not quite so simple, chump -- FCS Discussion Forum

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Subject: not quite so simple, chump

Author:
Ian (Australia)

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:52:40 01/24/05 Mon
In reply to: Lexi Cogg-Raffer 's message, "Erm yes it is, just like "weekday" means "day of the week"*" on 15:31:59 01/24/05 Mon

The term �weekend� means two days, one at the beginning of the week and one at the end. Even if you rearrange the week so that it is two days at the end of the week, the term �end of the week� does not in any sense contain the information that it is to be two days: it merely refers to the actual end-point of the week. If you talk about �the end of the stick�, there is no sense at all in which that implies the last two sevenths of the stick.

The term �weekend� also carries a lot of social information, such as the fact that less work is traditionally done during these days, that people go out more, and so on. The term �end of the week� does not imply any of this.

If I say to my business partner that we should have a meeting at �the end of the week�, I am probably talking about Friday, perhaps Thursday, almost certainly not Saturday and definitely not Sunday. In other words, �the end of the week� does not have the same meaning as �weekend� at all. And if it doesn�t work in English, why on earth would it work in any other language?

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Don't bother considering a career in linguistics
Author: The prof [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 16:45:35 01/25/05 Tue [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: you've never heard of pragmatics, have you
Author: Ian (Australia) [ Edit \| View ]	Date Posted: 18:08:00 01/25/05 Tue [ Post a Reply to This Message ]