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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
Would there be a nicer word than nice then? Isn't nice just good enough? One of the die-hard words?
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631
addict
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OP
addict
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 631 |
At one point in The Maltese Falcon, Kasper Gutman (aka the "Fat Man") says to Sam Spade: Frankly, sir, I'd like to have you along. You're a man of nice judgement and many resources. As well as "pleasant" and "kind", nice means "fine or subtle" as in "a nice distinction." I like boring words which have interesting but usually overlooked additional meanings. Another example is "report" for gunshot, and "sensible" for "able to notice or appreciate" ("we are sensible of the difficulties he faces.")
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
"sensible" for "able to notice or appreciate" Isn't that kind of ...well, old, for lack of a better term? I recall reading it only in books that were written many decades ago. I would be happy to learn that it's still being used.
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Joined: Apr 2007
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Posts: 120 |
Now, if you say groovy, you're ...a throwback
Or so far behind you are ahead - again.
Did I debate you in high school?  I'm of the opinion that there is a Cabal Of Intriguers (COI)
who decide on a phrase, arrange to have it dropped into printed and spoken language for the sole purpose of annoying people. Since these words/phrases cause much tooth-gnashing I suspect COI has a good many dentists in its membership.
And of course at meetings the COI gleefully peruse language forums like this to see how well they are doing.
I volunteer to find this cabal, seduce them into compliance, gain entry to their secret happenings and then expose them to the world to end the abuse of innocent slang!
Last edited by Maven; 05/21/07 08:19 PM.
tempus edax rerum
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
Would there be a nicer word than nice then? Isn't nice just good enough? One of the die-hard words?
Her disapproval was for the overuse by highschool students who didn't bother to try to find/learn/use words which were more interesting or appropriate. "This was a good book. It was about two guys. One was nice but the other wasn't. Then they went on a trip and their plane crashed and the other guy learned to be nice too. The end."
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 74
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2006
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I also like the interesting associated meanings of common words. Another one that comes to mind is "hand", meaning a person whose chief work is with his hands: a laborer, sailor or a "hired hand".
I should be able to come up with other examples, but my mind is drawing a blank. Maybe this is fodder for a separate thread?
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
From your post, it is not entirely clear to me if you are complaining: (a) about the habit of calling any arbitrary direction "forward" or (b) the over-use of the set phrase "going forward".
(a) is not strictly a linguistic problem, but more related to pervasive hype and marketing.
as for (b): What about "going ahead" which, to my ears, sounds more elegant and means just about the same.
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
I'm of the opinion that there is a Cabal Of Intriguers (COI)
who decide on a phrase, arrange to have it dropped into printed and spoken language for the sole purpose of annoying people.
I'm coming to the conclusion that there's a Cabal of Complainers who pick some poor defenseless phrase and decide to pule and micturate about how it sets their teeth on edge or is worse than fingernails on a blackboard or some such nonsensical complaint. Pick some of the typical phrases complained about and see if there are more ghits where it's being used or where it's being complained about.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Well, crum--I was hoping to offer a replacement for puling; one that would fit the more common expression of what micturating means and moaning, but the thesaurus only came up with common words for moan, groan, and whine. After that I gave up. Though at least I understand now the meaning of tsuwm's thread I just read before this one!
By the way--what is that Red Orbit thing that comes up sometimes now, unasked-for? (I went to thesaurus.com, and suddenly I was looking at the Red Orbit page.) If it's a pop-up, it's a kind new to me: this is a full-screen page of what looks like news. Um...maybe I should run my spyware detector.
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