Using 'exact' english words - why be puritans?

Given below is a clarification sought by a member of our group on the usage of 'exact' one words (e.g. " changing the journey date from a particular date to some date prior to that...)

Hai
 

How will you say when you want something to be done earlier than the date you have already decided

For example if you have booked a ticket for 10th of november and you want to change it for 1st of November

( .....There is no word called prepone in English Dictionary)
 

best regards

vals

My suggestion: 

hi,
 
YOU CAN SAY "I WANT TO ADVANCE MY JOURNEY DATE FROM 10TH OF NOVEMBER TO 1ST NOVEMBER.
HOPE I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR...

REGDS

ANAND

Comment on my suggestion

On 25 November 2010 13:46, Mathews43 <wpmathews43@yahoo.com> wrote:

Meaning of advance

1. Cause to move forward as in "We are advancing technology every day"

2. Move forward, also in the metaphorical sense as in "Time advances"

3. Bring forward for consideration or acceptance as in "advance an argument"

4. Increase or raise as in "advance the voltage in an electrical circuit"

5. Move forward as in "we have to advance clocks and watches when we travel eastward"

it is very clear that none of the sentences have the meaning "to bring back dated" or bring to a previous date or time..right?

Sent: Thu, November 25, 2010 1:13:26 AM

Subject: Re: [www.keralites.net] a word in english

 

My reply

Dear Mr. Mathews,

I am afraid we are deviating from the main topic.

Personally, I feel language is just a tool to interact / communicate between individuals. The simpler you make it, the better. As long as the meaning is conveyed and understood, it should be OK.

Like the word "advance", there are any number of words in English which convey totally different meanings, depending on the context in which it is used. In fact, even "pre-pone" can be used to convey the meaning which the initiator of this discussion wanted to convey.

Of late, several words like "avtar" have come up; e.g: "create your own Avtar" etc. I don't think you will find the word in any dictionary. Another example would be the word 'Molycotling' to mean "pacifying". This was perhaps derived from the name of the paste "Molycot" which is used to free the threads in bolts etc., of large size, in particular. So, I feel we should not be puritans when we can convey in simple and oft-used words.

I hope Mr. Mathew will agree with me.

Warm regards.

Anand

On 27 November 2010 19:18, kazy girl <kazy_grl@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hello,

Yeah right ananth. as long as ur english is understandable. why not try to look for synonyms or simplier vocabularies or try simply rephrasing ur sentence. u can use "reschedule" or "rebook" to change ur schedule instead of prepone, postpone,wahtever! because u are talking obviously on booking a travel schedule. Precisely, we can't translate literally foreign languages into english and vice versa.


thanks,
kazy

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My mail with remarks on the above mail:

 Re: [www.keralites.net] a word in english

Absolutely right, kazy. Though I am not very appreciative of the "Net" language, I do appreciate the usefulness of such expressions. Particularly in the present fast phase of our day to day life, where is the time to grope for the exact word?


Again, each language has its own style of expressions. That's probably why the Hindi / northern belt population can't appreciate "our" way of conveying. Could be because, we first "think" in Malayalam, and then, literally translate the sentence to Hindi, or Marathi, or Bengali or whatever.

Best way perhaps, as I realised during my sojourn in Calcutta (what is now Kolkotha) is to mingle with the people there and observe how they pronounce, and structure the sentences. What is "Lakshmi" for us "Lokhee" for them.....

അതുപോലെ "അ" അവരെ സംബന്ധിച്ചോളം "ഓ " ആണ് .

As you had rightly observed, one should be more concerned about the utility value of any word. And as long as it is easily understood, and gives the closest meaning, it should be OK.

Thank you for your observations. Do keep in touch, and take care.

Anand........