by snowbird 130 Replies latest jw friends
mollycoddling!
Good one!
Yeah, you hear all that psychobabble about kids being from broken homes or some other lame excuse for not doing well.
Back in the day, we heard none of that.
We were very poor materially, but didn't know it.
Tee hee hee.
Deracinated is the only word with which I'm not familiar - means pulled up by the roots.
Thanks again, Burn.
Syl
We were very poor materially, but didn't know it.
Looking back at my early childhood, I realize that we were also, but I never felt it.
Sorry if I am hijacking your thread-- I think these are great guidelines:
(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
They sound simple, but they are surprisingly difficult to put into practice.
BTS
I think they're great guidelines, too.
I confess, I'm often guilty of breaking the 2nd.
I just totally love words!
Someone on this here board pointed out that the WT frequently breaks the 4th.
Syl
Loose when trying to say lose. Drives me nuts.
Et tu, Bek?
Syl
Chow instead of Ciao
Chow instead of Ciao
Something like that!
Syl
Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones
Why science? On almost any science topic, you're pretty much stuck with a centuries old tradition of coining terms in Latin and Greek.
Simple example from botany:
"The genus Mammillaria is likely the most species-rich and morphologically variable genus in the Cactaceae. There is doubt as to whether the genus is monophyletic, and past infrageneric treatments differ regarding generic circumscription. Phylogenetic questions about Mammillaria were addressed using chloroplast DNA sequencedata from the rpl16 intron and the psbA-trnH intergenic spacer for 125 taxa."
I'd challenge anyone to try and say that anywhere near as accurately in "Saxon" terms.
(Sorry Sylvia ---way off your topic)
I tried ...
This group of nipple-like cacti is likely the most species-rich and structurally variable group in the cactus family. There is doubt as to whether the group is descended from a common ancestor, and past species or variety treatments differ regarding generic circumscription. Evolutionary-history questions about nipple-like cacti were addressed using chloroplast DNA sequence date from rpl16 DNA region within a gene that is not translated into protein and the psbA-trnH between-genes spacer for 125 biological units.
Phew!
LOL.
Syl
