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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
I heard a traffic report on the radio, while I was driving to work this morning, in which it was announced that a stoplight in nearby Marysville was malcycling, causing a backup on city streets. To my prescriptivist shame, I knew what the reporter meant.
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Joined: Jul 2003
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,230 |
Is a brilliant coinage, imo. I'd never heard it before and instantly understood it, and recognised that no other single word exists for describing the process so precisely. Bravissimo/a to its originator.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Good of you to own up, Padre.  I like it too -- analagous to malfunctioning.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Quote:
To my prescriptivist shame, I knew what the reporter meant.
So, as a prescriptivist you object to the coining of useful and immediately understandable words?
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
The use of novel words in speech
Does not merit criticism
Because one man's apparent breach
Is another's witicism.
All words were coinages at first:
The apt ones and the terrible.
The good are good; the worse are worst.
The latter are unbearable.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557
addict
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addict
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 557 |
When the light unexpectedly changes in your favor, it must be benecycling. 
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
OK. I'm gonna be a nitpicker here. Is there a difference between malfunctioning and nonfunctioning? Similarly, is there a difference between malcycling and noncycling?
To me, malfunctioning means it's working but it's not working correctly. Noncycling means it's totally dead. And a noncycling traffic light is IN THEORY better than a malfunctioning one, since the former is supposed to be treated as a four way stop sign.
But a malcycling traffic light could well be one that is randomly flashing red, amber, and green so it would be possible to have green in all directions at one time, which would, of course be much worse than a light that was not working at all. And while I, like Father Steve, had an immediate grasp of what was going on, now I'm not so certain that this particular coinage is at all helpful.
If a light is not working at all the broadcast traffic report could and should say, "The traffic signal at Walk and Dontwalk is completely out so all of you know that you need to treat that intersection as a four-way stop. Come to a complete stop and proceed carefully when it's certain you can do so without having an accident."
But if the light is malcycling in some other way, the warning should be entirely different: "Goodness folks, listen to this one closely. The traffic signal at Walk and Dontwalk has gone bananas. Sometimes it's red in all directions, sometimes it's green in all directions. Avoid that intersection if you can but if you can't be extremely careful."
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
Up to now, I thought malcycling was the privilege of cyclists : they tend to view traffic ligths as an optional affair.
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Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
I would interpret malcycling as the timing being off on the lights.
As and example, I've been stopped at a light where the green light on one branch of the intersection is green for just a second or so, not enough time for a car to get through intersection, before it turns red again.
And just recently, near my home, the lights were cycling through green, yellow and red so quickly, a huge jam was created because people didn't know whose turn it was.
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 203 |
Quote:
So, as a prescriptivist you object to the coining of useful and immediately understandable words?
Ha! That's sooo Faldage! Love it!
As much as I love Father Steve's wry take on the world, and his endearing persistence with this whole prescriptivist thang (hey look... that's a word I picked that up here. Don't you love that? Thang. Thang, thang, thang! Feels good to say it! Thang! Like a twang of a guitar string!)
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