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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004the word "divert" ?
Hi, folks. "It -that SCO filed the suit against linux- diverted the attention of the entire IT industries" C-Net said. I think the sentence means that the suit _attracted_ the attention of the entire IT. But my dictionary says the word "divert" means to distract or to turn aside from a direction. Example : diverted the course of a river.. It's confusing me.. the meanings of two words - attract and distract - are opposite ones, aren't they? Which one should I take?? Thank you. Min Lee, or perhaps Lee Min, writes: > "It -that SCO filed the suit against linux- diverted the attention of the > entire IT industries" C-Net said. > > I think the sentence means that the suit _attracted_ the attention of the > entire IT. But my dictionary says the word "divert" means to distract or > to turn aside from a direction. ... > It's confusing me.. the meanings of two words - attract and distract - are > opposite ones, aren't they? No, they're just different. The opposite of "attract" is "repel". The smell of food attracts people (at least if they're hungry). It makes them want to come toward it. The smell of garbage repels people. It makes them want to go away from it. If people are "diverted" or "distracted", they are turned away from their original course. If I was walking along the street and I was hungry and I smelled food on my left, I might turn left. If I smelled garbage on my right, I might *also* turn left. In either case I would have been diverted from my original route. "Distracted" applies specifically to the *attention* of a person or animal. (In my last example, I would also have been distracted from what I was thinking about.) The other words are more general and can apply to all sorts of things. A magnet attracts pieces of iron, and may attract or repel other magnets depending on which way they are pointing. A landslide may divert a river.  SignatureMark Brader "Men are animals." Toronto "What are women? Plants, birds, fish?" msb@vex.net -- Spider Robinson, "Night of Power" My text in this article is in the public domain. Thank you for your detailed explanation. Now I think I got it :-) So, as I understand, the word "divert" doesn't give any information about its direction like attract or repel, but it only conveys that it changes its course. Is this right understanding? If I say, according to your example, "The smell diverted me." I guess it may means either of both "The smell attacted me" and "The smell repelled me". and, of course, it would depend on the context or the situation. It maybe attracted me or repelled me, but anyway it diverted me! Is this correct? Thank you ! > Min Lee, or perhaps Lee Min, writes: > [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > repel other magnets depending on which way they are pointing. A landslide > may divert a river. > If I say, according to your example, "The smell diverted me." > I guess it may means either of both "The smell attacted me" and "The smell > repelled me". Not quite. There is another meaning to "divert": Main Entry: divert Pronunciation: d&-'v&rt, dI- Function: verb Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French & Latin; Middle French divertir, from Latin divertere to turn in opposite directions, from dis- + vertere to turn -- more at WORTH intransitive senses : to turn aside : DEVIATE <studied law but diverted to diplomacy> transitive senses 1 a : to turn from one course or use to another : DEFLECT b : DISTRACT 2 : to give pleasure to especially by distracting the attention from what burdens or distresses synonym see AMUSE Your structure, "The X diverted me," usually takes no. 2, the "give pleasure" definition. To force definition 1, "deflect", you would want to use this structure: "The X diverted me from Y." SignatureJohn Varela (Trade "OLD" lamps for "NEW" for email.) I apologize for munging the address but the spam is too much. } Hi, folks. Hi back. } "It -that SCO filed the suit against linux- diverted the attention of the } entire IT industries" C-Net said. } I think the sentence means that the suit _attracted_ the attention of the } entire IT. In a sense, but that assumes that entire IT industries are sitting around with nothing to do. } But my dictionary says the word "divert" means to distract or to turn aside } from a direction. } Example : diverted the course of a river.. Almost as if IT industries had a purpose for existing. } It's confusing me.. the meanings of two words - attract and distract - are } opposite ones, aren't they? No, but they are similar in some ways and dissimilar in others. } Which one should I take?? "Divert". British mileage may differ. } Thank you. My pleasure. SignatureR. J. Valentine <mailto:rj@smart.net> > "It -that SCO filed the suit against linux- diverted the attention of the > entire IT industries" C-Net said. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > opposite ones, aren't they? > Which one should I take?? These words suggest different images. Divert -- the attention of the industries had been flowing in one direction (probably, whatever the article had just been talking about), and this caused it to flow in another direction. Attract -- it does not say anything about what the industries had been paying attention to, but now the attention started to move in that direction. Distract -- usually, to interfere with or disrupt attention, to cause the person to stop paying attention to whatever he had been before. There's nothing required about starting to pay attention to something new; a distracted person could just be all mixed-up and scrambled. But it is often used in the sense of "divert" -- you can distract a person from one thing by drawing their attention to something else. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux > > "It -that SCO filed the suit against linux- diverted the attention of the > > entire IT industries" C-Net said. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > direction (probably, whatever the article had just been talking about), > and this caused it to flow in another direction. 'Divert' to me suggests that their entire attention came to be focused on the suit (which in turn could suggest they'd been sitting around doing nothing before that)... > Attract -- it does not say anything about what the industries had been > paying attention to, but now the attention started to move in that > direction. ...whereas 'attract' would mean they simply took note of the suit (while continuing to do all the other things they do to justify their existence). [snip] Gerald Smyth |
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