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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009neighborhood vs. neighborliness
Ladies and Gentlemen: a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. Do they convey different meanings? Best Regards Tacia > Ladies and Gentlemen: > > a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. > b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. > > Do they convey different meanings? The first conveyed no meaning to me; in my experience, "neighborhood" means a place. The meaning "friendly relations between neighbours" is the original meaning according to the NSOED (whose spelling I didn't Americanize), but I don't remember ever coming across it. -- Jerry Friedman >Ladies and Gentlemen: > >a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. >b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. > >Do they convey different meanings? "Neighborhood" and "neighborliness" have completely different meanings, but the "unwavering" in the first example leads me to wonder about context. A neighborhood is a physical area. There is nothing about the word that gives you any indication of what it is like. I can't see how "unwavering" - meaning "steady" or "continuing despite some sort of pressure" - could be applied to it. Perhaps there is context that I'm not thinking about. "Neighborliness" is an abstract condition of friendliness, helpfulness, or congeniality within the area of the neighborhood. It can be described as unwavering, but there is an implication of some problem or pressure that might cause a change, but that change is resisted. Where have you found these examples?  SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida tony cooper filted: >>a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. >>b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > >Where have you found these examples? I notice that Google Translate thinks that "Nachbarschaft" is the German for both....r SignatureA pessimist sees the glass as half empty. An optometrist asks whether you see the glass more full like this?...or like this? > >Ladies and Gentlemen: > > >a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. > >b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. > > Where have you found these examples? I wrote the two sentences myself. I was writing a book report of a novel, in which I found there has existed an unchanged amiable relationship between the two families living next door to each other. One of the meanings of "neighborhood" is 'neighborly relationship,' as it is given on Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.[ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/neighborhood ] From what I can gather from your replies, this meaning seems rarely used. Given this situation, can I use "unwavering"? Should I use "neighborliness"? Best Wishes Tacia >> >Ladies and Gentlemen: >> [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] >Given this situation, can I use "unwavering"? >Should I use "neighborliness"? For the meaning you want, yes. It's true that "-hood" often means a quality or a state (brotherhood, childhood, priesthood), but these days "neighborhood" (this is the AmE spelling) means the geographical area, and "neighborliness" is the quality of being a (good) neighbor. In the context, "unwavering neighborliness" suggests that the friendly relations have persisted despite length of time and perhaps despite circumstances which might have been expected to reduce the amiability. SignatureKaty Jennison spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @ >> >Ladies and Gentlemen: >> [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >From what I can gather from your replies, this meaning seems rarely >used. If ever. >Given this situation, can I use "unwavering"? >Should I use "neighborliness"? You *can* use "unwavering neighborliness" to describe the relationship between two families living next door to each other. You imply something by doing so, though. You imply that things have happened that might have caused a rift, but neither family wavered in their friendship. This may be the case in the book. There's nothing about the word "waver" that suggests this, but when you point out a relationship has been unwavering it somehow suggests it. The word "amiable" is neutral. A "long-standing and amiable relationship" is neutral. "The families had always been on good terms" is neutral. Look for a neutral word or phrase if you want to avoid putting something in the reader's mind that you don't want to. "Neighborliness" doesn't describe what I think you want. Neighborliness is usually taken to be an act rather than a long-term relationship. Feeding your neighbor's cat when he is on vacation is an act of neighborliness. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida > a. It is a story of unwavering neighborhood. > b. It is a story of unwavering neighborliness. > > Do they convey different meanings? 1. As is usual in English, context affects meaning -- so that we can probably invent sample sentences for any purpose, i.e. one pair that carries identical meanings and another pair where meanings are unambiguously different. The difference does not inhere in the dictionary or in the words considered in isolation. 2. Both phrases are mixed metaphors -- which we know are dangerous, i.e. cause misunderstandings more often than do unmixed metaphors. Here "unwavering" means still, unmoving, unchanging. "Neighbourhood" is an abstract geographical idea and "neighbourliness" an abstract social idea. Neither of these ideas is usually called unmoving or unchanging. (Geographic neighbourhoods change in time, if sometimes slowly, and so does neighbourliness because it is created by people living and dying in real time.) "Unwavering" is here used metaphorically instead of "stable." The only possible advantage or benefit seems the suggestion of deliberate resistance to change, which might plausibly characterize either idea. But I cannot see that its use outweighs the familiar risks of mixed metaphors. SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
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