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Misused English words in EU publications | ||
Tags: False friends | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4666 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 9 of 37 20 May 2014 at 2:12pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
See, for me it is "quite a lot better" that sounds oddest. "A lot better", fine, "quite a bit better", fine, but "Quite a lot better", definitely not. I think it is because "quite" and "a lot" both express a "high degree" of something, so it is like someone saying, "The dessert I had at dinner was quite very tasty." :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Alphathon Groupie Scotland Joined 4181 days ago 60 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Scottish Gaelic | Message 10 of 37 20 May 2014 at 10:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Both "quite a bit better" and "quite a lot better" sound fine to me. Perhaps their usage is regional.
While quite can be used to mean to a large extent, it can (depending on the tone) also be used to moderate words, in a similar manner to fairly and somewhat. To me, it seems the quite in "quite a bit" is always (AFAIK) used to exaggerate the term, so means something like "a considerable amount" ("more than 'a bit'"). However, the quite in "quite a lot" can be used in either way. When there is no particular emphasis on any of the words or when the lot is emphasised it usually means something like "a very large amount" - more than "a lot" but maybe not quite "all" (if that applies). When the quite is emphasised it means something more like "less than 'a lot' but more than 'some'". For example, "There were quite a lot of people at the party." could mean "There was a large number of people at the party (more than I expected)." but "There were quite a lot of people at the party." would be more like "There were some/enough people at the party (enough to have a good time, but I'd have preferred more)." Edited by Alphathon on 20 May 2014 at 10:36pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4666 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 11 of 37 21 May 2014 at 12:58am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Hear! Hear! As for the document itself, it looks as though it will be a refreshing read. I could see that straight away just from the preface! "actorness", "comitology"? Misusing a word is one thing, but making one (OK, two) up out of the blue like that ... there's surely no excuse. Does anyone know if they sully other official languages too? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4669 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 12 of 37 21 May 2014 at 11:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Actorness is not in OED, while comitology is:
Pronunciation: Brit. /ˌkɒmᵻˈtɒlədʒi/ , U.S. /ˌkɑməˈtɑlədʒi/ Forms: 19– comitology, 19– commitology, 19– committology. Etymology: < commit- (in committee n.) + -ology comb. form. Originally: the study of the organization and functions of committees. In later use also: committees and their practices considered collectively, now esp. in the context of the implementation of European Union legislation and policy. Edited by Medulin on 21 May 2014 at 11:15am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 13 of 37 21 May 2014 at 11:35pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
IMHO, it's a sad state of affairs if EU English makes it into respectable dictionaries. What's even stranger is that they had to coin a neologism for it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4666 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 14 of 37 22 May 2014 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Ah, thanks. So they've only made one up and the other (comitology) is another one that they've bent slightly. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6704 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 37 22 May 2014 at 3:03pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm more inclined to think that somebody for once made a correct guess
PS the link had a couple of spelling errors, but I found the document with the help of a Google search. And I found a couple of dubious points in the explanations. For instance concerning the word 'dean': DEAN Explanation In British and Irish usage, a ‘dean’ is either a relatively senior priest or the head of a university faculty. At the Court of Auditors, on the other hand, it is the name given to the doyen or chair of the institution’s audit chambers. (...) ‘Dean’ is now the official title at the Court, but, in our dealings with the outside world, we should not be surprised if people think that we have our own in-house clergy (see also ‘hierarchical superior’ and ‘college’). When explaining the role to outsiders, ‘chair’ (-woman,- man -person) or ‘doyen’ might be more informative. Well, Merrian-Webster gives the defintion "a person who has a lot of experience in or knowledge about a particular profession, subject, etc" (and then you don't even need to have a certain employment). Most other sources state that the doyen is the oldest or at least the oldest in a certain function, like the ambassador which has been accredited for the longest time span to a certain government. And he/she/it doesn't have to be the chairsomething of anything. Edited by Iversen on 22 May 2014 at 3:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5431 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 16 of 37 22 May 2014 at 4:25pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
Wait a minute. Who says that these cEU forms are not idiomatic? A bit of searching on the Internet shows that all these forms are quite current amongst native speakers of English. Even "slowlier" which I have not really heard myself has the following entry in the Urban Dictionary website: 1. slowlier moving slower than someone else, or not moving as fast. another word for slower the man walked slowlier and slowlier Edited by s_allard on 22 May 2014 at 4:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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