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English is weird
Morituri:
I'm just going to take a moment here to mourn the loss of the word "elite" - which used to designate those distinguished by their great capability - as opposed to "privileged" which used to designate those distinguished by their position in society.
Now that it has been co-opted as part of a narrative about privileged people abusing their positions, we have a diminished capacity for talking about the great athletes, the geniuses, the autodidacts and original thinkers, the disciplined students, the insightful and enlightened, and those of great spirit, generosity, and character. Or at least for talking about them in a way that doesn't begin with casting them in suspicion of having and abusing undeserved social standing.
Tova:
Momentarily means for a moment, not in a moment, you barbarians. Try presently.
Dandi Andi:
--- Quote from: Tova on 22 Mar 2019, 20:05 ---Momentarily means for a moment, not in a moment, you barbarians. Try presently.
--- End quote ---
"Ladies and gentlemen, we will be landing momentarily, so please prepare to unboard the plane as quickly as possible. We will not be coming to a full stop."
--- Quote from: Morituri on 20 Mar 2019, 13:03 ---I'm just going to take a moment here to mourn the loss of the word "elite" - which used to designate those distinguished by their great capability - as opposed to "privileged" which used to designate those distinguished by their position in society.
Now that it has been co-opted as part of a narrative about privileged people abusing their positions, we have a diminished capacity for talking about the great athletes, the geniuses, the autodidacts and original thinkers, the disciplined students, the insightful and enlightened, and those of great spirit, generosity, and character. Or at least for talking about them in a way that doesn't begin with casting them in suspicion of having and abusing undeserved social standing.
--- End quote ---
As adjectives, we still have "exemplary", "exceptional", "foremost", "preeminent" and "supreme". and for the noun we have "exemplar", "elect", "choice", "cream" and "top". English is replete with words to say very nearly the same thing.
Is it cold in here?:
Case:
Linguists find that English is actually rather weird (but, of course, German is weirder - ranked 33rd and 10th out of 239, respectively)
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