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English: This is wrong, right?

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13 messages over 2 pages: 1


emk
Diglot
Moderator
United States
Joined 5341 days ago

2615 posts - 8806 votes 
Speaks: English*, FrenchB2
Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian
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 Message 9 of 13
19 February 2012 at 12:56pm | IP Logged 
"In studies, 44% of CHANTIX users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment (compared
to 18% on sugar pill)."

I'm a native speaker, and the first several times I read this, it sounded like an editing
error. But I think fiziwig has it: They're treating "quit" as a state. If I try to read
it that way, it makes perfect sense to my ear, though it still sounds like medical jargon
and legalese. I've occasionally worked on medical education software related to smoking
cessation, and I can easily imagine a doctor or drug rep (drug company representative)
saying this.

"Quit of" is pretty, but it sounds slightly archaic to my ear. I don't think I've ever
heard it used in American speech.
2 persons have voted this message useful



balou67
Triglot
Newbie
France
Joined 5041 days ago

15 posts - 31 votes
Speaks: French*, Esperanto, English
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese

 
 Message 10 of 13
21 February 2012 at 10:42pm | IP Logged 
Some of you interested in french might like to read this modest piece of info.

« Être quitte » :
When someone saved your life few years ago, and you just saved his/her life, you tell
him/her « Nous sommes quittes ! ». It works just as well when paying back a debt.

« En être quitte pour… » :
« J’en suis quitte pour une amende/un plâtre/une grosse frayeur » means that you had
luck, you got by, only having to pay a fine/to have a cast/been frightened (i.e. it
could have been worse).

Those are the two most seen usages, I’ve met the simple « je suis quitte » on the web
while checking what I write here, but I don’t think I’ve already heard it in real life.
Uncommon but understandable though.
1 person has voted this message useful



zenmonkey
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
Germany
Joined 6361 days ago

803 posts - 1119 votes 
1 sounds
Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German
Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew

 
 Message 11 of 13
22 February 2012 at 12:05am | IP Logged 
Of those that were quit, how many stayed quit?

This would be the true measure of the research success and not marketing spiel.
I'm sure I've read "They were quit" (as in "of each other").
1 person has voted this message useful



Jeffers
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 4718 days ago

2151 posts - 3960 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German

 
 Message 12 of 13
22 February 2012 at 8:01am | IP Logged 
emk wrote:
"In studies, 44% of CHANTIX users were quit during weeks 9 to 12 of treatment (compared
to 18% on sugar pill)."

I'm a native speaker, and the first several times I read this, it sounded like an editing
error. But I think fiziwig has it: They're treating "quit" as a state. If I try to read
it that way, it makes perfect sense to my ear, though it still sounds like medical jargon
and legalese. I've occasionally worked on medical education software related to smoking
cessation, and I can easily imagine a doctor or drug rep (drug company representative)
saying this.

"Quit of" is pretty, but it sounds slightly archaic to my ear. I don't think I've ever
heard it used in American speech.


I don't think you'd hear it in any speech in the English language. But I can't recall coming across quit used in this way without the of. All the examples I've seen in dictionaries use the of.

This article sums up the evidence pretty well.
1 person has voted this message useful



Medulin
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Croatia
Joined 4477 days ago

1199 posts - 2192 votes 
Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali

 
 Message 13 of 13
22 February 2012 at 8:10pm | IP Logged 
''quit kwɪt ♫ adjective (chiefly pred.). Also †quite. ME.
1 Free, clear, rid, (of, from). ME.
R. L. Stevenson If you keep on drinking rum, the world will soon be quit of a…scoundrel.''

(Shorter OED, 2007)


1 person has voted this message useful



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