Posts by Carol Stewart

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  • Island Life: Abusage,

    Festoon your memo with factoids, Jojo, and you can't go far wrong.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    >I don't read the Listener, but maybe when Jane Clifton
    >said "the quantum of the new road charge is an issue" she
    >meant "the sudden large jump in the new road charge is
    >an issue", then maybe "quantum" is a reasonable term.

    Sorry, Rich, I know this is getting tedious, but ... I don't think this (above) is what Jane Clifton meant.

    My point is that because she used the silly, pretentious and ill-defined word 'quantum' it's not at all clear what she did mean. Why didn't she just use standard English? I love your alternative wording! It is so .. forceful!

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    >If a price list has big leaps between different levels, then
    >the word "quantum" is very appropriate to convey that.
    >Quantity doesn't mean the same thing.

    But Rich, 'quantum' doesn't actually mean a big leap between levels. This is how the Merriam Webster online dictionary defines it:
    n 1: how much there is of something that you can measure [syn: measure,
    quantity, amount]
    2: (physics) the smallest quantity of some physical property
    that a system can possess (according to quantum theory)

    In the example I used (Jane Clifton's column), she is using a pretentious alternative to 'amount'.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    >My fave euphemism for poor is from cricket, when a slog is >described as "agricultural". No idea where it came from or
    >what it is supposed to mean.

    I quite like 'agricultural' as a cricketing adjective. Evocative if a little pejorative. Cricket seems to be a glorious exception to the banality of most sports language - what's not to love about a sport that gave us the verb 'to nurdle'?
    (it means to work the ball around quietly for ones and twos - kind of the opposite to an agricultural approach).

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    James, er yes, 'Spellbound' was aimed at pedants rather than small children. I was very taken by its social insights, but watching with a small fidgety one wouldn't have been fun.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    James, Did you note the part in the delightful film 'Spellbound' (about the strange but wonderful phenomenon that is the spelling bee), where the girl who won the national event got back to her home town to find a large sign up saying 'CONGRADULATIONS' ...

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    That's a fine limerick, Samuel.

    Heinous/penis and heinous/anus have to be fertile grounds for a limerick .. can anyone do better than:

    There once was a woman from Venus,
    Who committed a crime so heinous,
    That to hear people scoff,
    She'd have been better off,
    If she'd suddenly sprouted a... tail?!?

    [not original, from http://www.geocities.com/krishna_kunchith/humor/limericks.html]

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    Danielle - there's something of a tradition of bad names for Bond films - Octopussy! Goldfinger! But this one is bad and illiterate, which is quite something.
    Tom - it might depend on just how cute.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Island Life: Abusage,

    Is 'absolument' OK?

    Absolutely not!

    The one that riles me is the use of the word 'quantum' in place of 'quantity' or 'amount'. Here is the usually-admirable Jane Clifton in the latest Listener:

    'The quantum of the new road use charge was an issue..'

    Aaaagh!

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Hard News: Radio Times,

    Great post, Russell, and a great discussion too. I hope Radio NZ are appreciating all this feedback!
    I don't share the general enthusiasm for Noelle McCarthy in the afternoons - she trades heavily on that accent and also has an annoying way of finishing people's sentences for them. Her opinion column in the Herald is plain vacuous at times.
    But I can forgive Radio NZ almost anything if they run 'Matinee Idle' again this summer. I'm counting the sleeps..

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

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