Lession learned about English

[Liar]

Here's what my little brother learned in school yesterday.

Horrible and terrible mean just about the same thing.

Horrific and terrific, does not.

So, writing that "the holocaust was a terrific genocide" in your English language essay about WW II might raise an eyebrow or two.

 

[Guest]

but you can use the two words to describe the same thing.
it was a terrifically horrific accident.
ok. i know you shouldnt but people like me butcher the english language on a daily basis. get to know vellaese...there is no escape.,

 

[Liar]

it was a terrifically horrific accident.

Isn't that like saying "he's a fucking virgin"?

 

[Guest]

Isn't that like saying "he's a fucking virgin"?

round about, yes.
oxymorons rock!
or morons do.

 

[Guest]

Here's what my little brother learned in school yesterday.

Horrible and terrible mean just about the same thing.

Horrific and terrific, does not.

So, writing that "the holocaust was a terrific genocide" in your English language essay about WW II might raise an eyebrow or two.

It's one of those Latinate words with multiple meanings, Liar, including some that have changed over the years. From my favorite online dictionary

One entry found for terrific.
Main Entry: ter·rif·ic
Pronunciation: t&-'ri-fik
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin terrificus, from terrEre to frighten
1 a : very bad : FRIGHTFUL b : exciting or fit to excite fear or awe
2 : EXTRAORDINARY <terrific speed>
3 : unusually fine : MAGNIFICENT <terrific weather>
- ter·rif·i·cal·ly /-fi-k(&-)lE/ adverb


One entry found for horrific.
Main Entry: hor·rif·ic
Pronunciation: ho-'ri-fik, hä-
Function: adjective
: having the power to horrify <a horrific account of the tragedy>
- hor·rif·i·cal·ly /-fi-k(&-)lE/ adverb

It's kind of like how the words "cool" and "bad" have multiple meanings. Here, in common slang, saying something is "cool" doesn't necessarily mean it is chilly or less warm (just as saying something or someone is "hot" doesn't mean they are high temperature). In fact, the same thing can be described as "cool" and "hot" and mean the same thing. Saying something is "bad" could mean it is not good -- or that it is very good.

Tricky shit, English. It's what we get for stealing so much of our vocabiularly and switching it around to suit ourselves

 

[CharleyH]

Here's what my little brother learned in school yesterday.

Horrible and terrible mean just about the same thing.

Horrific and terrific, does not.

So, writing that "the holocaust was a terrific genocide" in your English language essay about WW II might raise an eyebrow or two.

The holocaust was a "horrible" thing. It was "terrible" enough that people in another continent needed to do something about it. It was an "horrific" experience to the tortured and it was a "terrific" victory that we never learn from after all these years. Sometimes grammar means nothing. It was a terrific genocide, though ... as it sadly almost worked. Thats the thing we cannot forget.

 

[Aurora Black]

Tricky shit, English. It's what we get for stealing so much of our vocabiularly and switching it around to suit ourselves

English does indeed have its hand in quite a few cookie jars... and in the Greek baklava tin.

 

[Guest]

English does indeed have its hand in quite a few cookie jars... and in the Greek baklava tin.

One of my favorite dictionaries (yes, I have more than one, sue me) has a map showing the migration of languages over the globe. I always read the etymology of a word because the history of words interests me. And English speakers are a buncha thieves and plagiarists, technically Which makes our language challenging to learn and, to me, highly intriguing. I may not speak another tongue (although I have tried!) but in a way I speak a little of many when I speak English.

Except, of course, being a Southerner, I barely manage that

 

[Aurora Black]

One of my favorite dictionaries (yes, I have more than one, sue me) has a map showing the migration of languages over the globe. I always read the etymology of a word because the history of words interests me. And English speakers are a buncha thieves and plagiarists, technically Which makes our language challenging to learn and, to me, highly intriguing. I may not speak another tongue (although I have tried!) but in a way I speak a little of many when I speak English.

Except, of course, being a Southerner, I barely manage that

http://www.geocities.com/hellenicmind/Greekwords.html

ETA: That's only the tip of the iceberg. Don't get me started on the Greek words that fit together like fucking Legos to form lengthy medical terms. Oy.

 

[TheEarl]

It's probably a close cousin to the English method of using negative words as amplifiers to positive descriptors. It's gone out of vogue now, but it's still a fantastic way to mimic the Famous Five.

Terribly good ginger beer. Horrifically good. Awfully nice, isn't it?

The Earl

 

[Guest]

It's probably a close cousin to the English method of using negative words as amplifiers to positive descriptors. It's gone out of vogue now, but it's still a fantastic way to mimic the Famous Five.

Terribly good ginger beer. Horrifically good. Awfully nice, isn't it?

The Earl

Ah yes, the Evil Adverbial form, too.

Lolly lolly lolly get your adverbs here
Gotta lotta lolly jolly adverbs here...

'Rora, I got dizzy.

 

[Boxlicker101]

It's probably a close cousin to the English method of using negative words as amplifiers to positive descriptors. It's gone out of vogue now, but it's still a fantastic way to mimic the Famous Five.

Terribly good ginger beer. Horrifically good. Awfully nice, isn't it?

The Earl

Not to mention when someone is buying shoes or something and tries on some that are slightly large. "They're a little big." Or, describing somebody who is extremely unattractive. "He's pretty ugly."

 

[BigFatMeat]

Too fucking funny. Who in the hell would make the mistake?

 

[minsue]

Too fucking funny. Who in the hell would make the mistake?

Ummm...someone who doesn't speak English as their first language, for one.

 

[Liar]

Too fucking funny. Who in the hell would make the mistake?

Ever tried learning a foreign language from scratch?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Same thing with awful. The holocaust was awful, but some Nzis had an awfully good time at it.

Enormity is now being used to refer to the size or extent of something, when it actually means the quality of evil or wickedness. So if you talk about the "the enormity of Bush's popularity," you may think you're talking about how many people like him, but literally you're saying that his popularity is a crime.

There are other paradoxical words too. "Cleave" means both to stick together and to split apart. "Literally" used to mean "in the exact meaning of the word used". To be "literally struck dumb" means that you actually lost the power of speech. Now it also means it's exact opposite, that is, "figuratively," so that it's acceptable to some dictionaries to say you were literally struck dumb when you were just startled for an instant.

 

[Aurora Black]

Ever tried learning a foreign language from scratch?

Yes! It was excruciating, yet satisfying.

 

[Guest]

Ever tried learning a foreign language from scratch?

Four times. Four different languages. I learned enough to recognize the English words derived from them

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Ever tried learning a foreign language from scratch?

Doesn't 'scratch' mean you haven't got a handicap - so learning the language should be a doddle?

In French, if you say, 'Le film est terrible', it means you thought it was great.

I know I'm horribly late in finding this thread but I'm terribly glad I have!

There is a great difference between written and spoken language. Going back to the Holocaust example, I can imagine someone saying it was superbly executed and meaning it in a disparaging manner - just something the same person would never write.

Terribly good fun here, isn't it?

 

[Aurora Black]

Pardon moi pour vous derenger. Je nes comprend pas le Francais. (Just saying.)

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Pardon moi pour vous derenger. Je nes comprend pas le Francais. (Just saying.)

Sorry!! Just showing off - isn't that horribly 'non riguer'.

 

[Aurora Black]

Sorry!! Just showing off - isn't that horribly 'non riguer'.

Le chat.