Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
#14864 01/12/2001 8:18 AM
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 31
newbie
newbie
Offline
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 31
It strikes me that if you used "though" instead of "but" nobody would remark on the construction. Since the two words are sometimes interchangeable when used at the start of a phrase it's not too hard to imagine somebody substituting "but" for "though" at the end of it. Follow?

Here's the putative evolution:
I don't like caramel, though chocolate's not bad.
I don't like caramel, but chocolate's not bad.
I don't like chocolate; caramel's not bad, though.
I don't like chocolate; caramel's not bad, but.

Presumably a few people think this sounds cute, the fad takes off and a new mannerism is born. Too far-fetched?

BTW I presume that saying "chocolate's not bad, though" is also anastrophe? If so, I'm thrilled to know that all my life I have been using such lah-di-dah grammatical constructions. [emoticon of a kugel preening]

On second thoughts it does rather take the gilt off it to know that millions of Ozzies are using it too - and more imaginatively!


#14865 01/12/2001 8:33 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
jmh Offline
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
>Too far-fetched?

Spot on, think I.


#14866 01/12/2001 9:22 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
that millions of Ozzies are using it too

Yep, happens.

- and more imaginatively!

Now, hang on a minute - that's stretching things a bit too far. at Marty, Marvin, Paulb and the rest!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14867 01/12/2001 12:35 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
at Marty, Marvin, Paulb and the rest!

Er--who's Marvin? And, my sweetheart paulb is not from
Australia, but.




#14868 01/12/2001 4:23 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Marvin was an illusion or delusion (see the appropriate thread). paulb is from Tasmania which, the last time I was there, my dear, is only semi-detached from Oz!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14869 01/12/2001 5:42 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
CK avers Marvin was an illusion or delusion...

sort of a giant Aussie rabbit, Elwood?




#14870 01/12/2001 5:57 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
In reply to:

paulb is from Tasmania


Ah yes, home of David Boon, that freak of nature. How someone with his less-than whippet-like frame could be such an outstanding fielder at suicidal mid-on or mid-off still remains a mystery to me.


#14871 01/12/2001 6:20 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
sort of a giant Aussie rabbit, Elwood?

Yes, and therein lies a tail.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14872 01/12/2001 6:24 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Max wonders: Ah yes, home of David Boon, that freak of nature. How someone with his less-than whippet-like frame could be such an outstanding fielder at suicidal mid-on or mid-off still remains a mystery to me.

But not to me. He's of "typical" Tasmanian build and attitude. He must have appeared to be a damned-near insuperable obstacle to batsmen. The effect of his presence at silly mid on was as much pyschological as physical! NZ batsmen hated it.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14873 01/12/2001 7:30 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
veteran
Offline
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
In reply to:

silly mid-on


Since some of you were so good as to explain to us benighted Yanks what LBW is, how about this colorful term?


#14874 01/12/2001 9:07 PM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409

#14875 01/12/2001 9:08 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
...back to "Enjoy!" for a moment: that trasitive-arbitrarily-turned-instransitive irks me as well. What's worse, though (has anyone else experienced this?) is after the waitron unit has commanded you to "enjoy" s/he returns before you're finished eating and says, "You still working on that?"
(maybe I frequent the wrong establishments )


#14876 01/14/2001 12:21 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
Bob

I'm distressed that a sneaking K1W1 has seen fit to answer your cricket question. On behalf of all Australians, could I insist that all future questions of this nature are directed west of the land of the long white cloud.

Only Ozzies (and perhaps South Africans) currently have the right to speak with authority on this subject. Other nations merely pretend that they know about the game - a fact inevitably demonstrated once their team takes the field.

Australia has even had to come up with the 'Australia A' concept, putting a second string team into the international competition (as well as the First XI). We've had to do this to ensure that our opponents have somebody they can defeat every now and then - an act of benevolent magnificence designed to ensure that international self esteem is not completely destroyed.

stales


#14877 01/14/2001 12:29 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
jmh Offline
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
>international self esteem is not completely destroyed

Every nation has its own ways of maintaining its international self esteem. The main trick is to have a sport that no-one else plays then running a "world series" or "world championship" that no other country is eligible to enter. We have some rather fine darts players who seem to be able to occupy long periods of television without inviting any other country to compete.


#14878 01/14/2001 12:52 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Stales the Parochial said: Australia has even had to come up with the 'Australia A' concept, putting a second string team into the international competition (as well as the First XI). We've had to do this to ensure that our opponents have somebody they can defeat every now and then - an act of benevolent magnificence designed to ensure that international self esteem is not completely destroyed.

That's what I said. Only the Strine could produce cricket teams like the ones you've got. After all, everyone's got to have at least one undisputed talent, no matter what it takes to maintain the "superiority" I had Christmas Dinner with one of the umpires from the underarm match. He said it made him so ashamed to be an Austraaalian that he immediately went out and married a Kiwi - my neighbour's daughter. Ahhh, reflected notoriety, I just love it!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14879 01/14/2001 3:17 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
A lovely friend wrote that he was going to a test cricket.
I found this a little puzzling, and a lot laughable: why on earth would anyone a.) build a model of a cricket;
b.)invite people to come see how it works, or
c.)go see whether a robot cricket works as it should or not?

Ok, ok, I have since found out (from another lovely friend--the first was too insulted by my questions to answer!)--that this expression refers to some kind of final or semi-final championship playoff round of games. But why is it referred to in that odd-sounding way? Why isn't it just called The Cricket Championship, or even The Cricket Test
(though that sounds pretty odd, too)? Why is the noun put in front as though it were a modifier?


#14880 01/14/2001 4:17 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
In reply to:

A lovely friend wrote that he was going to a test cricket.


I suspect that your friend may well have said that he was going to a cricket Test (short for Test match). A Test is any sporting fixture between national representative sides, at least, it is in cricket and the rugby codes. A Test match in cricket is a fantastic thing to watch, it's like chess on a field, although for large parts of its five-day existence, it can seem somewhat less athletic than chess.



#14881 01/14/2001 8:22 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
paulb is from Tasmania
Oh No he isn't! (you can see the panto season isn't over, yet) He's a grand Lancashire Lad - summat tha' never grows out o', ne'mind wheer tha moves to!



#14882 01/14/2001 8:30 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
The main trick is to have a sport that no-one else plays then running a "world series" or "world championship" that no other country is eligible to enter
But it doesn't always work. The City of Lancaster has, for the past five or six years, held the International Sedan Chair Championship races. Typically, there have been six or eight local teams as the only entrants. Last year, a team from Denmark competed. They did well, although they didn't win. But with this experience, they will return next year and win - you can bet your breeches on it!


#14883 01/14/2001 8:38 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
A Test match in cricket is a fantastic thing to watch,
Fantastic is, assuredly, the correct word for Test Cricket.



#14884 01/14/2001 8:50 AM
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,409
In reply to:

A Test match in cricket is a fantastic thing to watch,
Fantastic is, assuredly, the correct word for Test Cricket.


Absolutely. In what other sport could one see notations like this in the official scoring records for a match. Player X - First innings , XX runs (retd. hurt) Second innings (DNB - dead) I loved that one from the moment I read it, at the same time as I wondered what happened to the Pakistani gentleman who ran his colleague out on 499, in the days before Lara broke the Test record. I would have loved to have been the fly on that locker-room wall!



#14885 01/14/2001 9:18 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
I've been a fan of test cricket since I was a boy - my uncle was a first-class umpire, didn't have a son and I got elected. Spent a lot of happy holidays at The House of Pain (Carisbrook in Dunedin). The provincial matches were always fun, not really taken too seriously. Whether internationals were fun or not depended on who was playing New Zealand. Wasn't allowed into the player areas for those, so I don't know just how good or bad the atmosphere was. One-dayers are too tense - it's win or lose and high pressure. Fun to watch in small doses!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14886 01/14/2001 1:16 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Why don't you guys start a "weird sports" thread and leave us to our buts?


#14887 01/14/2001 2:28 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
wow Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,439
Poster: AnnaStrophic
Subject: Re: Cricket, etc
Why don't you guys start a "weird sports" thread and leave us to our buts?

If they don't listen, shall we start a "girl stuff" thread and leave them mind-numbingly bored?
I'm with you all the way, Anna,
wow


#14888 01/14/2001 5:25 PM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Why don't you guys start a "weird sports" thread and leave us to our buts?

Aren't you supposed to be out somewhere in the northern States, wearing your cloak and carrying your dagger, in the ongoing search for the elusive tsuwm and/or his kidnappers?



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14889 01/15/2001 2:40 AM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
wow, let's do it. I suggest we begin a thread on "meaningful relationships." That'll mind-numb 'em!

CapK, I am on my mission as we speak (I from my super-duper palm pilot, lurking and freezing my but [sic emoticon] on the banks of the mighty Mississippi). Cannot say any more right now. Spies abound. Roger, 10-4.


#14890 01/15/2001 7:21 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
wow, let's do it. I suggest we begin a thread on "meaningful relationships." That'll mind-numb 'em!

Yep, I'm always bored by what I don't understand.

CapK, I am on my mission as we speak (I from my super-duper palm pilot, lurking and freezing my but [sic emoticon] on the banks of the mighty Mississippi). Cannot say any more right now. Spies abound. Roger, 10-4.

I've changed my mind (see the "but" thread). It's far too dangerous. You'll be intercepted by the Tennesee Valley Authority and hung by your thumbs until you talk. About .2 of a second. I've got a mission for you in Grozny, Chechnya, which will be a walk in the park by comparison.




The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14891 01/15/2001 12:20 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
They're eclectic too, because they don't seem to differentiate..
Rather puzzled by your use of the word "eclectic", I always thought you did need to differentiate if you wanted to be eclectic.


#14892 01/15/2001 1:23 PM
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
jmh Offline
Pooh-Bah
Pooh-Bah
Offline
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
>Rather puzzled by your use of the word "eclectic"

I think he means "eclectic" as in saying "enjoy" whilst pouring coffee in your lap. Sounds a pretty eclectic choice of ords to me


#14893 01/15/2001 3:05 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Jo suggests: The main trick is to have a sport that no-one else plays

That's how I became the undisputed Shogi champion of Haven Hall back in my first time through (sic) college days. I was the only one who could remember which one was the bishop and which one the rook.


#14894 01/16/2001 9:29 PM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
enthusiast
Offline
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
I saw the Australian film "The Dish" last night. It contained a perfect example of the trailing "but" as anastrophe (or substitute for however/though if you prefer to think of it like that):

"She's a lovely girl."
"Not much of a driver, but."

This usage is certainly not a recent fad, although you wouldn't want to use this film (set in New South Wales, Australia in 1969) as a source of accurate historical information, given the poetic licence apparent at times. I can date my first experience of the "terminal but" to January 1976 - on a bushwalking trip I met a guy from New South Wales whose use of it was so chronic that we nicknamed him "But".

And you've gotta see the film if you get the chance, for these reasons, amongst others:
1. Classic example of the Australian sense of humour (he says, at the risk of being accused of rash generalization).
2. Great nostalgia trip back to the Apollo 11 mission, for those who are old enough.
3. The soundtrack (mostly pop songs from the era) ain't half bad.
I just hope it travels OK - it's a bit hard for me to judge how it will be received elsewhere.


#14895 01/17/2001 3:36 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Saw it, loved it, forgot about it for years. Yes, worth seeing - as is "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#14896 01/17/2001 4:17 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
old hand
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 866
Seeing the flick was a pilgrimage for me, having worked as a geologist out of Parkes, NSW during 1984. A girl from my grad class was working as a trainee Astrophysicist at "The Dish" and gave me the grand tour one night. (The fact that she had an Honours degree in Geology with only first year physics was, both she and I thought, a bit puzzling considering the role for which she was selected!!)

Either the film people had brilliant set builders or they saved a mint on set costs. Although it's been 16 years since I visited the facility, the interior scenes WERE filmed inside the building.

I second everybody's recommendation that y'all see the film. It's an absolute scream, factually pretty good and a good insight to Australia of the late 60's.

For those that've seen it, is your place like ours is now? - every time my wife reprimands me in front of friends or guests I reply with a quick, sotto voce, "Elbows!!"

stales


#14897 01/17/2001 4:31 AM
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
enthusiast
enthusiast
Offline
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 347
CapK saw it, loved it, forgot about it for years

which is no mean feat for a movie released in Australia in October 2000 and due for UK and US release this year.

Re stales' "factually pretty good" comment, I did a bit of research on it today, and found quite a lot of supporting information provided by the Parkes radiotelescope people, and a lot of rebuttal from the "rival" Honeysuckle Creek (also in Australia) mob. Fascinating reading, but I won't go further for fear of spoiling the plot for potential viewers.


#14898 01/17/2001 7:25 AM
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Ooops. Wrong movie, I guess. I remembered an Aussie movie about "guys in the bush" and laughed my way through it years ago. Just assumed it was the same one! After seeing Stales' eulogistic comments, it definitely wasn't!

Sorry folks.



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 8.0.0