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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009missing out on?
I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - e.g. Don't you think you're /missing out on/ something when you are not having any time to play with your classmates? I cannot remember the correct idiom - can anybody help here? It is very frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the sentence in my dictionaries. >I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct >form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the >sentence in my dictionaries. I know it as "missing out on".  SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.english.usage) >>I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct >>form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >> > I know it as "missing out on". Thank you! On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote > I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the > correct form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > is very frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I > cannot find the sentence in my dictionaries. "losing out"? SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > "losing out"? No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" - may be "losing out" is a synonym? >> On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" - may >be "losing out" is a synonym? There is no specific idiom, but "missing out on..." is perfectly idiomatic in AmE: The father who works long hours to get ahead may be missing out on the best parts of family life. "Losing out" could be used, but the expression is usually used to express missing parts of something. Losing out would imply that the whole thing is lost. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >>> On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote >>> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >>> >>No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" If you are so sure that you meant "missing out on", why are you looking for another idiom for it. Why did you ask your question. >> - may be "losing out" is a synonym? IF maybe it's a synonym, why did you say so firmly "it was not what I meant"? You confuse me. :) >There is no specific idiom, but "missing out on..." is perfectly >idiomatic in AmE: The father who works long hours to get ahead may be [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >express missing parts of something. Losing out would imply that the >whole thing is lost. You confuse me too. Which expression is usually used to express missing parts? Losing out? Missing out? AFAIK, neither means that. "Losing out" also refers, where I've lived, to losing an opportunity or whatever it takes to make one meaning of "losing out" synonymous with "missing out". SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years >>>> On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote >>>> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > If you are so sure that you meant "missing out on", why are you > looking for another idiom for it. Why did you ask your question. I recall something about "missing out" or something like that. That is why I am sure that I did not mean anything about loosing. And I have now been confirmed that the sentence "missing out on something" is correct, so I have got an answer of my question. What you seem to think is that I just meant any idiom or sentence about missing something, but as I stipulated in my attempt to get close to what I have heard years ago, I made an example sentence to explain what I meant. Did you miss that? So according to my example you could not, I think, use "losing out" unless it is a synonym for the sentence "missing out on". I hope that this explanation show without doubt why I asked the question. >>> - may be "losing out" is a synonym? > > IF maybe it's a synonym, why did you say so firmly "it was not what I > meant"? You confuse me. :) Sorry - I did not mean to confuse anybody. You probably know the situation: you know that there is something to be said about an event, but it cannot come to your mind how strong you ever try to remember it. In my age it might be a warning of a blood clot in the brain :-( - but you are young so you probably don't observe it so much. >>There is no specific idiom, but "missing out on..." is perfectly >>idiomatic in AmE: The father who works long hours to get ahead may be [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > or whatever it takes to make one meaning of "losing out" synonymous > with "missing out". > Posters should say where they live, and for which > area they are asking questions. I have lived in [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Brooklyn, NY 12 years > Baltimore 26 years I have lived in Denmark for many years - actually I am a Dane. Does this satisfy you? >>>>> On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] >been confirmed that the sentence "missing out on something" is correct, >so I have got an answer of my question. < >What you seem to think is that I just meant any idiom or sentence about >missing something, but as I stipulated in my attempt to get close to >what I have heard years ago, I made an example sentence to explain what >I meant. Did you miss that? Maybe. I understand now. Thank you, and thanks for not being angry about the question. >So according to my example you could not, I think, use "losing out" >unless it is a synonym for the sentence "missing out on". [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >In my age it might be a warning of a blood clot in the brain :-( - but >you are young so you probably don't observe it so much. I'm getting there. Thank you. >>>There is no specific idiom, but "missing out on..." is perfectly >>>idiomatic in AmE: The father who works long hours to get ahead may be [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >I have lived in Denmark for many years - actually I am a Dane. Does this >satisfy you? Yes, but it's not just for my sake that I ask. I'm only a tiny part of the reason. It's for all those people who try to answer questions, but are stymied because they don't know the kind of English the poster wants to hear about, or they don't know which kind he is speaking. And for those who give answers that don't help because they assume the OP lives in the UK when he really lives in the US or Australia, or vice versa. Or for those who don't try to answer because they don't want to write a treatise covering every part of the English speaking world and don't know where the poster lives, or what dialect he's asking about. Mayube I should enlarge my sig to make that clear?? SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years >>>>>No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" >>> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > Maybe. I understand now. Thank you, and thanks for not being angry > about the question. My lecturer at university (native English speaker) wrote about an English presentation of English Drama a.o.: Rather standard presentation, factual and issue-oriented rather than theoretical, scholary or analytical. Some linguistic infelicities. Others here have said the same about my English skills. My only excuse is that having a full time job along with the university studies, makes it very difficult to achieve a better standard as I am not able to read the whole time, moreover, I am 58 so I am not a quick learner. So your misunderstanding does not lead me to be angry, rahter sorry that I have not been able to express my questions better than I did. This vexes me a lot. I thank you for your answers - especially your attempt to give me an answer. I understand your notion about the English varieties, I think :-) Thank you for answering me - I certainly don't hope that I am missing out on anything you wrote about here :-) and I also do not hope that you got the impression that I was angry at all? (it might have been a kind of irony when you thanked me for not being angry with you in my answers here?) >>>>>>No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" >>>> [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] > >I understand your notion about the English varieties, I think :-) This post was perfectly clear, and to the best of my recollection, all your others have been too, except for the one in this thread that I just asked about. >Thank you for answering me - I certainly don't hope that I am missing >out on anything you wrote about here :-) and I also do not hope that you >got the impression that I was angry at all? (it might have been a kind >of irony when you thanked me for not being angry with you in my answers >here?) Yeah, I saw the irony, but otoh, English is not your native language and you dont live in an English-speaking country (maybe you once did) so your Englsh is much better than any second language I speak, so I thought maybe I shouldn't have complained to begin with. Of course it's because your English is good that I was inclined to press you. If your English was garbled, I'd just skip to the next post. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years >>>>>>>No, it was not what I meant - I meant "missing out on something" >>>>> [quoted text clipped - 55 lines] > so your Englsh is much better than any second language I speak, so I > thought maybe I shouldn't have complained to begin with. I didn't felt it was a complaining at all - it just made me try to be more clear about my questioning. I have learnt a lot of this, I hope. > Of course it's because your English is good that I was inclined to > press you. If your English was garbled, I'd just skip to the next > post. I am ok with some "press" - this can only make me better. I admit that I have not always been keen on corrections as I have felt that I ought to know better and therefore I was vexed when I learnt that I did some mistakes, which I thought I had got rid of. Especially a very able Swede pissed me off. I know that I should have reacted differently, but I was in a very sensitive period at that time. This will happen again, I hope. I still want to continue to be as polite as can be - I know that the Englishmen in general don't think that Danes are very polite at all, so I shall do my very best to erase this notion of my countrymen - but it is hard, I'm afraid, and I have unfortunately been given the expression that the notion is correct. This I will make all the excuses for I know of, hoping that I eventually will be forgiven for my mischiefs. No irony was intended here. >>> On 07 May 2009, Arne H. Wilstrup wrote >>> [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > express missing parts of something. Losing out would imply that the > whole thing is lost. Thank you very much! What a relief: it was the way I remembered it but what I was uncertain of. > I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct > form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the > sentence in my dictionaries. Don't you think you're missing out when you do not have any time to play with your classmates? Don't you think you're missing out on something when you do not have any time to play with your classmates? Both are OK. As you can see, I do not like "are not having" in this sentence. GFH On May 7, 4:35 pm, "Arne H. Wilstrup" <ahw> wrote: > I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct > form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the > sentence in my dictionaries. Don't you think you're missing out when you do not have any time to play with your classmates? Don't you think you're missing out on something when you do not have any time to play with your classmates? Both are OK. As you can see, I do not like "are not having" in this sentence. thank you - you don't like the passive voice? why is that? >On May 7, 4:35 pm, "Arne H. Wilstrup" <ahw> wrote: >> I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > >thank you - you don't like the passive voice? why is that? I don't think it's passive. In "You are not having any time" the verb is progressive. It's just not idiomatic to use a progressive form, like "having", in this situation. It must be okay in other languages because I frequently hear foreigners speaking English use it. But in American we say "I don't have any time", not "I'm not having any time". I guess it has to do with the negative. "I am having a good time" would be fine, but when one doesn't have time, we don't go into the continuing nature of not having it. Well, on second thought, it's not just negatives. Americans would say "I have time to fix your car", not "I am having time to fix your car" or "I am having time to get everything done." I think these latter forms, I have heard frequently in American WWII movies, where the character is German, speaking English. How accurate the script-writer was I would not know, except that here you used the progressive yourself, and I've heard others real people do so. I think a lot more non-English speakers, in a lot more situations, would say "I am living in NYC now" but Americans are more likely to say, "I live in NYC now." And it's funny too, because what knowledge I have of Spanish, and what litte knowledge of French or German I have, I don't remember any progressive form that if translating literally, would have to be translated with an -ing verb. AFAICR and iiuc, people use the simple present tense in these languages, so what makes them want to use an -ing form in English I do not know. Is there something elsewhere in the sentence in the native language that makes the speaker want to indicate the continuing nature of the action? Are they first taught the present tense in English with some of form of "to be" and a participle? I am going, you are going, he, she or it is going.... I'll bet that is it. I think I once saw that somewhere. That's not the most common form of the present tense in American, but if it is taught first to non-English speakers, they might well think it is, or use it the most. SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years > I don't think it's passive. That is because it isn't. GFH On May 10, 5:19 pm, mm <NOPSAMmm2...@bigfoot.com> wrote: > I don't think it's passive. That is because it isn't. You are quite right. It occured to me it was a passive voice; why I cannot understand now. Too "sloppy" thinking I think - sorry! >> I don't think it's passive. > >That is because it isn't. I was being tactful. :) Does no one have any comments on my speculation in the rest of the post? >GFH SignaturePosters should say where they live, and for which area they are asking questions. I have lived in Western Pa. 10 years Indianapolis 10 years Chicago 6 years Brooklyn, NY 12 years Baltimore 26 years >>thank you - you don't like the passive voice? why is that? > > I don't think it's passive. In "You are not having any time" the verb > is progressive. You are quite right. It occured to me it was a passive voice; why I cannot understand now. Too "sloppy" thinking I think - sorry! > I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct > form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the > sentence in my dictionaries. It's "missing out on." On May 7, 4:35 pm, "Arne H. Wilstrup" <ahw> wrote: > I am looking for an English idiom which I cannot remember the correct > form of. It is something like "missing out" or "missing out on" - [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > frustrating that I cannot remember it at all and I cannot find the > sentence in my dictionaries. It's "missing out on." Thank you! |
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