English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

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Jdsk
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm "I wish to make a compliant..."
"What can we do to help, we're very flexible... "

Jonathan
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Cowsham
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Cowsham »

Jdsk wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:57pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm "I wish to make a compliant..."
"What can we do to help, we're very flexible... "

Jonathan
That's the point compliant doesn't mean flexible. It means compliant -- conformed to rules or shape etc. ie not flexible hence it does my head in.
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Chris Jeggo
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Chris Jeggo »

Meaning depends on usage, and I am used to the word 'compliance' being used to indicate flexibility that is directional, e.g. the vertical and horizontal compliances of a bicycle frame or a gramophone stylus or pick-up.
Maybe there's a better word, but 'compliance' used in that context does not do my head in.
Maybe 'pliant' would be better than 'compliant'.
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Cowsham
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Cowsham »

Chris Jeggo wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 10:55pm Meaning depends on usage, and I am used to the word 'compliance' being used to indicate flexibility that is directional, e.g. the vertical and horizontal compliances of a bicycle frame or a gramophone stylus or pick-up.
Maybe there's a better word, but 'compliance' used in that context does not do my head in.
Maybe 'pliant' would be better than 'compliant'.
Being compliant with the rules doesn't mean being flexible with the rules. Oh wait maybe that's what Boris means by being compliant with the lockdown rules.
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Jdsk
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

Chris Jeggo wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 10:55pm Meaning depends on usage, and I am used to the word 'compliance' being used to indicate flexibility that is directional, e.g. the vertical and horizontal compliances of a bicycle frame or a gramophone stylus or pick-up.
Maybe there's a better word, but 'compliance' used in that context does not do my head in.
Maybe 'pliant' would be better than 'compliant'.
Cowsham wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 8:22am Being compliant with the rules doesn't mean being flexible with the rules.
It's an interesting pair. They're pretty close within some of the range of meanings, and definitely not interchangeable elsewhere.

Jonathan
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Bmblbzzz »

Jdsk wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:57pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm "I wish to make a compliant..."
"What can we do to help, we're very flexible... "

Jonathan
:D :D :D
DaveReading
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by DaveReading »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm"I wish to make a compliant..."
Funnily enough, I was talking to someone yesterday who said that every time she tried to write "Italian" it came out as "Itailan".

That said, she is in fact a very good Italian tutor ...
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by mattheus »

Cowsham wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 9:47pm
Jdsk wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:57pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm "I wish to make a compliant..."
"What can we do to help, we're very flexible... "

Jonathan
That's the point compliant doesn't mean flexible. It means compliant -- conformed to rules or shape etc. ie not flexible hence it does my head in.
I'd never realised this before!

<googles ... >
adj. 1. complying; obeying, obliging, or yielding, esp. in a submissive way: a person with a compliant nature.

So it seems that the "yielding" bit has been used in the bicycle world. It's probably a distortion of the older meaning, but I suspect we are stuck with it!
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661-Pete
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by 661-Pete »

DaveReading wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 3:25pm Funnily enough, I was talking to someone yesterday who said that every time she tried to write "Italian" it came out as "Itailan".
There's probably a name for this kind of recurrent typo, but I'm no psychologist. I seem to have the habit, whenever I'm trying to type the word 'imagine', it comes out as 'imaging'. Possibly due to the fact that I'm a (somewhat lapsed) amateur astronomer, where the word 'imaging' comes up frequently. Also the -ing ending for participles etc. is so common that one tends to type out the three letters in 'autopilot' mode without thinking.

But whatever this is, it isn't 'bad English' - nor indeed 'bad-any-other-language'. It's just finger trouble...
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Bmblbzzz »

I think it's partly autopilot as you say and partly just some fingers being quicker than others.
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Cowsham
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Cowsham »

Descend, scissors, -- SC words where the C makes the same sound as the S -- I have that kind of spelling trouble with.

decent or descent -- both sound the same but mean two very different things.
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Jdsk
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Jdsk »

Bmblbzzz wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 6:13pm ... and partly just some fingers being quicker than others.
Yes, and if you use two hands the dominant hand can overtake the other. And the effect can be greater if you're tired.

Jonathan
Last edited by Jdsk on 9 Dec 2021, 6:39pm, edited 1 time in total.
DaveReading
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by DaveReading »

Cowsham wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 6:14pmdecent or descent -- both sound the same
Not if pronounced properly.
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by sjs »

DaveReading wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 3:25pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm"I wish to make a compliant..."
Funnily enough, I was talking to someone yesterday who said that every time she tried to write "Italian" it came out as "Itailan".

That said, she is in fact a very good Italian tutor ...
I get to type the word "ratio" fairly often in the course of my work, and usually find I type "ration" instead. Not sure what that says about me.
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Re: English Language - what "Does your head in" ??

Post by Bmblbzzz »

sjs wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 8:43pm
DaveReading wrote: 9 Dec 2021, 3:25pm
Bmblbzzz wrote: 8 Dec 2021, 8:56pm"I wish to make a compliant..."
Funnily enough, I was talking to someone yesterday who said that every time she tried to write "Italian" it came out as "Itailan".

That said, she is in fact a very good Italian tutor ...
I get to type the word "ratio" fairly often in the course of my work, and usually find I type "ration" instead. Not sure what that says about me.
I find exactly the same. And I, or my disobedient fingers, often turn "though" into "thought".
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