Today [6]

Kari said:

As an non-native English speaker, I sometimes hear a word or an expression I do not fully understand. Usually, it's not a big deal because context will reveal the meaning. But, sometimes I really must check word or expression, to be sure I understood it correctly.

Like watching TV, yesterday's episode of Madam Secretary (best political drama ever!). I had to pause it three times to Bing a word I did not understand. These three words I needed an explanation for were remuneration, varnishing and antagonistic.

You geeks speaking English as your mother tongue, or you non-native speakers speaking fluent English, you are now allowed to laugh at me. But for me, this is a good example about how wonderful IT and cloud services can be: I do not know something, so I just need to Bing it. The answer and explanation exist and are stored somewhere, I just need to find them.

It is wonderful how easily all existing information can be found today, be it a solution for a mathematical formula or a scientific dilemma, or like in my case, explanation for a word I did not understand.

Kari

No problem with your English, Kari. Of course, as a native English speaker, I can see remuneration and antagonistic being used in a political drama. But varnishing!?

I don't know what you'd call it, but in both politics and computerese, the meaning of perfectly correct words such as varnishing (probably varnishing the truth in this instance) have been changed to mean something entirely different than the original meaning.

Varnish is used to seal wood (it's put on with a paint brush) and make it impervious to water; varnishing does not make a statement the truth!

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A Guy

A Guy said:

Introducing The Newegg iBrite RGB CPU | Newegg.com

A Guy

With that price, Bill, it's gotta be an April Fool Joke!

Yeah...it's the price that makes it a joke

A Guy

A Guy said:

Yeah...it's the price that makes it a joke

A Guy

Good night, Bill. I cleaned up the mess in LOTPW for ya. You don't have to be the night crew tonight.

Night

A Guy

A Guy said:

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A Guy

Hahah! That title makes absolutely no sense. The specs omg.

@Kari

I do word lookups almost daily. I also check both UK-English and US-English meanings along with the full context. Sometimes that deep research makes a huge difference. English isn't always English.

slicendice said:

@Kari

I do word lookups almost daily. I also check both UK-English and US-English meanings along with the full context. Sometimes that deep research makes a huge difference. English isn't always English.

US English can be very different to UK English. It has been said that the UK and the US are two nations divided by a common language.

kado897 said:

US English can be very different to UK English. It has been said that the UK and the US are two nations divided by a common language.

Yep, I talk quite a lot in a group where most users are from the US and UK. Often the two groups misunderstand each other because of language differences. It's fun to watch.