|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Der Quibblemeister finds this headline ill written: Fragile Cease-Fire Holds in Fallujah AP - 7 minutes ago Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah,
Some non-military firearms are equipped with "silencers". The headline might better have said "There was only occasional gunfire."
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
I would just say "silent". it doesn't seem to need to be past tense, does it? or leave off the "largely"...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79
journeyman
|
journeyman
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 79 |
But can gunfire really be silent? Surely it is the guns that were silent/silenced?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
My point exactly, dear Hibernicus.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439 |
Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah,
I would have handed the copy back to the reporter with one word : "Recast." If they couldn't figure out why it was wrong - Well!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 555
addict
|
addict
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 555 |
But..but...but..it is not the headline is it? I don't know, Bill. We do say, 'the sound of gunfire', don't we? And so, 'silencing gunfire', doesn't sound all that bad.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
…it is not the headline is it?
Der Quibblemeister finds this headline ill written:
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
The headline seems okay to me. Gunfire, the firing of guns (rather than the sound of the guns), has been deliberately stopped. A similar use of "silenced" might be applied to dissent or dissentors. The Czar's critics were silenced. To say that the guns were silent is to suggest a passive or happenstance result. The fact that there exists a device known as a silencer for firearms does muddy the waters slightly, but not so much that a reader would interpret the headline incorrectly.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
May I suggest re-reading what Hibernicus said?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Isn't there a rhetorical device that does just this sort of thing?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
If I were to change the headline it would be the expression "largely silenced." If the gunfire has stopped altogether then some mention of silence is appropriate. If there is sporadic gunfire then I would describe it as such.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Gunfire means the the firing of guns. When guns are fired, they make noise, which is also called gunfire. Gunfire cannot be made quiet, cannot be silenced.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
It's metonymy Dr Bill. Or either synecdoche, one.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
But not good writing. I could say shit was shinola and call it a metaphor.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
From his tone I'd say wwh is getting pretty chuffed over this issue...
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
|
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce To me, the strangeness comes from the fact that this should apply to a truce. Gunfire was largely silenced suggests to me that one party responsible was wiped out by the other.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Alex: I had to say it so Faldage would understand it. I hew to the line, let the chips fall where they may. Carthago delenda est. And rember, we havn't found any \ dictionary confirmation of "chuffed" meaning unhappy. Have you got any?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
Ah I was just pulling your leg with the "chuffed" comment.
Getting back to the sounds of silence... Merriam-Webster gives one definition of silence as a transitive verb meaning "to cause to cease hostile firing or criticism," which is how it is being used in the sentence in question. And "gunfire" is being used as a type of synecdoche or metonymy as Faldage pointed out. What I find objectionable (mildly) is that "largely silenced" is a bit like "mostly a virgin" or "a little bit pregnant."
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I just re-read Dr Bill's original post. This doesn't make the wording any more elegant, but it's the "lede", not the "hed" (hi, Wow! ) he's quoting. In fact, I just googled this and although the headline still stood for a while, looks like the leads got changed, all in different ways, depending on timing and on which newspaper was editing the story.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Alex: My mind's made up. Don't try to confuse me with facts. Der Quibblemeister
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
My mind's made up. Don't try to confuse me with facts. That's what my mother says!
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
6 Remember him-before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180
member
|
member
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 180 |
"And rember, we havn't found any \ dictionary confirmation of "chuffed" meaning unhappy. Have you got any?"
"Chaffed", mebbe?
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34
newbie
|
newbie
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 34 |
"There was only occasional gunfire."
Beg to differ, wwh.
Your variation does not describe the relative quiet in Fallujah as accurately as "gunfire was largely silenced".
What is being described is not a random lull in the fighting, but a silence imposed by the threat of imminent reprisals or by actual reprisals.
Sad to say, but no-one thinks this quiet will be "silenced" for long.
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
"largely silenced" is a bit like "mostly a virgin" or "a little bit pregnant."
Not the same thing, though Alex. "Silence" is at one end of a scale, with "(a word meaning total noise)" at the other. You can, therefore, say "almost silent" to indicate how far along that scale you are. Pregnancy is an absolute; a binary condition; on or off - either you is or you ain't. The only scale is that which has fallen of the eye of the ex-maiden concerned.
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,328
Members9,182
|
Most Online3,341 Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
1 members (wofahulicodoc),
755
guests, and
1
robot. |
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|