It's a rip-off!

It is obvious that this argument is going to go on and on and on. From my point of view, people are just as entitled to use the term rip-off to mean exceedingly expensive as others are to use it to mean fraud. Actually more of a right I would say as people get charged with 'fraud'. They don't get charged with 'ripping off'.
I have yet to see a thread where the term is used and it is not clear whether the poster means fraud or very expensive. Unfortuantly, the thread then gets hijacked by someone objecting to the use of the term and the thread goes off on a tangent to this on-going debate and it is getting boring boring boring. I think we all know at this stage where Brendan and Clubman stand and they are entitled to object to the use of the term in the wrong context according to them but do we need to go through the same debate every single time someone uses the term. New year, new beginning????
 
Sunny - unfortunately the boring bit comes in when Brendan & Clubman pick people up on their perceived misuse of the word when it appears that the rest of the people on the board have no issue with it and understand the meaning from the context. That there are now a number of people who continue to challenge Brendan & Clubman is co-incidental to the first point.

I agree the whole thing is boring at this stage and in reality doesn't need this level of debate, but the problem in my mind (and that of a number of others by the posts I see above) is that otherwise good posts are consistently ruined by some peoples insistence on challenging the use of a particular word. This has the effect of derailing the original post. It may be fine to have these discussions in Letting off Steam or Great Debates, but what seems to happen is that serious posts are dragged down to the LOS level by the insistence on challenging the use of the word (again and again).

Look at it this way - imagine you are standing in the street in the rain and I say to you "It's raining, let's get indoors". Most other people would say something like "That's a good idea" or "No thanks, I'm waiting for a bus". Some people on the board however might respond along the lines of "It's clearly not raining, it is in fact heavy precipitation bordering on a small storm, rain clearly implies the type of light precipitation normally experienced in April near coastal uplands and your use of the word is misleading and erroneous and incorrect so you should withdraw your use of the word and stop trying to mislead the rest of the people here and . . . ."

While they continue discussing the many different types of rain the rest of us have got over it, moved on and gone indoors to where it is in fact dry. This is not so bad - people are entitled to hold their view.

The bad bit comes along the next time you are standing out in the rain and someone says "It's raining, let's get indoors." and the whole darn thing starts over again as if it had never been discussed.



z
 
zag said:
Sunny - unfortunately the boring bit comes in when Brendan & Clubman pick people up on their perceived misuse of the word when it appears that the rest of the people on the board have no issue with it and understand the meaning from the context. That there are now a number of people who continue to challenge Brendan & Clubman is co-incidental to the first point.


z
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Fully agree with you. If they don't agree with the use of the word but everyone else understands the context, they shouldn't get involved.
 
zag, can I ask you to stop these terrible personal attacks ... on RainyDay!
The bad bit comes along the next time you are standing out in the rain and someone says "It's raining, let's get indoors." and the whole darn thing starts over again as if it had never been discussed.
Click to expand...

;)
 
zag said:
Look at it this way - imagine you are standing in the street in the rain and I say to you "It's raining, let's get indoors". Most other people would say something like "That's a good idea" or "No thanks, I'm waiting for a bus". Some people on the board however might respond along the lines of "It's clearly not raining, it is in fact heavy precipitation bordering on a small storm, rain clearly implies the type of light precipitation normally experienced in April near coastal uplands and your use of the word is misleading and erroneous and incorrect so you should withdraw your use of the word and stop trying to mislead the rest of the people here and . . . ."
Click to expand...

Whatever you do, don't tell an Eskimo "It's snowing, let's get indoors" unless you can quantify it......

A. Snow particles

(1) Snowflake
qanuk 'snowflake'
qanir- 'to snow'
qanunge- 'to snow' [NUN]
qanugglir- 'to snow' [NUN]

(2) Frost
kaneq 'frost'
kaner- 'be frosty/frost sth.'

(3) Fine snow/rain particles
kanevvluk 'fine snow/rain particles
kanevcir- to get fine snow/rain particles

(4) Drifting particles natquik 'drifting snow/etc'
natqu(v)igte- 'for snow/etc. to drift along ground'

(5) Clinging particles
nevluk 'clinging debris/
nevlugte- 'have clinging debris/...'lint/snow/dirt...'

B. Fallen snow


(6) Fallen snow on the ground
aniu [NS] 'snow on ground'
aniu- [NS] 'get snow on ground'
apun [NS] 'snow on ground'
qanikcaq 'snow on ground'
qanikcir- 'get snow on ground'

(7) Soft, deep fallen snow on the ground
muruaneq 'soft deep snow'

(8) Crust on fallen snow
qetrar- [NSU] 'for snow to crust'
qerretrar- [NSU] 'for snow to crust'

(9) Fresh fallen snow on the ground
nutaryuk 'fresh snow' [HBC]

(10) Fallen snow floating on water
qanisqineq 'snow floating on water'

C. Snow formations


(11) Snow bank
qengaruk 'snow bank' [Y, HBC]

(12) Snow block
utvak 'snow carved in block'

(13) Snow cornice
navcaq [NSU] 'snow cornice, snow (formation) about to collapse'
navcite- 'get caught in an avalanche'

D. Meterological events


(14) Blizzard, snowstorm
pirta 'blizzard, snowstorm'
pircir- 'to blizzard'
pirtuk 'blizzard, snowstorm'

(15) Severe blizzard
cellallir-, cellarrlir- 'to snow heavily'
pir(e)t(e)pag- 'to blizzard severely'
pirrelvag- 'to blizzard severely'
 
We Irish don't do too badly with rain...

bia an tsic ("food for the frost") - rain in frosty weather
brádán báistí - light rain
braon - a drop of rain
cith agus dealán - sunshine with showers
ceóbhrán - light drizzle, mist
durach mór - a big shower
focíth fearthainne - occasional rain showers
frás- shower
fuarbháisteach earraigh - a cold Spring downpour
greadadh báistí - heavy (pelting) (driving) rain
plimp fearthainne - a sudden downpour of rain
síorbháisteach - a continuous downpouring of rain
smurán - a shower
stoirm ceatha - a shower driven on the wind
stoirm shíobhta bháistí - a driving rainstorm
taom fearthainne - a bucketing down of rain
 
Whatever you do, don't tell an Eskimo
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... and whatever you do, don't call an Eskimo an Eskimo - they prefer to be called Inuit

USAGE NOTE The preferred term for the native peoples of the Canadian Arctic and Greenland is now Inuit, and the use of Eskimo in referring to these peoples is often considered offensive, especially in Canada. Inuit, the plural of the Inuit word inuk, “human being,” is less exact in referring to the peoples of northern Alaska, who speak dialects of the closely related Inupiaq language, and it is inappropriate when used in reference to speakers of Yupik, the Eskimoan language branch of western Alaska and the Siberian Arctic. See Usage Notes at Eskimo
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Marion
 
could a moderator please lock this thread? it apperas to have disappeared up
its own This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language at this stage....

d
 
damson said:
Hmmm... More discussion than votes, but so far it's:

A 20% (1 vote): SineWave
B 0%
C 80% (4 votes): damson, cambazola, Gabriel, Gordanus
D 0%
Total = 5 votes
Don't forget you're voting on what the word means, rather than how you personally use it.
Click to expand...

I prefer definition A but accept that C is in common usage and so is correct. As has been pointed out, context is king.
 
"C", definitely.

Probably "A" originally, but now the meaning has expanded to include "C".
 
could a moderator please lock this thread? it apperas to have disappeared up
its own This post will be deleted if not edited to remove bad language at this stage....

d
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Dathi, is the "d" at the end of your request, a vote or a signature?

On another note, I guess I need to change my vote as I can only consider the definition of a word to be that offered by recognised dictionaries. I am now a "C" but will personally continue to use in the context of my original vote of "A", and hope that on their revision, the dictionaries will edit this error, and stop ripping us off by claiming to offer (for a price€) correct definitions and meanings of words, whereby they have obviously made an error on this one!
 
bankrupt said:
You fool! everyone knows what disingenuous means:

disingenuous [dis-in-jen-yoo-uhs] –noun, a golden, winged unicorn.
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No! It’s a winged, golden unicorn. This is the sort of sloppy use of language that gets people wound-up. Wars have started over less!

(Does this thread remind anyone else of a Monty Python sketch?)
 
In my capacity as an ordinary poster on Askaboutmoney, I will continue to point out to people that the use of the word "rip-off" when describing prices in general is misleading. It does not matter whether this bores people or not. If people clarify up front that they are not implying any improper practices, I will probably not respond. But thread headings don't usually explain the context and so need to be challenged.

In my capacity as the owner of Askaboutmoney I am not prepared to put my home on the line and allow people describe named shops as "rip-offs" as I consider it potentially defamatory. I have expanded on this here
 
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