numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6787 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin
| Message 1 of 8 24 August 2009 at 2:36pm | IP Logged |
Isn't that a stupid word?
- He redoubled his efforts.
- Oh, so it's now 4 times the original effort?
- No, twice.
- ...
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Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6038 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds
| Message 2 of 8 24 August 2009 at 3:31pm | IP Logged |
What about "re-quadruple"? Is this 8x times the same effort or just 4x? ^_^
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Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5913 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese
| Message 3 of 8 24 August 2009 at 3:46pm | IP Logged |
Yes.
"Could care less" is also kind of a stupid thing to say... As it completely contradicts your own point.
Anyone else?
Liz
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ExtraLean Triglot Senior Member France languagelearners.myf Joined 5998 days ago 897 posts - 880 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: German
| Message 4 of 8 24 August 2009 at 3:58pm | IP Logged |
I always thought that it was: 'I couldn't care less', but I shall redouble my efforts to remember if that is true or not.
Edited by ExtraLean on 24 August 2009 at 3:59pm
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numerodix Trilingual Hexaglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 6787 days ago 856 posts - 1226 votes Speaks: EnglishC2*, Norwegian*, Polish*, Italian, Dutch, French Studies: Portuguese, Mandarin
| Message 5 of 8 24 August 2009 at 4:01pm | IP Logged |
ExtraLean wrote:
I always thought that it was: 'I couldn't care less', but I shall redouble my efforts to remember if that is true or not. |
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That's the funny thing. "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less" are used interchangeably.
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Sennin Senior Member Bulgaria Joined 6038 days ago 1457 posts - 1759 votes 5 sounds
| Message 6 of 8 24 August 2009 at 4:40pm | IP Logged |
ExtraLean wrote:
I always thought that it was: 'I couldn't care less', but I shall redouble my efforts to remember if that is true or not. |
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I also know it as "I couldn't care less". The "could care less" version could simply be the result of omitting the negation. Somewhat like in the French "ne <verb> pas", where 'ne' is optional in colloquial speech.
Edited by Sennin on 24 August 2009 at 4:45pm
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JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6126 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian
| Message 7 of 8 10 September 2009 at 6:02am | IP Logged |
numerodix wrote:
Isn't that a stupid word?
- He redoubled his efforts.
- Oh, so it's now 4 times the original effort?
- No, twice.
- ... |
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You can blame French for that one. The etymology is from the French “redoubler” which comes from “rendre double” meaning to multiple by two. Thus redouble is actually a synonym of double just as in French redoubler and doubler are synonyms.
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Bao Diglot Senior Member Germany tinyurl.com/pe4kqe5 Joined 5770 days ago 2256 posts - 4046 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin
| Message 8 of 8 11 September 2009 at 1:30am | IP Logged |
And reduplicate doesn't strike a nerve?
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