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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2014 at 12:42
Originally posted by HolyMoly HolyMoly wrote:

 

I have a similar story.  When I was a kid, my family visited another family who was from Finland.  The father of that family was a visiting professor at the university where my father taught, and they had been in the country only a short while.   Most of the family spoke very little English.   We were served dinner, and when the mother came around to take our plates at the end of the meal, she made a gesture asking if it was okay to take my plate.   I politely said, "yes thanks, I'm finished."  She looked puzzled and paused a moment.  I repeated what I said, and then realized the confusion.  "Done.  I'm done, I mean."
LOL Nice one too. I can imagine similar possible situations with, for example, if regarding some work you would say 'Polish please' in a suitable environment with Polish people around.
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2014 at 13:36
Originally posted by Padraic Padraic wrote:

One of my favorites is "oriented / orientated" (US/UK)
That reminds me (and this is not a US/UK thing): "opinionated" vs. "opinionized".
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2014 at 19:05
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Originally posted by Padraic Padraic wrote:

One of my favorites is "oriented / orientated" (US/UK)
That reminds me (and this is not a US/UK thing): "opinionated" vs. "opinionized".
Well, they are two different words with two slightly different meanings, and one is an adjective while the other is a verb so I'm not sure of the point you are making. 
 
However, I suspect there is a US/GB thing going on here because "opinionized" isn't a real real word even though it does appear in some dictionaries. (The test of any word that ends "-ized" is to search for a British spelling of the same word, ie "opinionised").
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Dayvenkirq View Drop Down
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2014 at 19:18
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Originally posted by Padraic Padraic wrote:

One of my favorites is "oriented / orientated" (US/UK)
That reminds me (and this is not a US/UK thing): "opinionated" vs. "opinionized".
Well, they are two different words with two slightly different meanings, and one is an adjective while the other is a verb so I'm not sure of the point you are making. 
 
However, I suspect there is a US/GB thing going on here because "opinionized" isn't a real real word even though it does appear in some dictionaries. (The test of any word that ends "-ized" is to search for a British spelling of the same word, ie "opinionised").
My point is that I've heard some people use these two words interchangeably, ... which is confusing. The former means "assertive and dogmatic", while the latter (in its adjective form) means ... ??? Could it be used for the person speaking, the thing that is spoken, or the person/thing spoken about? (Some might call this belaboring; I call it curiosity.)

Edited by Dayvenkirq - August 19 2014 at 19:24
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 19 2014 at 21:35
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Originally posted by Padraic Padraic wrote:

One of my favorites is "oriented / orientated" (US/UK)
That reminds me (and this is not a US/UK thing): "opinionated" vs. "opinionized".
Well, they are two different words with two slightly different meanings, and one is an adjective while the other is a verb so I'm not sure of the point you are making. 
 
However, I suspect there is a US/GB thing going on here because "opinionized" isn't a real real word even though it does appear in some dictionaries. (The test of any word that ends "-ized" is to search for a British spelling of the same word, ie "opinionised").
My point is that I've heard some people use these two words interchangeably, ... which is confusing. The former means "assertive and dogmatic", while the latter (in its adjective form) means ... ??? Could it be used for the person speaking, the thing that is spoken, or the person/thing spoken about? (Some might call this belaboring; I call it curiosity.)
Since as a verb opinionize apparently means to "to express an opinion" if it had an adjective form it would refer to the subject (or topic) of the opinion, not the person having the opinion. Unlike opinionated, which refers to the person and not the subject (the verb opinionate meant "hold the opinion")

But as I said, opinionize is not a real real word and opinionated would be the past tense not the adjective. Searching the internet for examples used in a sentence yields very poor results, even Goolge suggests searching for opinionated instead.

If opinionize is a real real word it would not mean "to express an opinion" it would mean "to cause to become like an opinion" - which is nonsensical. As an example Americanize means "to make [like] American in form, style or culture".
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 21 2014 at 13:34
Falsifiability. That's interesting:
Quote That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, it means that if the statement were false, then its falsehood could be demonstrated.
Where is this usually applied? And what would be an example of indemonstrable fallacy (besides God's existence)?

Edited by Dayvenkirq - August 23 2014 at 15:47
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Points: 20666 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 21 2014 at 21:51
Is there going to be a test Monday because I need to start taking notes.
 
 
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 21 2014 at 21:58

One more for today: bailiff. Also with that US-vs.-UK difference between two meanings. Never heard anyone use it before.
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Points: 3150 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 21 2014 at 22:45
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:


One more for today: bailiff. Also with that US-vs.-UK difference between two meanings. Never heard anyone use it before.

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Gerinski View Drop Down
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 02:22
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Falsifiability. That's interesting
Quote That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, it means that if the statement were false, then its falsehood could be demonstrated.
Where is this usually applied? And what would be an example of indemonstrable fallacy (besides God's existence)?
You will find 'Falsifiability' a lot if you read about science and particularly about philosophy of science, it was the criterion demanded by Karl Popper in order for a scientific theory to be considered as truly scientific. The claim that intelligent aliens have visited the Earth during mankind's times is not falsifiable, the fact that no uncontroversial proof has been found or will ever be found of aliens having visited us will probably not be sufficient to convince the aliens-visited-us believers that they are wrong.


In my article about instruments in the Blogs section I used a word which I don't know if it's really used more or less often by British and Americans, but I used it because in my native Spanish is relatively common: 'paraphernalia'. How common is it for English language natives?
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 02:37
^ In the States "paraphernalia" is frequently used as a name for "the means of hard drug consumption" (though it is applicable for much broader use, of course). I don't remember it being used in any other context, honestly.

Edited by Dayvenkirq - August 22 2014 at 02:43
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 04:53
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

 Falsifiability. That's interesting
Quote That something is "falsifiable" does not mean it is false; rather, it means that if the statement were false, then its falsehood could be demonstrated.
Where is this usually applied? And what would be an example of indemonstrable fallacy (besides God's existence)?
You will find 'Falsifiability' a lot if you read about science and particularly about philosophy of science, it was the criterion demanded by Karl Popper in order for a scientific theory to be considered as truly scientific. The claim that intelligent aliens have visited the Earth during mankind's times is not falsifiable, the fact that no uncontroversial proof has been found or will ever be found of aliens having visited us will probably not be sufficient to convince the aliens-visited-us believers that they are wrong.
I think it is only really used in the assessment of hypothesises. It comes from the notion that we can never categorically prove anything in science but one single experiment or (explained) observation can disprove something.

For example the statement "pure water boils at 100°C" is falsifiable and can be proved false because we can take a kettle to the top of a mountain and demonstrate that it will boil at a lower temperature. Knowing that the statement has been demonstrated to be false we can modify it to say "pure water boils at 100°C when it is under an atmospheric pressure of one bar" however it remains falsifiable because it is testable. Testability is an indicator of falsifiability but untestability is not always an indicator of unfalsifiability  something can be untestable but still be falsifiable.

All too often the idea that a falsifiable hypothesis can be disproved is taken as proof of an opposing unfalsifiable hypothesis, we see this a lot in pseudo-scientific and belief-based hypothesis where more effort is put into proving all opposing ideas to be wrong than proving that the idea itself is correct. This is fallacy - for example disproof of evolution does not prove creationism. (Sorry about that - it's is difficult to think of examples of indemonstrable fallacy that does not involve a belief)
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 05:13
^ indeed, many people view scientists as people who believe the established theories to be correct and just seeking further small refinements. On the contrary, a lot of scientific effort is put in trying to find and then executing experiments which could disprove the existing theories, and there is nothing which makes a scientist happier than getting an experimental result contradicting an established theory.

It is worth clarifying that falsifiability often relates more to the way an hypothesis must be properly stated rather than with the actual idea behind. The sentence 'intelligent aliens have visited the Earth during the epoch where cognitive humans were already inhabiting the Earth' is not falsifiable because we can never prove it wrong. Never finding any proof that they have visited will never prove that they did not visited us. However the statement ''intelligent aliens have NOT visited the Earth during the epoch where cognitive humans were already inhabiting the Earth' is falsifiable. Finding uncontroversial evidence of their visit would falsify it. 


Edited by Gerinski - August 22 2014 at 05:28
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Points: 1195 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 05:17
I've only just started catching up on this thread, but "Falsifiable" is a great one to ponder over Tongue.
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Points: 37575 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 22 2014 at 05:21
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

In my article about instruments in the Blogs section I used a word which I don't know if it's really used more or less often by British and Americans, but I used it because in my native Spanish is relatively common: 'paraphernalia'. How common is it for English language natives?

Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

^ In the States "paraphernalia" is frequently used as a name for "the means of hard drug consumption" (though it is applicable for much broader use, of course). I don't remember it being used in any other context, honestly.
As your link explains, Paraphernalia originally meant "property owned by a married woman" and referred to things like cosmetics, toiletries and other such female thing that men knew nothing about. (I am assuming you are clicking on the "big grey down arrow" on all these Google definitions you are showing us). Since then it has come to mean any esoteric equipment associated with a specific activity, of which equipment for the consumption of hard drugs is only one such contextual use of the word.

It is a commonly word and can be used in a more abstract sense.to denote the accompaniments to ritual and ceremony and in that context would be associated with rigmarole. 


Edited by Dean - August 22 2014 at 05:22
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 24 2014 at 01:07
Never heard the album X, ... and I've never heard of Georg Trakl (that could call for a "People You Might Be Interested In" thread), ... which brought me to his Wiki page, ... where a word is used that I bookmarked about a month ago: feuilleton.
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 24 2014 at 01:29
Discover a word, and you might discover more than one idea. Never heard of the Romansh language. Apparently, they speak it in Graubünden, Switzerland, and it is a derivative of the Vulgar Latin.
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Points: 5154 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 24 2014 at 02:20
Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Never heard the album X, ... and I've never heard of Georg Trakl (that could call for a "People You Might Be Interested In" thread), ... which brought me to his Wiki page, ... where a word is used that I bookmarked about a month ago: feuilleton.
This is another one which by proximity to France is relatively commonly used in Catalonia (not so sure about other areas of Spain), with the meaning of 'soap opera'.
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Points: 10970 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 26 2014 at 04:08
"Apposition". I'm reading this section on the Wiki page and thinking: "What is the most used meaning of the word when it comes to the thumb?" (Sorry if this question sounds awkwardly phrased to you.)


This is hard to read for how wordy and technical it is:
Quote Other researchers use another definition,[4] referring to opposition-apposition as the transition between flexion-abduction and extension-adduction; the side of the distal thumb phalanx thus approximated to the palm or the hand's radial side (side of index finger) during apposition and the pulp or "palmar" side of the distal thumb phalanx approximated to either the palm or other digits during opposition.


Edited by Dayvenkirq - August 26 2014 at 04:09
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Points: 10279 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 26 2014 at 04:57
Originally posted by Gerinski Gerinski wrote:

Originally posted by Dayvenkirq Dayvenkirq wrote:

Never heard the album X, ... and I've never heard of Georg Trakl (that could call for a "People You Might Be Interested In" thread), ... which brought me to his Wiki page, ... where a word is used that I bookmarked about a month ago: feuilleton.
This is another one which by proximity to France is relatively commonly used in Catalonia (not so sure about other areas of Spain), with the meaning of 'soap opera'.

I only knew the 'soap opera' meaning of the word.
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