Vocabulary question.

[glasgowcyclist]

And was it the Jew's or the Roman's who were responsible for sprinkling extraneous apostrophe's around ?

It was a Venetian who started it all off, and it was no doubt first abused by his local grossarius.

 

[swee'pea99]

You just need to look at some Middle English to see how many words we take for granted today are modern creations.

'Nearby' and 'colourful' - 'loathsome transatlantic importations' as recently as 1935.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Discrete or discreet

That's an easy one to get the correct meaning if you think of the two e's in discrete as being separate.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I think that word is fab. How else would you describe taking something previously used and at the end of its life and modifying it to give it a new use? I can't think of a word that described this until "upcycle" came along

Isn't it an oxymoron if it is still being used after the end of it's life?

 

[Deleted member 26715]

View attachment 492902

'Nearby' and 'colourful' - 'loathsome transatlantic importations' as recently as 1935.

That must be a time machine photo, AWVM (Astra White Van Man) wasn't around in 1935

 

[swee'pea99]

So, it is interesting to read why Seamus Heaney started his translation thus:

https://wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/beowulf/introbeowulf.htm

Interesting. Brings to mind a recent conversation with one of my book club ladies, who'd been to a talk given by a translator.

He cited the example of the very first line of Camus's L'etranger (itself sometimes translated as The Stranger, sometimes as The Outsider): Aujourd’hui, maman est morte. Should that be 'Today, mother died'? No...'mother' is too formal to be true to 'maman'. How about 'Today, mum died'? Even worse! Far too informal. Truth is, there is no direct English synonym for 'maman'. The translator sighed...you pays yer money and you takes yer choice, knowing that no solution you come up with can ever be 'right'. You just have to do the best you can.

And that's with two closely related European languages. Imagine trying to translate, say, Tamil.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

The translator sighed...you pays yer money and you takes yer choice, knowing that no solution you come up with can ever be 'right'.

Reminds me of that Italian saying: “Traduttore, traditore”

 

[MontyVeda]

I think that word is fab. How else would you describe taking something previously used and at the end of its life and modifying it to give it a new use? I can't think of a word that described this until "upcycle" came along

...

recycle works just fine.

 

[Drago]

And why "up"cycle? If its transformed into something smaller or less useful than the original item then surely it's been down cycled?

 

[Illaveago]

Announcers etc. on the BBC who find it impossible to say begin, commence etc., but have to use the ugly expressions kick-in, kick-start, kick-off etc. as if they are a gang of boot boys and girls. I even heard, "...motorists found it impossible to kick-start their cars..," after a flood.

They must have Bond three wheelers.

 

[Globalti]

Lots of words enter a language by coming over from other cultures of by shortening of older words, it's how languages evolve constantly. When I lived in France I learned quite a colloquial version of French and recently somebody said, on hearing me speak, that they knew when I learned the language. That depressed me a little.

My pet hates:

I was literally.....
Like....
Arriving into (station or airport)....

🤬

 

[Profpointy]

"Reached out" grinds my gears. You didn't reach out - you wrote to/emailed/spoke with them (delete as applicable). You reach out when someone is hanging off a cliff by their fingernails, not when you just need to communicate.

Time to re-post this I think :

 

[Profpointy]

recycle works just fine.

Yebbut: recycle suggests the item has been broken up and the materials re-used for spare parts or melted down for scrap or whatever. upcycle suggest the item itself has been reworked into a differing purposes - which isn't quite the same thing

 

[nickyboy]

recycle works just fine.

recycle means to reduce it to its component parts, those parts then being used to create something new. Such as a plastic bottle. If I recycle a table it means disassembling it for its material content. Upcycling it means making it "fabulous" by adding glitter, twinkly lights and converting it into a play table for your daughter's unicorns

 

[glasgowcyclist]

recycle means to reduce it to its component parts, those parts then being used to create something new. Such as a plastic bottle. If I recycle a table it means disassembling it for its material content. Upcycling it means making it "fabulous" by adding glitter, twinkly lights and converting it into a play table for your daughter's unicorns

That's repurposing.