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#86563 11/11/02 06:22 AM
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Bingley Offline OP
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In my weekend reading I noticed that the writer (who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) frequently used the word statement to mean facial expression.

His face was devoid of statement, but inside he was seething.

His face took on a surprised statement.


The writer uses USn spelling so I assume he comes from over that side of the Atlantic. I strongly suspect he has undergone some sort of psychobabble counselling. Has anyone else come across this use of the word or is this an idiosyncracy of the writer?

Bingley


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#86564 11/11/02 07:03 AM
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My vote is for the idiosyncracy option. It sounds hideous to me. Or rather, the second usage sounds worse than the first. This is of course no more than my humble opinion.

It is nice to see posting you here again, Bingley. I hope you are well. the only thing I typed here were the three sets of square brackets


#86565 11/11/02 09:09 AM
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sjm, I completely agree with you. Whilst I accept that one's facial expression does make a statement, the use of that word in this context, especially, as you so rightly say, in the second cae, is anathema to me.
I sincerely hope that, a) it is an idiosyncracy of that writer, and b) that it doesn't catch on!

I hope that your virtual abandonment of typewriting doesn't mean that your posts will all be dragon on!



#86566 11/11/02 11:06 AM
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His face took on a surprised statement.

Nice metaphor!


#86567 11/11/02 12:18 PM
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Nice metaphor!

Yeah, if used once. Apparently this guy used it repeatedly.


#86568 11/11/02 12:59 PM
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To me, this smacks of machine translation. Are you sure this was a native-English speaking author?


#86569 11/11/02 02:03 PM
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Yeah, could be a machine translation, but it could also be some cute affectation adopted purposely by the writer as some sort of personal style...whatever the reason, it doesn't work for me, it's awkward and forced and I don't like it. I'd use expression in either case. That's my statement and I'm sticking to it!


#86570 11/12/02 12:50 AM
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Bingley Offline OP
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Yes, he seemed to be a native speaker, despite a rather infelicitous style of writing. His use of statement was the only thing that struck me as wrong rather than just clumsy.

Bingley


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#86571 11/12/02 11:36 AM
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Why not just share with us the name of the author? There's no need to protect the guilty.


#86572 11/12/02 11:55 AM
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Yeah. Let us see the whole thang! I don't see anything wrong with what you've shown us so far so I'm voting not-guilty (or at least not-proven) unless you can come up with something more.


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