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#42904 10/13/01 01:55 AM
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I think your use of the word "gist" as an extrapolation of "Gist-it" is quite ingenious, Max. As you say, translation software can only give you the "gist" of the text in a foreign language. And, if your depth in things scientific is as shallow as mine, all you would want is the "gist" of a technical scientific report. The rest would be way over your head. So "gist it for me" is right on. A commendable addition to the language, Max.


#42905 10/13/01 02:08 AM
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None of these words convey the nuance of "gist", wwh. A "gist" is not an adumbration, synopsis, abstract or precis. It is a dumbed down 'translation' of a techical article. It could be a synopsis or a precis but it is more than that. It seeks to interpret the work that is "gisted" in a manner that may not be technically accurate in order to make it comprehensible to a lay person. There is no flavor of that extended meaning in any of the alternatives proposed.


#42906 10/13/01 03:59 PM
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I agree, Plutarch, with practically everything you said except I might point out that a nuance, by it's nature, is speaker/listener specific. As a self-anointed lay person I interpret the "gist" of something as the "essence" of something. As well, it has been my observation that many writers of technical papers write to obfuscate by contrived jargon rather than elucidating their lack of something worthwhile to say.
And while we are on the subject; The planet Venus also has an axial retrograde rotation, and strangely, its orbit is nearly circular which leads me and the late Velikovsky (yes that late Velikovsky) to think that the planet is a newcomer to this part of the solar system. But I say, as the late President Nixon once said- No, I am not a kook.


#42907 10/13/01 04:59 PM
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Milum, I believe you're right about Venus. (slapping my own forehead -e)
Do I recall that that was discovered only recently, the planet's rotation having been difficult to ascertain due to its cloud cover?


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