#39388
08/23/2001 11:25 PM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2 |
Hey there everybody! I've got a question! Okay I was wondering if anyone knew if the word "Quieten" is a proper word I've seen it used as follows: "Jane scratched behind Spot's ears to quieten him." I was wondering if maybe it was "The English thing to say?" Please answer soon! Thanks.
Ashley
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#39389
08/24/2001 12:31 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear Brunetter: while this coinage is easily understood and as a transitive verb may be a tiny bit better than "quiet", but it does not seem to me that the need for it is great enough to make its acceptance likely.
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#39390
08/24/2001 12:41 AM
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 618
addict
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addict
Joined: Jan 2001
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On the other hand I have always used (and heard) "quieten". "Quiet" appearing, IMHO, rather lazy and somewhat insufficient.
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#39391
08/24/2001 2:11 AM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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it's a common enough word... [tsuwm flips through some virtual pages] chiefly British, meaning the same as the verb quiet, "A public meeting was held to quieten the tension.", "We got them quietened down after a bit."
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#39392
08/24/2001 2:27 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome to the board, Brunetterr! And thanks for the interesting thread!  I've heard and used quieten often in the phrase quieten down when trying to quell the noise level of a crowd in conversation for instance. "Okay everybody, quieten down!
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#39393
08/24/2001 8:26 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393 |
In Modern English Usage if I recall rightly Fowler gave detailed list of words where the -en conversive suffix is necessary, allowable, and unwanted.
Some adjectives have to take it to become verbs. You can't hard or soft or dark something: you harden, soften, and darken it.
At the other end, you wet or smooth something: the verbs wetten and smoothen might exist, but the only excuse for using them is if you desperately need the extra syllable in poetry.
To me, quieten is the normal word and I would have said there's no verb "to quiet". Well, I suppose there is, but I would never say I was going to quiet a baby or a crowd. However, it seems from the above that it's acceptable in N.Am. usage.
In between are words where both occur: to damp or dampen something. I think I'd damp abstract things like ardours and dampen things like towels.
The first seems to be the largest category: blacken, sharpen, steepen, moisten, redden, freshen, etc. etc.
The suffix only goes on old monosyllables so there's very little room for neologism, but I recently used the word "pinken" feeling I was inventing it; then promptly met it twice in Amy Bloom's Love Invents Us (plug for wonderful novel).
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#39394
08/24/2001 9:30 AM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> quieten downI'd say I've heard 'quiet down' at least as many times as 'quieten down. > freshen I don't think I've ever heard this used as anything but a verbal phrase, e.g.: I'm off to freshen up (or I'm off to refresh myself  )
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#39395
08/24/2001 3:05 PM
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Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
This is the same usage as the well-known Pennsylvania Dutch expression, outen the light.
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#39396
08/24/2001 8:43 PM
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Joined: Mar 2001
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addict
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addict
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quieten; freshen
I would be far more likely to say, "Quiet down." Quieten doesn't roll off my tongue as easily. I have, however, heard freshen used as a transitive verb, eg, May I freshen your drink?
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#39397
08/24/2001 10:21 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 2,636
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If I'm not mistaken, you can also freshen a cow. The purpose being to get said cow to produce milk. Someone please tell me if I'm wrong about this since I really had to beat the dust off it.
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#39398
08/24/2001 10:58 PM
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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good one, consuelo!
fresh - a. 10c. Of a cow: yielding a renewed or greatly increased supply of milk; coming into milk. U.S.
freshen - v. d. Of a cow: to become fresh (see fresh a. 10c). U.S.
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#39399
08/25/2001 1:33 AM
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2 |
Wow, thank you all for the feedback. I thought it might be British. I have been using "quiet down" the whole of my life but, I rather like "quieten" now! : )It's always fun to learn new words - even if they aren't all that new!
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#39400
08/25/2001 2:28 AM
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,189
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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quiet/quieten down
I have always used both as well. But I always use "Quiet down!" as an order, a brusque assertion, or an exclamation. As a more gentle command it's usually, "Okay, everybody, quieten down." Strange, but I never really thought about it before this thread!
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#39401
08/25/2001 2:38 AM
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Welcome, Brunetterr. It's interesting to me that using the three-syllable version seems more likely to accomplish the goal. It forces the hearer(s) to listen for a beat longer, and if they're listening, then presumably they are not making quite so much noise...
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#39402
08/27/2001 7:37 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Thanks for a n interesting thread, Brunetterr, I hope you stay around for a long while. To me, as a Brit, "to quieten" comes much more naturally as a verb, although I'll agree with b-y that "to quiet" is in very common use over here these days. But whenever I hear it, my mind registers it as 'an Amercanism' (with all the pejorative connotations that phrase has over here!) As to "quieten down!, used as an imperative, I greatly prefer the old-fashioned (and rarely heard, these days) Brit naval command, "Keep silence!"
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#39403
08/27/2001 7:40 AM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
Thanks for an interesting thread, Brunetterr, I hope you stay around for a long while. To me, as a Brit, "to quieten" comes much more naturally as a verb, although I'll agree with b-y that "to quiet" is in very common use over here these days. But whenever I hear it, my mind registers it as 'an Amercanism' (with all the pejorative connotations that phrase has over here!) As to "quieten down!", used as an imperative, I greatly prefer the old-fashioned (and, these days, rarely heard) Brit. naval command, "Keep silence!"
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#39404
08/27/2001 5:34 PM
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 393
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Dec 2000
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Well, brusque imperatives don't have to be verbs. I could say "Quiet!" as I would "Silence!", "Here!", "Down!", "Slow!", "Bigger!.
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