Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Language update for Feb
Now that work is done, Professor Polistra has time to gather up a bucketload of linguistic shit.
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Whole life sentence: (retronym)
"European Court of Human Rights ruling varies from previous decision that whole life sentences for murderers and other heinous criminals are inhuman and degrading."
EU dyslaw considers any sentence at all for actual criminals to be "brutal and inhumane". Punishment is reserved solely for heretics such as Christians or Warming Denialists, who receive good old-fashioned Inquisitorial tortures followed by a merciful death. Under EU standards a "life sentence" for actual criminals means exactly zero time in jail, requiring the retronym "whole life" for sentences in the range of one second to one minute. Longer than one minute is, of course, still perfectly unthinkable and impossible.
This is one area where US law was formerly trending toward Satan, then miraculously pulled back toward civilization in the '90s. Even at the Fed level, Life means Life. No retronym needed here.
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Non-executive director:
"Lucy Marcus is an award winning writer, board chair and non-executive director of several organisations. She is also the CEO of Marcus Venture Consulting."
Hmm. Professor Polistra can beat Lucy Marcus hands down. Prof P is the non-executive director of ALL organizations, because she's not the director of anything.
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Glance: (transitive verb)
Clearly shortened from 'strike a glancing blow'. Could turn out to be a useful formation. New and suddenly ubiquitous in context of Weather Bureau's failure to predict snow.
"Traffic is getting back to normal after a blizzard that glanced New York City."
Maybe if the Weather Bureau would glance away from its constant Eucharistic Adoration of Michael Mann, it might be able to devote a little attention to dull old forecasting. Step back from the Golden Altar and check the goddamn radar once in a while.
Later: The back-formation is not new. Twain in A Tramp Abroad: "And I never could seem to glance on one of those chairs, but always struck it full and square with my head."
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Potty Moss:
The Spanish anti-austerity party, as pronounced by BBC. Presumably the name means "We Can Piss On Algae."
In fairness, Prof P notes that everyone, not just BBC, is stressing the middle syllable of the Greek party Syriza. Real Greeks pronounce Syriza with strong stress on the first and last syllables, just like Potty Moss. So we have a complementary pair of mis-stressed opponents of austerity.
Appropriate since austerity itself is a mis-stressed concept. Greece is not suffering from a simple decision to live frugally, as the word would imply. Greece NEEDS to master frugality. It's suffering from an externally imposed cost-cutting death spiral under a Kraut LBO. Same thing that happens to any company under a Morgan or Goldman LBO. (Not a metaphor, since this LBO was actually factually organized by the actual factual Goldman Sachsual.) Fire all those pesky employees so we can cash out your real estate.
Now that work is done, Professor Polistra has time to gather up a bucketload of linguistic shit.
= = = = =
Whole life sentence: (retronym)
"European Court of Human Rights ruling varies from previous decision that whole life sentences for murderers and other heinous criminals are inhuman and degrading."
EU dyslaw considers any sentence at all for actual criminals to be "brutal and inhumane". Punishment is reserved solely for heretics such as Christians or Warming Denialists, who receive good old-fashioned Inquisitorial tortures followed by a merciful death. Under EU standards a "life sentence" for actual criminals means exactly zero time in jail, requiring the retronym "whole life" for sentences in the range of one second to one minute. Longer than one minute is, of course, still perfectly unthinkable and impossible.
This is one area where US law was formerly trending toward Satan, then miraculously pulled back toward civilization in the '90s. Even at the Fed level, Life means Life. No retronym needed here.
= = = = =
Non-executive director:
"Lucy Marcus is an award winning writer, board chair and non-executive director of several organisations. She is also the CEO of Marcus Venture Consulting."
Hmm. Professor Polistra can beat Lucy Marcus hands down. Prof P is the non-executive director of ALL organizations, because she's not the director of anything.
= = = = =
Glance: (transitive verb)
Clearly shortened from 'strike a glancing blow'. Could turn out to be a useful formation. New and suddenly ubiquitous in context of Weather Bureau's failure to predict snow.
"Traffic is getting back to normal after a blizzard that glanced New York City."
Maybe if the Weather Bureau would glance away from its constant Eucharistic Adoration of Michael Mann, it might be able to devote a little attention to dull old forecasting. Step back from the Golden Altar and check the goddamn radar once in a while.
Later: The back-formation is not new. Twain in A Tramp Abroad: "And I never could seem to glance on one of those chairs, but always struck it full and square with my head."
= = = = =
Potty Moss:
The Spanish anti-austerity party, as pronounced by BBC. Presumably the name means "We Can Piss On Algae."
In fairness, Prof P notes that everyone, not just BBC, is stressing the middle syllable of the Greek party Syriza. Real Greeks pronounce Syriza with strong stress on the first and last syllables, just like Potty Moss. So we have a complementary pair of mis-stressed opponents of austerity.
Appropriate since austerity itself is a mis-stressed concept. Greece is not suffering from a simple decision to live frugally, as the word would imply. Greece NEEDS to master frugality. It's suffering from an externally imposed cost-cutting death spiral under a Kraut LBO. Same thing that happens to any company under a Morgan or Goldman LBO. (Not a metaphor, since this LBO was actually factually organized by the actual factual Goldman Sachsual.) Fire all those pesky employees so we can cash out your real estate.
Labels: Language update
¶ 5:03 AM
