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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009Top Twaddle
The ever entertaining Lucy Kellaway lists her awards for the Top Twaddle of management-speak in 2008 at http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3a41f80a-d8d3-11dd-ab5f-000077b07658.html I particularly like the "Nouns Moonlighting As Verbs"... ".. which was so popular that the judges are giving out three gongs. The 2008 Olympics introduced the world to the verb “to medal”. This entry medals with a bronze. The Silver medal in this category goes to “to auspice”, while gold goes to the verb “to sunset”. AOL used the verb to great effect last summer in declaring that it was canning some products. “Bluestring, Xdrive and AOL Pictures will be sunset. [They] have not gained sufficient traction in the marketplace or the monetisation levels necessary.” In other words, they were flops."  SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) >The ever entertaining Lucy Kellaway lists her awards for the Top Twaddle > of management-speak in 2008 at [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >".. which was so popular that the judges are giving out three gongs. The >2008 Olympics introduced the world to the verb to medal.... I have a feeling that "to medal" was discussed in AUE well before the 2008 Olympics. From the OED: medal, v. 1. trans. To decorate or honour with a medal; to confer a medal upon as a mark of distinction. Usu. in pass. 1822 BYRON Let. 4 May (1979) IX. 154 He was medalled. .... 2. intr. U.S. Sport. To win a medal (i.e., to come first, second, or third in a sporting event or competition). 1966 Valley News (Van Nuys, Calif.) 9 June 34 Divers from the Rita Curtis..Club gold-medaled in all of the events but three... In the boys competition the following RCVAC divers medaled:..Phil Loyola, 2nd; [etc.]. 1979 Washington Post 19 June D6/2 Our women are coming along beautifully{em}they've medaled well recently. 1984 Marathon & Distance Runner Oct. 18/1 Gabriella Dorio made her break too early, otherwise she could have medalled. 1994 Coloradoan (Fort Collins) 6 Feb. E1/1 U.S. bobsledders haven't medaled since 1956. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > The ever entertaining Lucy Kellaway lists her awards for the Top Twaddle > of management-speak in 2008 at [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > Laura > (emulate St. George for email) It was love at first sight for the job title, Design Director for Customer and Channel Profitability and Trade Investment (courtesy of a company rather strangely named Diageo). I imagine the function of a person so titled would be procuring designer drugs in the English Channel in exchange for haggis, tatties, and neeps. -- Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego >a >company rather strangely named Diageo Found via Wikipedia: http://www.diageo.com/en-row/AboutDiageo/Diageoataglance/ Diageo is the world's leading premium drinks business with an outstanding collection of beverage alcohol brands across spirits, wine and beer categories. .... The word Diageo comes from the Latin for day (dia) and the Greek for world (geo). We take this to mean every day, everywhere, people celebrate with our brands. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:13:01 -0800 (PST), tinwhistler ><ozziemaland@post.harvard.edu> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > world (geo). We take this to mean every day, everywhere, people > celebrate with our brands. That's odd. Dia was nothing to do with day that I remember. There's a notional 'rule' that compounds should be formed from sources in the same language, and whether you choose to follow that or not, and always bearing in mind that my Greek was never more than pitifully rudimentary, the Gk prefix 'dia-' meaning something like 'through' or 'across' seems a far more attractive reconstructed source for the brand name. I doubt that there is a significant number of consumers who, unprompted, see 'day-world' in 'Diageo'. Not that there will be many more who come up with 'across the world', but perhaps a few who see a common thread in 'diameter' and 'diaphanous'. Or 'diabolical', of course. SignaturePaul > >On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:13:01 -0800 (PST), tinwhistler > ><ozziemaland@post.harvard.edu> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] > > > That's odd. Dia was nothing to do with day that I remember. I remember from looking up "dial" that it came (ultimately) from the Latin for "day." I see now that the "a" wasn't in the classical Latin. MW says: Etymology: Middle English dyal, from Medieval Latin dialis clock wheel revolving daily, from Latin dies day daily, from Latin dies day Perseus gives dies, diem, and die for the classical forms of "day." So, strictly speaking, Wikipedia shouldn't have said that the Latin for day is "dia". There's a > notional 'rule' that compounds should be formed from sources in the same > language, I think that bit about "every day, everywhere" might have been meant to challenge that. > and whether you choose to follow that or not, and always > bearing in mind that my Greek was never more than pitifully rudimentary, > the Gk prefix 'dia-' meaning something like 'through' or 'across' seems > a far more attractive reconstructed source for the brand name. I doubt > that there is a significant number of consumers who, unprompted, see > 'day-world' in 'Diageo'. They might know "Buenos dias." But "day-world" is just merger-name nonsense, isn't it? Would it mean the part of the world that is daylight? >Not that there will be many more who come up > with 'across the world', but perhaps a few who see a common thread in > 'diameter' and 'diaphanous'. Or 'diabolical', of course. SignatureBest -- Donna Richoux On 05 Jan 2009, Donna Richoux wrote > I remember from looking up "dial" that it came (ultimately) from > the Latin for "day." I see now that the "a" wasn't in the [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > "day." So, strictly speaking, Wikipedia shouldn't have said that > the Latin for day is "dia". You could rephrase that last sentence as "The guy who wrote in Wikipedia that the Latin for day is "dia" was wrong". It's errors like that that make some of us avoid using Wikipee as a source of factual information. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed >On 05 Jan 2009, Donna Richoux wrote > [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >It's errors like that that make some of us avoid using Wikipee as a >source of factual information. The quote is from the Diageo website. I used the words "Found via Wikipedia" before giving the Diageo URL. I was simply crediting Wikipedia as having supplied the reference, in the same way that I might credit Google if it had lead me to a relevant site. Wikipedia simply paraphrases and quotes the Diageo explanation of the name: The word Diageo was formed from the Latin dia (day) and the Greek geo (World), symbolizing the use of the company's brands every day, everywhere.[2] References [2] ^ "Diageo at a glance". About Diageo. Diageo plc. Retrieved on 2008-04-10. "The word Diageo comes from the Latin for day (dia) and the Greek for world (geo). We take this to mean every day, everywhere, people celebrate with our brands." It would be better if the article made it clearer that it was quoting the company's explanation. For example: "The company says that the word Diageo was formed ...". A comment that "dia" is not Latin for day but appears to be an artistic derivation from "die(s)" would be useful. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) On 05 Jan 2009, Peter Duncanson (BrE) wrote >> On 05 Jan 2009, Donna Richoux wrote >> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > reference, in the same way that I might credit Google if it had > lead me to a relevant site. > Wikipedia simply paraphrases and quotes the Diageo explanation > of the name: -snip- Fair enough; I missed that, and was going on Donna's statement that it was Wikipedia what said it. > It would be better if the article made it clearer that it was > quoting the company's explanation. Certainly would be. I guess I just don't trust any statement of fact on Wikipedia, and I don't see the appeal of the thing: if I want to know why Diageo is called that, I'd really rather look up the Diageo website in the first place, rather than turning to a collection of unverified comments that may or may not be accurate... (I know that some people like to use it as a starting-point before going to more trackable/vetted sources, but again, I figure if I'm going to do that I may as well go to straight to those sources in the first place. Mystery to me.) > For example: "The company says that the word Diageo was formed > ...". > > A comment that "dia" is not Latin for day but appears to be an > artistic derivation from "die(s)" would be useful. SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed [...] > For example: "The company says that the word Diageo was formed ...". > > A comment that "dia" is not Latin for day but appears to be an > artistic derivation from "die(s)" would be useful. For that matter, "geo" isn't Greek for "world", either. SignatureMike. >[...] >> For example: "The company says that the word Diageo was formed ...". [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > >For that matter, "geo" isn't Greek for "world", either. By Geo-rge! You're right. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:13:01 -0800 (PST), tinwhistler >><ozziemaland@post.harvard.edu> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 14 lines] >> >That's odd. Dia was nothing to do with day that I remember. It *is* odd. Before looking it up I would have assumed that "dia-" was the prefix "through". The Latin for day is "dies", or "die" in compounds such as "pridie": the day before, and "cot(t)idie" adj.: daily. It is possible that the branding experts foresaw problems with "Die-" as in "death". It could readily be parodied as "Consume our products and Die, World'. > There's a >notional 'rule' that compounds should be formed from sources in the same [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >with 'across the world', but perhaps a few who see a common thread in >'diameter' and 'diaphanous'. Or 'diabolical', of course. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>> On Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:13:01 -0800 (PST), tinwhistler >>> <ozziemaland@post.harvard.edu> wrote: [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > "death". It could readily be parodied as "Consume our products and Die, > World'. It's perhaps worth remembering that this renaming was part of the resurrection of Guinness/Distillers after a financial scandal which, in retrospect seems almost trivial given what has followed, but is notable for actually resulting in the imprisonment of directors, as few scandals seem to do. SignatureLaura (emulate St. George for email) > [ ... ] > It's perhaps worth remembering that this renaming was part of the > resurrection of Guinness/Distillers after a financial scandal which, in > retrospect seems almost trivial given what has followed, but is notable > for actually resulting in the imprisonment of directors, as few > scandals seem to do. Also notable (unless I'm confusing it with another scandal) for furnishing the only known example of a complete recovery from Alzheimer's disease. Signatureathel >> [ ... ] > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > furnishing the only known example of a complete recovery from > Alzheimer's disease. I'm pretty sure you're not. I still think we should have visected him for the good of millions. SignatureOnline waterways route planner: http://canalplan.org.uk development version: http://canalplan.eu >> [ ... ] > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >furnishing the only known example of a complete recovery from >Alzheimer's disease. <smile> Ernest Saunders. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinness_share-trading_fraud In May 1991 Saunders and his co-accused appealed against their convictions. The guilty verdicts were upheld, though his sentence was halved after medical evidence was produced to suggest he was suffering from a mental illness. Saunders claimed he was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, a common form of dementia; if so, he made a recovery unique in medical history. Alzheimer's, like all dementias, is usually incurable being a progressive degenerative disease of the brain. Saunders has since maintained he must have been depressed. (That chimes with what I recall from the time.) And: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >On Mon, 5 Jan 2009 18:46:30 +0100, Athel Cornish-Bowden <athel_cb@yahoo.co.uk> >> [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >And: >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders I was definitely well on the road to remembering his name without help, thank you very much. I'd already got as far as Piglet's grandfather. Thenceforth, it would only have been a matter of time. SignaturePaul >> And: >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders >> > I was definitely well on the road to remembering his name without help, > thank you very much. I'd already got as far as Piglet's grandfather. > Thenceforth, it would only have been a matter of time. For goodness sake, it was Pooh, it was "Sanders" and it was never explained why Pooh lived under that name. SignatureDavid > >> And: > >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > For goodness sake, it was Pooh, it was "Sanders" and it was never > explained why Pooh lived under that name. Piglet's grandfather was "Tresspassers W." http://lib.ru/MILN/pooh.txt >>>> And: >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Piglet's grandfather was "Tresspassers W." Thanks, that's been bothering me all evening. SignatureDavid > >>>> And: > >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Thanks, that's been bothering me all evening. Oops, I put an extra S into Trespassers. >> >>>> And: >> >>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Saunders [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Oops, I put an extra S into Trespassers. Short for his full name, Trespassers William, of course. But we still don't know how Edward Bear came to live in the wood under the name of Sanders. SignatureRoland Hutchinson Will play viola da gamba for food. NB mail to my.spamtrap [at] verizon.net is heavily filtered to remove spam. If your message looks like spam I may not see it. Roland Hutchinson filted: >>> >> For goodness sake, it was Pooh, it was "Sanders" and it was never >>> >> explained why Pooh lived under that name. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] >But we still don't know how Edward Bear came to live in the wood under the >name of Sanders. It's the last song I'll ever sing for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPeAL657lnk ....r Signature"You got Schadenfreude on my Weltanschauung!" "You got Weltanschauung in my Schadenfreude!" > Roland Hutchinson filted: >> [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > ....r Wouldn't Richard Fontana have just adored that bass? SignatureMike. >>> [ ... ] >> [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > being a progressive degenerative disease of the brain. Saunders has since > maintained he must have been depressed. That is entirely wrong; pure Tonypandy. Saunders never claimed any such thing. SignatureDon Aitken Mail to the From: address is not read. To email me, substitute "clara.co.uk" for "freeuk.com" Don wrote on Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:03:12 +0000: >>>> [ ... ] >>> [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > That is entirely wrong; pure Tonypandy. Saunders never claimed > any such thing. Wasn't Pinochet released from Britain because of Alzheimer's and didn't he miraculously recover on breathing Chilean air? SignatureJames Silverton Potomac, Maryland Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not >> [ ... ] > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > furnishing the only known example of a complete recovery from > Alzheimer's disease. Didn't La Thatcher's fascist buddy Pinochet undergo a like miracle? SignatureMike. >>> [ ... ] >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >Didn't La Thatcher's fascist buddy Pinochet undergo a like miracle? I've just read the Wikipedia article (sorry Harvey!) and his case seems slightly less clearcut. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>> [ ... ] >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Didn't La Thatcher's fascist buddy Pinochet undergo a like miracle? Yes, I shouldn't have forgotten that example, though I'm not sure it was Alzheimer's that he was claimed to have, and his recovery was less complete than that of Ernest Saunders. To be fair to the old tyrant, it's probably fairly normal for genuinely ill people (as I think he probably was at that stage) to make a supreme effort to look chirpy when being greeted by a crowd of supporters after along absence. After an earlier attempt at getting hom released had failed, my wife found herself flying to Chile in a plane full of his supporters who'd flown to London in the hope of welcoming his release in London and then flying back to Santiago with him in triumph. She thought it best to keep a low profile on that occasion! Signatureathel > Found via Wikipedia: > http://www.diageo.com/en-row/AboutDiageo/Diageoataglance/ [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > world (geo). We take this to mean every day, everywhere, people > celebrate with our brands. This seems very implausible because the Latin root for day is DIES not DIAS while Greek has many prefixes DIA- as in diaphanous, diaeresis, diagonal and so on. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) >The ever entertaining Lucy Kellaway lists her awards for the Top Twaddle > of management-speak in 2008 at [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >gained sufficient traction in the marketplace or the monetisation levels >necessary. In other words, they were flops." We'll get used to it, just as we got used to "to debut", though it is still something I think of as the equivalent of castration done to the other end of goats. SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk >> The ever entertaining Lucy Kellaway lists her awards for the Top >> Twaddle of management-speak in 2008 at [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > still something I think of as the equivalent of castration done to > the other end of goats. I hadn't thought of that, as I've been hung up for years on how we're meant to pronounce "debuted". I've never done a goat, though if absolutely necessary I'm yer man for the kine kind. SignatureMike. > > We'll get used to it, just as we got used to "to debut", though it is > > still something I think of as the equivalent of castration done to [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > meant to pronounce "debuted". I've never done a goat, though if > absolutely necessary I'm yer man for the kine kind. I say "day-bewed". SignatureLinz Wet Yorks via Cambridge, York, London and Watford My accent may vary On 06 Jan 2009, Amethyst Deceiver wrote >>> We'll get used to it, just as we got used to "to debut", >>> though it is still something I think of as the equivalent of [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > I say "day-bewed". So do I, and I pronounce the noun in a similar way (day-bew). When I was in New Zealand before Christmas, though, I noticed that the announcers on the television consistently used the pronunciation "day-boo"; I assume that's the standard pronunciation there. (I can't remember what we used when I lived in Canada.) SignatureCheers, Harvey CanEng and BrEng, indiscriminately mixed > On 06 Jan 2009, Amethyst Deceiver wrote >>>> We'll get used to it, just as we got used to "to debut", >>>> though it is still something I think of as the equivalent of >>>> castration done to the other end of goats. Goats got'em at both ends. >>> I hadn't thought of that, as I've been hung up for years on how >>> we're meant to pronounce "debuted". I've never done a goat, >>> though if absolutely necessary I'm yer man for the kine kind. >> I say "day-bewed". > So do I, and I pronounce the noun in a similar way (day-bew). > When I was in New Zealand before Christmas, though, I noticed that > the announcers on the television consistently used the pronunciation > "day-boo"; I assume that's the standard pronunciation there. (I > can't remember what we used when I lived in Canada.) Day-bew around Ottawa, although the stress is firmly on the last syllable, so that you sometimes hear a schwa for the first vowel: / d@'bjuw/. >On 06 Jan 2009, Amethyst Deceiver wrote > [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > >So do I, and I pronounce the noun in a similar way (day-bew). I pronounce the boun "day-byew", but the past tense of the verb always makes me think of "de-butted". SignatureSteve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk > >On 06 Jan 2009, Amethyst Deceiver wrote > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > I pronounce the boun "day-byew", but the past tense of the verb always makes > me think of "de-butted". I don't think anyone's mentioned the actual spelling "debued." I don't know why, but it looks awfully good to me. It's only used one-thousandth as often as "debuted," though. Web examples: -- New series show "Eureka" on scifi channel debued tonight -- The trailer that debued at Comic Con! -- It debued at the Toronto Film Fest SignatureBest - Donna Richoux |
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