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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
... between 'ubiquitous' and 'omnipresent'?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"ubiquitous" is something that goes everywhere. "omnipresent" is something that exists everywhere.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I think they're virtually interchangeable in all cases but. ubiquitous is often *defined as omnipresent but. ubiquitous is about 3 times as prevalent, per google.
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
The one has root meaning "to go", the other is from verb "to be."
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
"Ubique" is used above the coat of arms of the Royal Artillery and was intended as a boast that they went everywhere. Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem, it's a bit long but some of the references are interesting :
UBIQUE
by
Rudyard Kipling
There is a word you often see, pronounce it as you may -
'You bike,' 'you bikwe,' 'ubbikwe' - alludin' to R.A.
It serves 'Orse, Field, an' Garrison as motto for a crest,
An' when you've found out all it means I'll tell you 'alf the rest.
Ubique means the long-range Krupp be'ind the low-range 'ill -
Ubique means you'll pick it up an', while you do stand, still.
Ubique means you've caught the flash an' timed it by the sound.
Ubique means five gunners' 'ash before you've loosed a round.
Ubique means Blue Fuse, an' make the 'ole to sink the trail.
Ubique means stand up an' take the Mauser's 'alf-mile 'ail.
Ubique means the crazy team not God nor man can 'old.
Ubique means that 'orse's scream which turns your innards cold.
Ubique means 'Bank, 'Olborn, Bank - a penny all the way -
The soothin' jingle-bump-an'-clank from day to peaceful day.
Ubique means 'They've caught De Wet, an' now we sha'n't be long.'
Ubique means 'I much regret, the beggar's going strong!'
Ubique means the tearin' drift where, breech-blocks jammed with mud,
The khaki muzzles duck an' lift across the khaki flood.
Ubique means the dancing plain that changes rocks to Boers.
Ubique means the mirage again an' shellin' all outdoors.
Ubique means 'Entrain at once for Grootdefeatfontein'!
Ubique means 'Off-load your guns' - at midnight in the rain!
Ubique means 'More mounted men. Return all guns to store.'
Ubique means the R.A.M.R. Infantillery Corps!
Ubique means the warnin' grunt the perished linesman knows,
When o'er 'is strung an' sufferin' front the shrapnel sprays 'is foes,
An' as their firin' dies away the 'usky whisper runs
From lips that 'aven't drunk all day: 'The Guns! Thank Gawd, the Guns!'
Extreme, depressed, point-blank or short, end-first or any'ow,
From Colesberg Kop to Quagga's Poort - from Ninety-Nine till now -
By what I've 'eard the others tell an' I in spots 'ave seen,
There's nothin' this side 'Eaven or 'Ell Ubique doesn't mean!
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 450
addict
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addict
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 450 |
A difference in sense perhaps, rather than meaning. Ubiquitous is often used of things that are everywhere, even when the person using "ubiquitous" wishes it otherwise. "Omnipresent" seems to be used most often referring to manifestations of divinity/spirituality and the like.
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Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 261 |
My dictionary doesn't show much difference between the two but the way I interpret it is:
Omnipresent - Something that is, or believed to be, everywhere at once.
Ubiquitous - Something that appears to be everywhere at once, i.e: more of a metaphor. Rather like the word zelig, that describes a person who appears to be everywhwere at once.
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 2,204 |
I think our little german shepherd is very near to it.  To me, these nearly synonymous words are differentiated - just about - by "ubiquitous " meaning something that might appear anywhere, whilst "omnipresent" is something that does appear everywhere.
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Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Yes, I agree.
"Ubiquitous" is a clumsy word for "everywhere" or "seems everywhere". However, the damn word, as they say, has legs. That gol~awful guttural word has been a J-jive word for journalists for a several years now. They think it cool and smart.
"Omnipresent" has come to mean a "presence everywhere", and the word usually refers to God or some arcane invention of philosophy, and as such, it should be left that way.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Many busybodies approach being ubiquitous but they fortunately cannot be omnipresent.
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