30 March 2010
Another thing that caught my interest was the use of this French word “noir” ( literal means black) in some movie reviews. Interestingly, in the number of instances that the noir appears, it was observed that noir is always primed to collocate with the word film giving FILM NOIR!
I found this really strange because to call a film “film noir” because my intuition tells me that the implied meaning of the noir here seems to suggest that the film must be “dark, sinister and evil.” Anyway, that was my first guess based on intuition. I am not a movie addict so this is the reason why this word stikes as something novel for me. It is just like the previous post where I talked about Hitchcockian.
From the concordance sampler, I had numerous instances where the word noir is collocated with film (N-1).
Next, I proceeded to check the definition of the meaning of noir to check if my speculation of the definition of the word is right.
MW says:
Main Entry: film noir
Pronunciation: \-ˈnwär\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural film noirs \-ˈnwär(z)\ or films noir or films noirs\-ˈnwär\
Etymology: French, literally, black film
Date: 1958
: a type of crime film featuring cynical malevolent characters in a sleazy setting and an ominous atmosphere that is conveyed by shadowy photography and foreboding background music; also : a film of this type
Hmm, from here, it appears that my guess is partially correct.
However, this definition does not quite align with the another site that I visited. I managed to chance upon this site by coincidence because I was searching for a dictionary of cinematic terms. And miraculously, I managed to find out. According to this dictionary, it says that film noir is defined as :
a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography, while many of the prototypical stories and much of the attitude of classic noir derive from the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression era.
The definition given by this dictionary is alot more detailed than the one given by Merriam Webster as there were details that was not present in the MW dictionary. Perhaps this is an obvious indication that the term film noir is very unique only to cinematic discourse and is not a pharse that we would usually hear and write unless our job is to write a movie –review. Just like linguistic terms, medical terms where jargons of these sorts are found only in dictionaries specially catered to a particular genre and topic. Anyway, this was certainly a very interesting phrase that I have come across and I’m glad to have picked up or learnt a new phrase today.
dimanche 4 avril 2010
I forgot to add my last 2 blog posts on my blog!!!
30th March 2010
I was reading this movie review on one of the movies called the Shutter and I came across this very interesting word “Hitchcockian”. It really stuck me as something interesting because one I never knew such a word existed and secondly, the moment I saw this word, I immediately thought of Alfred Hitchcock, a highly acclaimed movie director and producer. Anyway, this review wrote “Twin screenwriters Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes play with some interesting ideas regarding twin characters, as well as some squeal-inducing moments of Hitchcockian force.
So I decided to check the dictionary to see if this word exists. Interestingly, this word does not appear in any of the respectable and widely acclaimed dictionaries like the Merrian Webster or the OED. Yet when I googled the word Hitchcockian, I actually get several sample sentences with the word Hitchcockian.
1. Four Modern "Hitchcockian" Horror Films You Must See - Associated ...
9 Mar 2010 ... Alfred Hitchcock was the master of psychological suspense. But there seem
1. Broadway's Hitchcockian Comedy The 39 Steps Extends One Week ...
Hitchcockian Thrillers.
a Hitchcockian nightmare with a persistent, stomach-turning sense of disquiet
Also, from the concordance sampler, I managed to get 2 data.
-formulaic approach to repliating the Hitchcockian thriller falls flat with a movie that is
- back to his scintillating best with a Hitchcockian comedy thriller. [p] Julia mckenzie and
From the data obtained, I realized that Hitchcockian acts as an adjective and it modifies a noun. What comes after Hitchcockian always have to be a NP that is related to a genre under the domain of movies. Perhaps, this is a cinematic term, I thought to myself. To confirm this, I randomly typed definition of Hitchcockian and interestingly Wikipedia gave a very detailed definition of what Hitchcockian is defined as.
Wikipedia- Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.
Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
• The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
• The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life (e.g. Psycho).
• An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
• Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rear Window, Rope).
• Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
• Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent.
• Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
• Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc)
• Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
• Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest and The Wrong Man.
• The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
• Use of a macguffin or plot device that remains unexplained, such as the microfilm in North by Northwest.
From here it can be concluded that Hitchcockian is a unique term in cinematic discourse only. Outside the genre of movies, we can rarely see this word being used. Perhaps, it would be even better that such words, though its usage is very limited and constrained only to a certain genre can be codified in the more prestigious and reference dictionaries for future references.
Wikipedia- Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
• The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
• The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life (e.g. Psycho).
• An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
• Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rear Window, Rope).
• Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
• Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent.
• Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
• Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc)
• Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
• Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest and The Wrong Man.
• The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
• Use of a macguffin or plot device that remains unexplained, such as the microfilm in North by Northwest.
30th March 2010
I was reading this movie review on one of the movies called the Shutter and I came across this very interesting word “Hitchcockian”. It really stuck me as something interesting because one I never knew such a word existed and secondly, the moment I saw this word, I immediately thought of Alfred Hitchcock, a highly acclaimed movie director and producer. Anyway, this review wrote “Twin screenwriters Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes play with some interesting ideas regarding twin characters, as well as some squeal-inducing moments of Hitchcockian force.
So I decided to check the dictionary to see if this word exists. Interestingly, this word does not appear in any of the respectable and widely acclaimed dictionaries like the Merrian Webster or the OED. Yet when I googled the word Hitchcockian, I actually get several sample sentences with the word Hitchcockian.
1. Four Modern "Hitchcockian" Horror Films You Must See - Associated ...
9 Mar 2010 ... Alfred Hitchcock was the master of psychological suspense. But there seem
1. Broadway's Hitchcockian Comedy The 39 Steps Extends One Week ...
Hitchcockian Thrillers.
a Hitchcockian nightmare with a persistent, stomach-turning sense of disquiet
Also, from the concordance sampler, I managed to get 2 data.
-formulaic approach to repliating the Hitchcockian thriller falls flat with a movie that is
- back to his scintillating best with a Hitchcockian comedy thriller. [p] Julia mckenzie and
From the data obtained, I realized that Hitchcockian acts as an adjective and it modifies a noun. What comes after Hitchcockian always have to be a NP that is related to a genre under the domain of movies. Perhaps, this is a cinematic term, I thought to myself. To confirm this, I randomly typed definition of Hitchcockian and interestingly Wikipedia gave a very detailed definition of what Hitchcockian is defined as.
Wikipedia- Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films.
Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
• The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
• The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life (e.g. Psycho).
• An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
• Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rear Window, Rope).
• Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
• Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent.
• Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
• Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc)
• Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
• Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest and The Wrong Man.
• The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
• Use of a macguffin or plot device that remains unexplained, such as the microfilm in North by Northwest.
From here it can be concluded that Hitchcockian is a unique term in cinematic discourse only. Outside the genre of movies, we can rarely see this word being used. Perhaps, it would be even better that such words, though its usage is very limited and constrained only to a certain genre can be codified in the more prestigious and reference dictionaries for future references.
Wikipedia- Hitchcockian is a general term used to describe film styles and themes similar to those of Alfred Hitchcock's films. Elements considered Hitchcockian include:
• The cool platinum blonde (often a central figure of Hitchcock's films).
• The presence of a domineering mother in her child's life (e.g. Psycho).
• An innocent man accused (again used in many of Hitchcock's films).
• Restricting the action to a single setting to increase tension (e.g. Lifeboat, Rear Window, Rope).
• Characters who switch sides or who cannot be trusted.
• Tension building through suspense to the point where the audience enjoys seeing the character in a life-threatening situation, such as the windmill scene from Foreign Correspondent.
• Average people thrust into strange or dangerous situations, such as in North by Northwest or The Man Who Knew Too Much.
• Bumbling or incompetent authority figures, particularly police officers.
• Use of darkness to symbolise impending doom (dark clothing, shadows, smoke, etc)
• Strong visual use of famous landmarks (Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Forth Rail Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Albert Hall, British Museum, Piccadilly Circus, etc.)
• Mistaken identity, such as in North by Northwest and The Wrong Man.
• The use of a staircase as a motif for impending danger or suspense.
• Use of a macguffin or plot device that remains unexplained, such as the microfilm in North by Northwest.
mardi 30 mars 2010
You are too la-di-dah for words!
I used to enjoy reading Enid Blyton’s books when I was very young and one of my favourite series was Malory Towers. Her book recounts the various events that took place in Malory Towers with particular focus on a particular class of girls. Darrell Rivers is the protagonist of this Malory Towers series and all that happens in Malory Towers is viewed from her perspective. I ‘m not going to talk more about what the story is about because this is not relevant. So anyway,
in one scenario, Darrell (head-girl of her form) told her sister off for being ill-mannered and her sister Felicity replied “ You’re too la-di-dahLa-di-dah (Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary)
(adj) Informal ,especially BrE-used to describe a way of speaking or behaving that is typical of upper-class people but that is not natural or sincere.
Exclamation: used when somebody is irritating you, because they seem to think they are more important then they really are.
Knowing that this word is used only specifically in the British context, it makes me wonder whether this word is obsolete in today’s British context since this word is rarely heard nor used in conversations be it on British TV serials, BBC movies and conversations amongst the British themselves.
What are your thoughts?
I used to enjoy reading Enid Blyton’s books when I was very young and one of my favourite series was Malory Towers. Her book recounts the various events that took place in Malory Towers with particular focus on a particular class of girls. Darrell Rivers is the protagonist of this Malory Towers series and all that happens in Malory Towers is viewed from her perspective. I ‘m not going to talk more about what the story is about because this is not relevant. So anyway,
in one scenario, Darrell (head-girl of her form) told her sister off for being ill-mannered and her sister Felicity replied “ You’re too la-di-dahLa-di-dah (Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary)
(adj) Informal ,especially BrE-used to describe a way of speaking or behaving that is typical of upper-class people but that is not natural or sincere.
Exclamation: used when somebody is irritating you, because they seem to think they are more important then they really are.
Knowing that this word is used only specifically in the British context, it makes me wonder whether this word is obsolete in today’s British context since this word is rarely heard nor used in conversations be it on British TV serials, BBC movies and conversations amongst the British themselves.
What are your thoughts?
SPORTS AND HOBBITS!
Here is a website which I recommend you all to visit: it’s http:// www.engrish.com. if you want to have a good laugh. You can find numerous pictures of signs in weird, funny English which is good enough to tickle you. At times, these sentences are so ridiculously ill-formed that you can hardly decode the message. At times, the message may seem clear but the choice of lexical items used don’t seem to be appropriate. One example that caught my attention was a sign taken from a library saying sports and hobbits!
I burst into a fit of laughter upon seeing this because hobbits conjures up images of short men/women living merrily in tiny cottages during the medieval period. Also, JRR Tolkien and his famous Lord Of The Rings immediately comes to mind when Hobbits is mentioned.
Of course, it is outrageous that a library should have a sign like that especially when it is obvious that the error was merely an orthographic one. The take –away from this is that, even a simple word, when spelled wrongly CAN ALTER THE intended meaning and at times, generate meaningless or bizarre sentences.
Another example of an orthographic error was spotted on a banner outside a food stall. On the banner was a picture of our favourite hash brown, but guess what was written on the sign? HARSH BROWN! Oops, I have lost my appetite to eat HARSH BROWN because I only eat Hash Brown.
Another example:
I think this was a sign taken from china because it was in Chinese. The purpose of the sign was to warn parents to prevent their child from going too near the lake to avoid falling into the water. However, on the sign , it was written as : Take the child, fall into water carefully!. Again, we observe that this is a result of a direct translation from Chinese! Dai hao hai zi, xiao xin luo shui!
After having come across all these signs coming from Japan and China, I realized that in non-Anglo countries, their standard of English is pretty low. But we cannot blame them since English isn’t their native language. Yet, English being the only language in the world to achieve this status as a World Language and a lingua franca where people of different cultural and social background communicate, one cannot avoid using English during the course of their life. That explains why in most countries, we always find natives of the country conversing in English with a foreigner, unless a common ground has been established (such as being capable to speak the native’s language). In tourism, we observe that in most tourism websites, there will always be an English version , if the native language of the country is not English. Likewise, even in cities like Tokyo, Paris, Berlin etc English can be seen on signboards in public places like airports, train stations etc. Therefore, it is crucial that signs must written in proper English where sentences are grammatical and meaningful. The examples we have seen above are very bad ones and should be taken down immediately. Honestly, I feel that these countries could do a better job by hiring skilled translators to do the translations. It is indeed a torture and a pain to read meaningless signs which leads one to nowhere.
Here is a website which I recommend you all to visit: it’s http:// www.engrish.com. if you want to have a good laugh. You can find numerous pictures of signs in weird, funny English which is good enough to tickle you. At times, these sentences are so ridiculously ill-formed that you can hardly decode the message. At times, the message may seem clear but the choice of lexical items used don’t seem to be appropriate. One example that caught my attention was a sign taken from a library saying sports and hobbits!
I burst into a fit of laughter upon seeing this because hobbits conjures up images of short men/women living merrily in tiny cottages during the medieval period. Also, JRR Tolkien and his famous Lord Of The Rings immediately comes to mind when Hobbits is mentioned.
Of course, it is outrageous that a library should have a sign like that especially when it is obvious that the error was merely an orthographic one. The take –away from this is that, even a simple word, when spelled wrongly CAN ALTER THE intended meaning and at times, generate meaningless or bizarre sentences.
Another example of an orthographic error was spotted on a banner outside a food stall. On the banner was a picture of our favourite hash brown, but guess what was written on the sign? HARSH BROWN! Oops, I have lost my appetite to eat HARSH BROWN because I only eat Hash Brown.
Another example:
I think this was a sign taken from china because it was in Chinese. The purpose of the sign was to warn parents to prevent their child from going too near the lake to avoid falling into the water. However, on the sign , it was written as : Take the child, fall into water carefully!. Again, we observe that this is a result of a direct translation from Chinese! Dai hao hai zi, xiao xin luo shui!
After having come across all these signs coming from Japan and China, I realized that in non-Anglo countries, their standard of English is pretty low. But we cannot blame them since English isn’t their native language. Yet, English being the only language in the world to achieve this status as a World Language and a lingua franca where people of different cultural and social background communicate, one cannot avoid using English during the course of their life. That explains why in most countries, we always find natives of the country conversing in English with a foreigner, unless a common ground has been established (such as being capable to speak the native’s language). In tourism, we observe that in most tourism websites, there will always be an English version , if the native language of the country is not English. Likewise, even in cities like Tokyo, Paris, Berlin etc English can be seen on signboards in public places like airports, train stations etc. Therefore, it is crucial that signs must written in proper English where sentences are grammatical and meaningful. The examples we have seen above are very bad ones and should be taken down immediately. Honestly, I feel that these countries could do a better job by hiring skilled translators to do the translations. It is indeed a torture and a pain to read meaningless signs which leads one to nowhere.
You have a glowing, crystal clear complexion!
Every time I read magazines like Her World, 17,teenage, I always come across heaps of advertisements promoting different brands of facial products to readers. No matter what brand is it, they always claim that after using their products, your skin will glow. You will find yourself achieving this glowing ,crystal clear complexion. What really struck me was the choice of adjectives used to describe complexion. When I think of “crystal clear” the very first image that pops in my mind is water or any object that is transparent where light waves can penetrate. When I think of the word glowing, I immediately think of an object that has a shiny, smooth surface that reflects lights thus giving this glow. However, I noticed that this expression is so ubiquitously employed in most adverts promoting beauty and cosmetic products. The literal meaning of glow and clear is as such:
MW: glow (v) 1 a : to shine with or as if with an intense heat b (1) : to have a rich warm typically ruddy color (2) : flush, blush
clear:
1 a : bright, luminous b : cloudless; specifically : less than one-tenth covered c : free from mist, haze, or dust d : untroubled, serene
2 : clean, pure: as a : free from blemishes b : easily seen through
Encarta dictionary: clear-the idea of being transparent. easily see through.
However, what is interesting is that, in almost all the dictionaries that I consulted, the word clear seems to take on another a different meaning in the domaine of beauty and cosmetics. Whether it is a learner's dictionary or reference dictionary, the words clear, in the domaine of beauty was given the definition as free from blemish and red spots. Unlike the conventional meaning of clear which means transparent and luminous, we see how words like glow and clear conveys the idea of a clear complexion, free of pimples and a smooth complexion that reflects light thus giving a glow on the face.
To conclude, we see that the both learner's and reference dictionary gave a very detailed list of the various definitions that the word clear can take. This is interesting since one would not expect learner's dictionary to actually be as detailed as a refernece dictionary assuming that the learners' goal is to first master the literal meaning of the word and its usage in the literal sense. However, we could argue from another point of view that by giving a very detailed definition of the word 'clear' , it benefits the learners in the sense that they will learn to be more aware of the various usage and meanings a word can take. Such information can be very beneficial in the course of their learning process. Hence, should all learner dictionaries strive to be like reference dictionaries? In fact, I am supportive of this simply beacuse learners of any foreign language needs so much more information than a native as to how a word is used and what meanings it has in different domains. Currently, I speak and write 7 languages of which I am fluent in 4 (German , French, English and Chinese). I rarely revise the 3 other languages that I have picked up 6 months ago (Russian, Czech and Polish). Occassionally when I have the time, I do refer back to my course book to revise the grammatical structure and some vocabulary items. I have a learner's dictionary of Russian, Polish and Czech and one of the things that really annoy me is that limite amount of information that the dictionary gives. Supposedly I were to read a text in Russian and I come across a word that I am unfamiliar with, I check the dictionary. But the next moment I come across the same word (used in a different context) I get slightly puzzled simply beacuse the meaning stated by the dictionary does not seem to fit well into the context. Perhaps, this could be an idiomatic expression! But whatever it is, it always bothers me to have a learner's dictionary. I always find them a nuisance because they never seem to help much.
Thus, I am in favour for a learner's dictionary to be equally as detailed as a refernece dictionary for individual who truly aspires to master as many foreign languages as possible. What are your thoughts? Should there be a difference between a learner and a refernce dictionary?
Every time I read magazines like Her World, 17,teenage, I always come across heaps of advertisements promoting different brands of facial products to readers. No matter what brand is it, they always claim that after using their products, your skin will glow. You will find yourself achieving this glowing ,crystal clear complexion. What really struck me was the choice of adjectives used to describe complexion. When I think of “crystal clear” the very first image that pops in my mind is water or any object that is transparent where light waves can penetrate. When I think of the word glowing, I immediately think of an object that has a shiny, smooth surface that reflects lights thus giving this glow. However, I noticed that this expression is so ubiquitously employed in most adverts promoting beauty and cosmetic products. The literal meaning of glow and clear is as such:
MW: glow (v) 1 a : to shine with or as if with an intense heat
clear:
1 a : bright, luminous b : cloudless; specifically : less than one-tenth covered c : free from mist, haze, or dust d : untroubled, serene
2 : clean, pure: as a : free from blemishes
Encarta dictionary: clear-the idea of being transparent. easily see through.
However, what is interesting is that, in almost all the dictionaries that I consulted, the word clear seems to take on another a different meaning in the domaine of beauty and cosmetics. Whether it is a learner's dictionary or reference dictionary, the words clear, in the domaine of beauty was given the definition as free from blemish and red spots. Unlike the conventional meaning of clear which means transparent and luminous, we see how words like glow and clear conveys the idea of a clear complexion, free of pimples and a smooth complexion that reflects light thus giving a glow on the face.
To conclude, we see that the both learner's and reference dictionary gave a very detailed list of the various definitions that the word clear can take. This is interesting since one would not expect learner's dictionary to actually be as detailed as a refernece dictionary assuming that the learners' goal is to first master the literal meaning of the word and its usage in the literal sense. However, we could argue from another point of view that by giving a very detailed definition of the word 'clear' , it benefits the learners in the sense that they will learn to be more aware of the various usage and meanings a word can take. Such information can be very beneficial in the course of their learning process. Hence, should all learner dictionaries strive to be like reference dictionaries? In fact, I am supportive of this simply beacuse learners of any foreign language needs so much more information than a native as to how a word is used and what meanings it has in different domains. Currently, I speak and write 7 languages of which I am fluent in 4 (German , French, English and Chinese). I rarely revise the 3 other languages that I have picked up 6 months ago (Russian, Czech and Polish). Occassionally when I have the time, I do refer back to my course book to revise the grammatical structure and some vocabulary items. I have a learner's dictionary of Russian, Polish and Czech and one of the things that really annoy me is that limite amount of information that the dictionary gives. Supposedly I were to read a text in Russian and I come across a word that I am unfamiliar with, I check the dictionary. But the next moment I come across the same word (used in a different context) I get slightly puzzled simply beacuse the meaning stated by the dictionary does not seem to fit well into the context. Perhaps, this could be an idiomatic expression! But whatever it is, it always bothers me to have a learner's dictionary. I always find them a nuisance because they never seem to help much.
Thus, I am in favour for a learner's dictionary to be equally as detailed as a refernece dictionary for individual who truly aspires to master as many foreign languages as possible. What are your thoughts? Should there be a difference between a learner and a refernce dictionary?
Our Japanese red bean is air-flown from Hokkaido , Japan, and vacuum-packed to keep its authentic flavour.
This example was extracted from a brochure of MOF restaurant promoting various food items ranging from drinks to desserts. I don’t know why this strikes me as inappropriate. Perhaps it’s because I have never, from my experience , heard anyone saying “ this product is air-flown from Hokkaido”. Usually, I would hear people saying this product is imported from country X. Hence, to answer my doubt, I deceided to do consult various dictionaries to search for the definition of air-flown.
I did a quick check with my electronic dictionary –Oxford advanced Learner’s Dictionary.
Air-flown did not appear despite having typed the key word “air” or “fly”. But under the word “fly” , I got this reading:
6. (VN) to transport goods or passengers in an aircraft.
The MW dictionary says: intransitive verb
1 a : to move in or pass through the air with wings b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2 a : to take flight : flee b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3 a : to move, pass, or spread quickly b : to be moved with sudden extreme emotion c : to seem to pass quickly
4 : to become expended or dissipated rapidly
5 : to operate or travel in an airplane or spacecraft
6 : to work successfully : win popular acceptance
transitive verb
1 a : to cause to fly, float, or hang in the air b : to operate (as a balloon, aircraft, rocket, or spacecraft) in flight c : to journey over or through by flying
2 a : to flee or escape from b : avoid, shun
3 : to transport by aircraft or spacecraft
— fly at : to assail suddenly and violently
— fly blind : to fly an airplane solely by instruments
— fly high : to be elated
— fly in the face of or fly in the teeth of : to stand or act forthrightly or brazenly in defiance or contradiction of
The Encarta dictionary says:
fly [ flī ]
verb (past flew [ floo ], past participle flown [ flōn ], present participle fly·ing, 3rd person present singular flies)
Definition:
1. intransitive verb move through air: to travel through the air using wings or an engine
2. intransitive verb travel in aircraft: to travel in an aircraft
3. transitive verb take somebody or something by air: to take or send things or passengers in an aircraft
So,based on the definition given by the dictionary, the phrase "beans air-flown from hokkaido" is semantically fine but why does it sound so strange to use air-flown and why does it sound so much natural to say import? I dunno. Maybe I am just being weird.
I went to google the word air-flown and apparently, there were instances where we have examples like :
Fresh food flown to Britain
Air-freighted green beans
air-freighted organic products
broad beans flown in from abroad
Perhaps there is nothing worng with air-flown at all = ) .
This example was extracted from a brochure of MOF restaurant promoting various food items ranging from drinks to desserts. I don’t know why this strikes me as inappropriate. Perhaps it’s because I have never, from my experience , heard anyone saying “ this product is air-flown from Hokkaido”. Usually, I would hear people saying this product is imported from country X. Hence, to answer my doubt, I deceided to do consult various dictionaries to search for the definition of air-flown.
I did a quick check with my electronic dictionary –Oxford advanced Learner’s Dictionary.
Air-flown did not appear despite having typed the key word “air” or “fly”. But under the word “fly” , I got this reading:
6. (VN) to transport goods or passengers in an aircraft.
The MW dictionary says: intransitive verb
1 a : to move in or pass through the air with wings b : to move through the air or before the wind or through outer space c : to float, wave, or soar in the air
2 a : to take flight : flee b : to fade and disappear : vanish
3 a : to move, pass, or spread quickly
4 : to become expended or dissipated rapidly
5 : to operate or travel in an airplane or spacecraft
6 : to work successfully : win popular acceptance
transitive verb
1 a : to cause to fly, float, or hang in the air
2 a : to flee or escape from b : avoid, shun
3 : to transport by aircraft or spacecraft
— fly at : to assail suddenly and violently
— fly blind : to fly an airplane solely by instruments
— fly high : to be elated
— fly in the face of or fly in the teeth of : to stand or act forthrightly or brazenly in defiance or contradiction of
The Encarta dictionary says:
fly [ flī ]
verb (past flew [ floo ], past participle flown [ flōn ], present participle fly·ing, 3rd person present singular flies)
Definition:
1. intransitive verb move through air: to travel through the air using wings or an engine
2. intransitive verb travel in aircraft: to travel in an aircraft
3. transitive verb take somebody or something by air: to take or send things or passengers in an aircraft
So,based on the definition given by the dictionary, the phrase "beans air-flown from hokkaido" is semantically fine but why does it sound so strange to use air-flown and why does it sound so much natural to say import? I dunno. Maybe I am just being weird.
I went to google the word air-flown and apparently, there were instances where we have examples like :
Fresh food flown to Britain
Air-freighted green beans
air-freighted organic products
broad beans flown in from abroad
Perhaps there is nothing worng with air-flown at all = ) .
The first time I came to Singapore was when I was 12 and when my mother enrolled me in Raffles Girl’s Primary, I was in Primary 6. At that time, this word “primary” struck me as something foreign. When people ask me which level I was studying in primary school, I was always quick to reply: I am in Year 7 . And the next moment, I started getting puzzled looks from people simply because they do not understand what Year 7 meant.
I noticed that in different countries, education system are labelled differently. For instance in Singapore, in our education section , students are labelled as primary 1, 2, 3, 4,5,6, followed by secondary 1, 2, 3,4 and eventually, J1 or J2. In most Western countries, the education system is labelled as such: US Grade 1 to 12.In Australia, our education system is labelled very similar to that of the US. Instead of the word grade, we use the word "Year" . In Britain, the word "form" is often used to label the academic level of individual student. Eg: Students in the sixth form (which is equivqlent to Singapore's J2 batch of students. ). While "form" is mostly used in the UK , it is also used in US, especially by the private schools.
As the MW defines form as " a grade in a British school or in some American private schools.
From here, it is interesting to see how different words are used differently to label a thing. Take another example of the words biscuit and cookie. The British uses the word biscuits while the americans use the word cookie to refer to a small quick bread made from dough that has been rolled out and cut or dropped from a spoon. Both cookie and biscuit refer to the same things but this object is labelled differently between these 2 societies. More examples to illustrate the differences in labelling the same object :
(American-British)
1.) Windshield vs Windscreen
2.)Pants versus trousers
3.) candy versus sweet
4.) Highway versus main road
5.) Motor versus engine
Although the Americans and British speak a common language English and despite the fact that the earliest settlers in America were the Brits and that one would expect the sort of words used in the Aamerica to be very similar to the British context,the slight differences in the choice of lexical items to describe and label an object is evident. Perhaps during the early days in the American society, the word "candy" is favoured over "sweet" thus becoming appropriated into the context and over time, when the word is codified in a dictionary and the word being acquired by future generations,one often hears the americans saying candy instead of sweet.
Likewise in the Singaporean context, the use of the word porridge differs from our supreme authority (Bitish). In the British context, porridge is defined as a dish made by boiling oats (rolled, crushed, or steel cut) or other grains or legumes in water, milk, or both. On the contrary, our so-called porridge does not fit the definition given above. In layman's terms, what we label as porridge is basically a dish where rice is boiled in water, ingredients (vegetables , meats, peanuts etc.) are added to it and served as a dish in a bowl...
With this in mind, it is not surprising that I should get strange looks from people when I said Year 7. Singaporeans are not primed to label the education level of an individaul in terms of "Year" or "Grade". They are primed to use the word "primary , secondary".
I noticed that in different countries, education system are labelled differently. For instance in Singapore, in our education section , students are labelled as primary 1, 2, 3, 4,5,6, followed by secondary 1, 2, 3,4 and eventually, J1 or J2. In most Western countries, the education system is labelled as such: US Grade 1 to 12.In Australia, our education system is labelled very similar to that of the US. Instead of the word grade, we use the word "Year" . In Britain, the word "form" is often used to label the academic level of individual student. Eg: Students in the sixth form (which is equivqlent to Singapore's J2 batch of students. ). While "form" is mostly used in the UK , it is also used in US, especially by the private schools.
As the MW defines form as " a grade in a British school or in some American private schools.
From here, it is interesting to see how different words are used differently to label a thing. Take another example of the words biscuit and cookie. The British uses the word biscuits while the americans use the word cookie to refer to a small quick bread made from dough that has been rolled out and cut or dropped from a spoon. Both cookie and biscuit refer to the same things but this object is labelled differently between these 2 societies. More examples to illustrate the differences in labelling the same object :
(American-British)
1.) Windshield vs Windscreen
2.)Pants versus trousers
3.) candy versus sweet
4.) Highway versus main road
5.) Motor versus engine
Although the Americans and British speak a common language English and despite the fact that the earliest settlers in America were the Brits and that one would expect the sort of words used in the Aamerica to be very similar to the British context,the slight differences in the choice of lexical items to describe and label an object is evident. Perhaps during the early days in the American society, the word "candy" is favoured over "sweet" thus becoming appropriated into the context and over time, when the word is codified in a dictionary and the word being acquired by future generations,one often hears the americans saying candy instead of sweet.
Likewise in the Singaporean context, the use of the word porridge differs from our supreme authority (Bitish). In the British context, porridge is defined as a dish made by boiling oats (rolled, crushed, or steel cut) or other grains or legumes in water, milk, or both. On the contrary, our so-called porridge does not fit the definition given above. In layman's terms, what we label as porridge is basically a dish where rice is boiled in water, ingredients (vegetables , meats, peanuts etc.) are added to it and served as a dish in a bowl...
With this in mind, it is not surprising that I should get strange looks from people when I said Year 7. Singaporeans are not primed to label the education level of an individaul in terms of "Year" or "Grade". They are primed to use the word "primary , secondary".
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