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old hand
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OP
old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
My question concerns the use of wise as a suffix. For example:
He's a real businesswise guy.
Or sports players often say 'Team-wise the game went well.'
Do you guys/gals agree this is a fair usage of the suffix, or should it be reserved for otherwise and clockwise?
Is it acceptable to coin new words using -wise, if only in informal prose?
Should, when someone is being quoted, a coinage be written as, for example, 'sales-wise' or 'saleswise'?
What about 'street(-)wise' becoming 'street wise' (a bonafide saying, so to speak)?
right, got to go,
CDB
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
On a personal note, I detest the use of "-wise" to coin new words. It has an ugly sound, and tends to be used in places where a perfectly good word or phrase already exists.
However, in informal speech, almost anything goes, I suppose. I do cringe, internally, when other people use the form, but I hope I don't let it show.
So far as "street-wise" is concerned, this is an entirely different usage, for which I can see no real objection. It has the meaning of "wise in the way that life is lived in a particular context", whereas the suffix of which I have just complained (somewhat tetchily, I fear!) has the meaning of "tending towards" or "having to do with," or possible "matters concerning."
E.g., "He is a smooth operator, business-wise" means that he has a certain amount of acumen in matters concerning business. (There is, I suppose, a faint connotation that he is such a smooth operator in other aspects of life!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409 |
the suffix of which I have just complained (somewhat tetchily, I fear!) has the meaning of "tending towards" or "having to do with," or possible "matters concerning."
Tetch away, good man, it is loathsome, and thoroughly deserves to be tetched!
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newbie
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newbie
Joined: May 2001
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I tend to agree. The willy-nilly agglomeration of '-wise' onto any noun is a wretched, semi-literate crutch that should be beaten out of the offender, upside-the-head-wise. On a similar note, is it 'sideways' or 'sidewise' where you live? I've heard both in various regions of the US, and am unsure if this is legitimate regional variation or simply course of least effort, word-wise. 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'm coming in with the Commando, Max and Slovovi on this one!
Sideways.
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addict
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addict
Joined: Feb 2001
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'sideways' or 'sidewise' where you live?
'sideways' or 'sidewards' for me in UK. I looked up 'sidewards' in POD but it isn't there, though dictionary online found it. I will ask if my colleagues use it or if it is just myself.
Rodwards
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veteran
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veteran
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This use of "-wise" is almost as bad as the U.S. media's love affair with "-gate". If I hear another scandal referred to as Monicagate, or Bedpangate or whatevergate, I shall start screaming.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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In Michigan, it is "sideways." I've never heard "sidewise" in use before.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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likewise, its always sideways--here in the big apple.and i think we use street smarts rather than street wise-- Street wise would be someone who knew whether 99 Beaver street was closer to b'way or pearl street. Someone with street smarts would be savy to the ways of the city.
I personal hate timewise.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
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'Street-wise' aside, which is a valid combination with the adjective forming another adjective, there are two distinct adverbial suffixes.
The first one is the good old English one meaning 'in the manner of' or 'according to': crabwise, clockwise, sidewise.
The second one is the Pentagonese meaning 'with respect to', which gets added to anything.
The first is used in a few mathematical expressions: pairwise disjoint (= taking pair by pair), componentwise addition (= taking component by component). It is also used in heraldry: palewise = oriented in the direction of a pale, i.e. vertically; bendwise = oriented like a bend, i.e. diagonally.
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stranger
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stranger
Joined: Jun 2000
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I was attracted to this thread by the title "wise guy", hoping to learn more about the different uses of an expression that has been irritating me. When I was a child, my Bronx-born father would admonish me not to be such a "wise guy" when I was being fresh or when I had made a rude remark to an adult. Later, I was surprised to learn from Hollywood Mafia films that a "wise guy" was an initiated member of the mob. What does the term mean to "youse guys"? (Sorry to change the subject.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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What does the term mean to "youse guys"?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wise guy:
A smartalec, quick with smug answers, impudent (children).
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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...surprised to learn from Hollywood Mafia films... I'm sure it can't get much earlier in "Hollywood time" than Curly "Stooge"'s version ... mmmm...wise guy... why I oughtah... "youse guys"?... ahemm. That would be the plural version - "Yous guys".  ammelah - The two versions are expressing the same *sentiment.
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old hand
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OP
old hand
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Thanks for the info. I now know more than I would otherwise have known:-) I particularly like 'pairwise'.
Herr Paarweise
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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whilst looking for something else, I stumbled across this in the AHD usage guide -- it really just backs up what NW posted:
-wise
The suffix -wise forms adverbs when it attaches to adjectives or nouns. It comes from an Old English suffix -wise, which meant “in a particular direction or manner.” Thus clockwise means “in the direction that a clock goes,” and likewise means “in like manner, similarly.” For the last fifty years or so, -wise has also meant “with respect to,” as in saleswise, meaning “with respect to sales,” and taxwise, meaning “with respect to taxes.” Many people consider this usage awkward, however, and you may want to avoid it, especially in formal settings.
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