I hate the word "APOLOGY"

[Guest]

"Apology" has 2 signifigant meanings and essentially they are opposites.

- An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense.

- A justification or defense or explanation or excuse.




Really we should be able to do better as a society.
We need a system to re-evaluate words and fix the most absurd definitions. We should denote for all time one of the meanings as being archaic. This of course isnt the only case where some work is needed; its just the one irking me tonight.

[DeeBye]

I'm really sorry about that. Can you forgive me?

[Guest]

Sure - as long as you dont apologize.

[DeeBye]

Sure - as long as you dont apologize.
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I'm sor..

[Count Duckula]

Really we should be able to do better as a society. 
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What, you expect miracles?

George W. Bush is our president.

Meshugganeh.

[Occhidiangela]

What, you expect miracles?

George W. Bush is our president. 

Meshugganeh.
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Love the Yiddish!

On the topic, however, I will offer that a lack of executive elocutory excellence evokes no excuse for Everyman. There is no such thing as zero defects diction.

Annoyed at alliteration? Affirmative! :rolleyes:

Occhi

[kandrathe]

"Apology" has 2 signifigant meanings and essentially they are opposites.

- An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense.

- A justification or defense or explanation or excuse.
Really we should be able to do better as a society. 
We need a system to re-evaluate words and fix the most absurd definitions. We should denote for all time one of the meanings as being archaic. This of course isnt the only case where some work is needed; its just the one irking me tonight.
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Hmm, απολογία, eh? From greek, "a plea".

I disagree (διαφωνώ). I like the quilt of our language, and its flexibility in meaning. It is pretty humbling to stand in Mycenae, a site that was first inhabited 6000 years ago and ponder humanities debt to the Greeks. And, then to marvel at sharing this verbal history while resting in Epidavros, sitting in the ancient theatre re-reading some Aristophanes who said, "Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever." or "Ye children of man! whose life is a span Protracted with sorrow from day to day, Naked and featherless, feeble and querulous, Sickly, calamitous creatures of clay."

[jahcs]

Unfortunately just rewriting the dictionary won't change anything. Language evolves and sometimes devolves with usage. Most of the changes occur because of laziness or creative word usage by a popular figure. (The politics of normalcy anyone?)

Mispronunciation is a pet peeve of mine, along with inappropriate word usage, especially in the media. The use of "loaded" adjectives or omission of important clarification and context in order to sway popular opinion or make the item more newsworthy is offensive to me.



And as for apologies and being sorry: If someone is truly sorry they would be repentant. "Repent," a word which carries much more weight than "sorry."

[Rhydderch Hael]

Inflammable means flammable? What a country!

Seriously, though, when I read an article about Milbourn Apt's ill-fated Mach 3 flight in the deathtrap that was the X-2, the last sentence spoke of the loss of an "invaluable" test vehicle (as opposed to a valuable one). Being a kid at the time, I thought that meant the plane was worthless. In reality, it meant it was priceless.

Then again, "worth" and "price" mean two different things when applied as "wotrhless" and "priceless". "Price" is cost. Sacrifice. "Priceless" speaks not of lacking sacrifice neccessary to attain it, but rather that the worth of the object is beyond measure.

Lovely language, no?

[Occhidiangela]

Inflammable means flammable? What a country!

(snip)

Lovely language, no?
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Isn't nuance great? I think we got that from the French, as well as a few other bon mot's.

Occhi

[LochnarITB]

Since this thread regards our language and, in my humble opinion, George Carlin is one of the better observers of the colloquial usage of that language, I raise this question. Did anyone else here see the monologue he performed on Jay Leno Monday night (11/15)? One three minute discourse seemed to hit hundreds of examples of the wordsmithery used to describe how we live our lives in the US. I've been trying to find a transcript of it, using my highly developed Google-fu, with no success. The closest I came was an NBC forum where others were looking for the same thing and one person posted what I think was a previous piece George did on the show.

[Archon_Wing]

While I was going to post a notice on a telephone post across from the post office I tried to figure out when should I post this post but then I had to stand guard at my post and I figured I should do it post haste. While viewing this forum and discussing this with fellow posters, I took an old poster off my wall and burned it.

[jahcs]

Don't foget the postage. ;)

EDIT: for the Evening Post that you read while eating your Post cereal.

[Archon_Wing]

Don't foget the postage. ;)

EDIT:  for the Evening Post that you read while eating your Post cereal.
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And now, I translated it to Spanish through Babelfish and back again.

I got:

Whereas it was going to fix a warning in a post of the telephone through the post office I tried to calculate towards outside when post of east I post but then I had to be unemployed to protector in my post and calculated that I must make it rapidity of the post. Whereas it saw east forum and it discusses this with the posters of the companion, I took an old poster from my wall and I burned myself.

;)

[Obi2Kenobi]

"Apology" has 2 signifigant meanings and essentially they are opposites.

- An acknowledgment expressing regret or asking pardon for a fault or offense.

- A justification or defense or explanation or excuse.
Really we should be able to do better as a society. 
We need a system to re-evaluate words and fix the most absurd definitions. We should denote for all time one of the meanings as being archaic. This of course isnt the only case where some work is needed; its just the one irking me tonight.
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You think that's bad? Try the word fearsome.

1. Causing or capable of causing fear: “The Devil is a fearsome enemy” (Jimmy Breslin).
2. Fearful; timid.

(from Dictionary.com)

I also thought it was only the first definition, and then in my English class a few years ago, that was a vocabulary word, and the teacher used the second definition. :wacko:

[LochnarITB]

Thanks for bumping this, Obi2Kenobi. It reminded me to check again for the George Carlin bit I mentioned above. It turns out it is something from his new book, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?. It follows:

What are you lookin' at?
A MODERN MAN

I'm a modern man,
digital and smoke-free;
a man for the millennium.

A diversified, multi-cultural,
post-modern deconstructionist;
politically, anatomically and ecologically incorrect.

I've been uplinked and downloaded,
I've been inputted and outsourced.
I know the upside of downsizing,
I know the downside of upgrading.

I'm a high-tech low-life.
A cutting-edge, state-of-the-art,
bi-coastal multi-tasker,
and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond.

I'm new-wave, but I'm old-school;
and my inner child is outward-bound.

I'm a hot-wired, heat-seeking,
warm-hearted cool customer;
voice-activated and bio-degradable.

I interface with my database;
my database is in cyberspace;
so I'm interactive, I'm hyperactive,
and from time to time I'm radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve,
ridin' the wave, dodgin' the bullet,
pushin' the envelope.

I'm on point, on task, on message,
and off drugs.

I've got no need for coke and speed;
I've got no urge to binge and purge.

I'm in the moment, on the edge,
over the top, but under the radar.

A high-concept, low-profile,
medium-range ballistic missionary.

A street-wise smart bomb.
A top-gun bottom-feeder.

I wear power ties, I tell power lies,
I take power naps, I run victory laps.

I'm a totally ongoing, big-foot, slam-dunk
rainmaker with a pro-active outreach.

A raging workaholic, a working rageaholic;
out of rehab and in denial.

I've got a personal trainer,
a personal shopper,
a personal assistant,
and a personal agenda.

You can't shut me up;
you can't dumb me down.

'Cause I'm tireless, and I'm wireless.
I'm an alpha-male on beta-blockers.

I'm a non-believer,
I'm an over-achiever;
Laid-back and fashion-forward.
Up-front, down-home;
low-rent, high-maintenance.

I'm super-sized, long-lasting,
high-definition, fast-acting,
oven-ready and built to last.

A hands-on, footloose, knee-jerk head case;
prematurely post-traumatic,
and I have a love child who sends me hate-mail.

But I'm feeling, I'm caring,
I'm healing, I'm sharing.
A supportive, bonding, nurturing
primary-care giver.

My output is down, but my income is up.
I take a short position on the long bond,
and my revenue stream has its own cash flow.

I read junk mail, I eat junk food,
I buy junk bonds, I watch trash sports.

I'm gender-specific, capital-intensive,
user-friendly and lactose-intolerant.

I like rough sex; I like tough love.
I use the f-word in my e-mail.
And the software on my hard drive
is hard-core—no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini-mall.
I bought a mini-van at a mega-store.
I eat fast food in the slow lane.
I'm toll-free, bite-size, ready-to-wear,
and I come in all sizes.

A fully equipped, factory-authorized,
hospital-tested, clinically proven,
scientifically formulated medical miracle.

I've been pre-washed, pre-cooked, pre-heated,
pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged,
post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped
and vacuum-packed.

And . . . I have unlimited broadband capacity.

I'm a rude dude, but I'm the real deal.
Lean and mean.
Cocked, locked and ready to rock;
rough, tough and hard to bluff.

I take it slow, I go with the flow;
I ride with the tide, I've got glide in my stride.

Drivin' and movin', sailin' and spinnin';
jivin' and groovin', wailin' and winnin'.

I don't snooze, so I don't lose.
I keep the pedal to the metal
and the rubber on the road.
I party hearty, and lunchtime is crunch time.

I'm hangin' in, there ain't no doubt;
and I'm hangin' tough.
Over and out.

Copyright © 2004 Comedy Concepts, Inc.

[ShadowHM]

Thanks for bumping this, Obi2Kenobi.  It reminded me to check again for the George Carlin bit I mentioned above.  It turns out it is something from his new book, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?.  It follows:

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Thank You :D

That is absolutely wonderful !

[LochnarITB]

Thank You  :D

That is absolutely wonderful !
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Your welcome. I would love to find video of him doing this bit. On Leno, he did that before sitting down with Jay. He does it with such great rhythm and doesn't stumble or miss a beat. Even though it is what makes him his daily bread, that he could even remember the whole thing floors me almost as much as being able to spit it out without a hitch. I thought about trying to get the clip from NBC but it appears that would be very pricey.

[ShadowHM]

I would love to find video of him doing this bit. 
...

I thought about trying to get the clip from NBC but it appears that would be very pricey.
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I would cheerfully settle for an audio clip, myself.

Every now and again, on the drive home from the cottage, we get a station that has comedy clips. George Carlin's work tops the list for the 'best way to cheer up a long drive'. :D His delivery makes all the difference.

In the same vein, I have a print-out of the classic "Who's on First". No matter how we try (and we have given it our best shot, many times), we just cannot match the delivery of Abbott and Costello. We have also much enjoyed doing Shel Silverstein's "The Meehoo and the Exactlywatt", although I never have had the pleasure of hearing it done by Shel.