Piwin -> RE: Changes in Andalucía (Jan. 14 2019 7:41:38)
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Sorry joselito. If you have the impression that I was arguing that one meaning was correct and the other wasn't, then I did a poor job in communicating what I was trying to say. There's no appeal to authority, no appeal to an institutional definition (in fact, if we looked up the definition in any of today's dictionaries, I doubt you'd find any reference to the meaning I was referring to, or if you did, you'd probably see that it was qualified as "archaic"). It was just an observation that the expression once meant one thing, and now means something that basically contradicts that older meaning. I find those cases of "opposites" fascinating, in part due to an observation I've made several times in my former career as an interpreter. That observation is just this: when you make a mistake, which you inevitably do, if you say something that is 90 degrees off, everyone will notice it, but if you say the exact opposite, 180 degrees off as it were, people either correct it in their own minds or it doesn't even register as a mistake. For instance, a man says "I want to buy X". If I get it wrong and translate it as "I want to sell X", usually nobody in the room will react. And the rest of the discussion indicates that everyone understood "buy" and not "sell". However, if I get it wrong and say "I want to loan X", then everyone reacts and asks for clarifications. I don't have any particular insight into why that is. I just find it fascinating! As for my reaction to the bootstraps expression, I don't have any argument to justify it. When I hear it, for whatever reason the literal meaning jumps right up in my face, and it gives a rather cynical meaning to what is being said, even if I know very well that cynical meaning is not at all intended by the speaker. It's like the word for a female cat in French ("chatte"). As in other languages, it has come to refer to female genitalia. I happen to have a female cat. Using the masculine ("chat") solves the "problem" but it also doesn't feel right to me. And when I use the feminine, well, I just know that the association to sexual imagery is so strong for a lot of people that they're always going to giggle. They know very well what I mean, but that association is just there in their minds and I'm not sure there's anything they can do about it. As for Spanish politics, I honestly don't have any big opinions about it. All I've argued here is that 1) the "unity of Spain" is a concern for a lot of people who voted for Vox (which is borne out by the surveys at least) and 2) Vox probably isn't the force behind these measures to promote flamenco. Beyond that, I have no strong opinions about Spanish politics or the underlying psychological or cultural reasons that lead people to vote one way or another, or who's right and who's wrong. I'm just a guest here, nothing more. Hell, I struggle enough to understand why the people in the mancommunidad behave the way they do for decisions about our tiny little building! I'll have to leave understanding larger political motives for another day.
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