chosen at random, the recipient of which will read into it anything he wishes.


That's just nice.


I looked up nice. a clever retort. grin

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#187900 - 11/20/09 10:06 PM Re: stunned [Re: dalehileman]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 12526
Originally Posted By: dalehileman
Hi Fal good to hear from you again

But what's nice


In this case it'd changed form its original meaning of 'ignorant' to 'stupid'.

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#187912 - 11/21/09 07:20 PM Re: stunned [Re: Faldage]
twosleepy Offline
old hand

Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 796
Loc: western NY
Geez, I didn't know I was so nice...

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#187916 - 11/22/09 07:57 AM Re: stunned [Re: twosleepy]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 12526
Nice is the poster boy of semantic shift. And somehow, through it all, the English language has survived and is able to clearly express every one of these concepts.

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#187918 - 11/22/09 08:52 AM Re: stunned [Re: Faldage]
zmjezhd Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 08/13/05
Posts: 2455
Loc: R'lyeh
Nice is the poster boy of semantic shift.

Yes, it is. But, in the case of nice, its older meanings have, more or less, been replaced by its current meaning. There are some other outcomes. At least two off the top of my head: (a) words like set and file that have multiple meanings but are basically from the same older word (etymologically speaking) and (b) words like mole which has multiple meanings and has almost as many etymologies.

1. Hand me the file.
2. Mary was out standing on the mole.

1. and 2. are ambiguous, except that sentences like these are extremely unlikely to occur in complete isolation. 1. depends on whether we are in a metal shop or a doctor's office; 2., more humorously, depends on whether it's uttered by a dermatologist, zoologist, or harbor master. Context, and in speech, repetition and emendation, usually remove any ambiguity from the text.

Next, the argument that polysemy leads to the eventual failure of communication and the destruction of the language is easily proved wrong by looking, however cursorily, at a page in a dictionary (in any language): there are very few entries for words with a single meaning, and those are usually words that a rare or archaic.

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#187924 - 11/22/09 01:39 PM Re: stunned [Re: zmjezhd]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3738
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
"Nice is the poster boy of semantic shift"

( sounds like the first line of a T.S. Elliot poem )

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#187926 - 11/22/09 02:03 PM Re: stunned [Re: BranShea]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 12526
You'll still see nice used in the sense of 'precise, careful', as in a nice distinction. And certainly as the word shifted in meaning there was always a period when both uses could easily be encountered at the same time.

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#187930 - 11/22/09 05:08 PM Re: stunned [Re: Faldage]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 3738
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
I see it here in the sense of 'precise, careful, as in a nice distinction' because I choose to see it this way. As it has gone from one meaning to the next and then back again, it can be used as you like it. I know you used it meaning foolish, stupid, but I find two different definitions for it.
I still say: "Nice meeting you".

nice 1
nice 2

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#187932 - 11/22/09 05:33 PM Re: stunned [Re: BranShea]
olly Offline
addict

Registered: 12/18/06
Posts: 662
Loc: Auckland, New Zealand
I found this quite interesting Nice

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