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Experts pore [sic] anxiously over Beijing English menus
China Daily ^
| 04/13/2007
| Xinhua
Posted on 04/13/2007 8:55:07 AM PDT by kevin_in_so_cal
click here to read article
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To: Tax-chick; Silly
So its supposed to be soft-peddle, as a variation on soft-sell? Nope. See post up thread.
It isn't peddling or selling . . . you're not trying to sell anybody anything, you're saying, "Move along, move along . . . nothing to see here."
101
posted on
04/13/2007 4:34:04 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: 1rudeboy
My pet peeve is could care less when the person means could not care less. Yep. That one actually bothers me more than soft-peddle/pedal/petal.
102
posted on
04/13/2007 5:24:50 PM PDT
by
NCSteve
(What good is it if you're wearing your superman underwear and can't show it to anyone?)
To: AnAmericanMother; MortMan; Silly; Tax-chick
Maybe peddle is English usage.
I remember my mother (doctorate in English education) correcting my usage on a paper once, but the example that sticks out in my mind came from a BBC radio program called “My Word.” The origin of the idiom as related to peddling was somewhat contentious.
Ah well, both origins make sense to me.
103
posted on
04/13/2007 5:42:50 PM PDT
by
NCSteve
(What good is it if you're wearing your superman underwear and can't show it to anyone?)
To: firebrand
Another one: torturous vs. tortuous. Every time I read about “torturous reasoning,” I wince. Though when I read some liberal talking points, the reasoning does seem torturous to me... but I’m pretty sure that is not what is intended.
To: AnAmericanMother
Yes, that is the one: the unabridged Merriam-Webster that was put together in the 1930s and relied upon usage by good authors. They are worth owning. I bought mine for about $80 in the sixties and now they are over $200.
They have many wonderful features that the newer ones don't have, although you would want to update some of the spellings.
To: NCSteve
If it's not in the OED and not in Fowler, it's not English Usage.
(I checked.)
"My Word" is entertaining but the writers seem to occasionally want to stir the possum a little. And false etymologies are a dime a dozen. . . . e.g. POSH as Port Out Starboard Home, TIP To Insure Promptness, etc.
106
posted on
04/13/2007 6:17:30 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: firebrand
I inherited my grandmother’s M/W . . . it’s the big one on India paper. The OED I had to buy for myself, the 6-page-per-sheet version that comes with a magnifying glass (MUCH cheaper than the 8 volume set — but hard to read, esp. as I get older.) Got Fowler at a yard sale for two bucks.
107
posted on
04/13/2007 6:21:27 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: GraceCoolidge
Someone sent me an editing question recently, and buried in the text was the word "predominately." After I answered the question, I wrote, "By the way, be sure to change 'predominately' to 'predominantly.'"
You know what comes next. The person wrote back, "But they're both equal in Webster 11" (the current abridged).
It's okay to continue to spell "goodbye" with a hyphen, according to these "lexicographers," which nobody does but the people who put the M-W abridged together, yet every mistake is immediately enshrined between the hated red covers.
Book copyeditors have to use this dictionary, just so we'll all be using the same one, and it could be worse.
To: AnAmericanMother
Webster’s Second Unabridged also came in a five-volume set, which was much easier to use. I bought one for the library of the publishing house where I worked. Have never seen another one.
To: firebrand
I've never seen one, and I'm a used bookstore hound.
Drew a blank on ABE . . . which is REALLY unusual. They have a 2 vol. but no 5 vol.
110
posted on
04/13/2007 6:37:04 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: AnAmericanMother
It could have been a one-time-only rebinding. I got it in one of those used bookstores on Fourth Avenue NYC in the 1960s.
To: AnAmericanMother
...it's not English Usage. Sorry, meant to write British usage.
112
posted on
04/13/2007 6:51:26 PM PDT
by
NCSteve
(What good is it if you're wearing your superman underwear and can't show it to anyone?)
To: firebrand
Oh, man! That was like Heaven for bookworms.
Even in the 70s when I was in school in Jersey.
113
posted on
04/13/2007 6:59:08 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: NCSteve
Fowler is the quintessential Englishman.
( . . . and I knew what you meant. English English not American English. Or Engrish.)
114
posted on
04/13/2007 7:00:41 PM PDT
by
AnAmericanMother
((Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment)))
To: firebrand
You know, I have a relatively new dictionary, probably bought it ten years ago. I have found it sufficient for my needs, though I am not even sure what one it is. I was interested to read about the older volumes that people are using. I didn't even know, though, that "predominately" was a word in any dictionary!
I agree with you completely, it is so frustrating to see mistakes become accepted usage just through sheer repetition. I grew up in a town, the name of which was two words, and it irritated me over the years to see it gradually combined into one word.
To: GraceCoolidge
All I want, please, Lord, is for people to cease and desist putting an apostrophe in the word "its" when they are referring to the possessive of "it". My 4th Grade teacher pounded that one into me, I had it down pat at age 8; why, oh why, can't people get it right?
116
posted on
04/13/2007 7:14:11 PM PDT
by
6323cd
("It is prohibited to make use of such emotional signs in a cellphone!")
To: kevin_in_so_cal
What’s Mandarin for “Soylent Green” ?
117
posted on
04/13/2007 7:24:39 PM PDT
by
fieldmarshaldj
(Would you vote for President a guy who married his cousin? Me, neither. Accept no RINOs. Fred in '08)
To: snarks_when_bored
It works for imitation maple syrup.
118
posted on
04/13/2007 7:32:52 PM PDT
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: Lazamataz
We all no itz
s, write?
119
posted on
04/13/2007 7:40:01 PM PDT
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
To: NCSteve
Use goozoogle for soft-pedaled and soft-peddled and you will see that you are the on the right but wrong end of that horse; by a greater than 4-1 margin, soft-pedaled out-hits (ouch) soft-peddled in all forms. (Peddled is correct)
So much for the hard-sell (1,293,000); or should that be hard-sale (33,000)?
120
posted on
04/13/2007 7:53:37 PM PDT
by
Old Professer
(The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
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