Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

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Sep 19th, '11, 14:29
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Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by Ludwig-1954 » Sep 19th, '11, 14:29

Perhaps I am old fashioned. Definitively pedantic. I do however think
that the inflation of words and their meaning - particularly on the internet - show an alarming lack of style, taste and maybe education.

Why must every tea above standard be "awesome" or even "awe inspiring"?
Why must every nice teapot be "amazing"? Are we really amazed, do we really stand in awe of these things? Do we really experience the profound or even disturbing emotions implied by so many weighty words?

As tea people, would it not be appropriate to align our behaviour, including our language to the simplicity of our favourite beverage? Tea is not bombastic, not assuming, not even theatralic or pompous. Tea is just
tea. Let us discipline our language in the same manner. Let us use words
as they are, with their precise meaning. Perhaps we will learn a similar
lesson as tea teaches. Or would you paint your master chawan with glossy nail polish?

good night to, my friends

Patrick B. Ludwig

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Sep 19th, '11, 15:26
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by AdamMY » Sep 19th, '11, 15:26

While I do not know exactly which sets of reviews or descriptions you are referring to, several thoughts come to mind. If these are vendor descriptions then basically just ignore their excessive words because in the end they are just trying to sell their products. If its a review from someone, check out their other reviews, do they use these types of words often, in which case it might not hold much water, or is this a tea that really blew them out of the water so to speak.

I will say in my life I have had a couple of teas where I would describe one of many of the sensations going on as "awesome" or "awe-inspiring" while yes it was just tea. In those instances the way the tea interacted with my senses and sparked mental imagery, it was more than just a tea experience, it was truly an eye opener and left me almost dumbfounded that the tea could really be like that.

So yes while I agree there are probably people who are too loose with certain words, I know I probably have a handful of words/ descriptors I am likely to use quicker than others or more applicable words. In the end try and pay attention to who is using those words, and how often do they use them.

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Sep 19th, '11, 16:21
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by Chip » Sep 19th, '11, 16:21

Dang dude, it took me years to loosen up in my descriptions, being conservative by upbringing and therefore nature. Now you want me me to tone back down again. :mrgreen:

I would say let's try and stick with freedom of speech, expression. I truthfully find many tea experiences (whether it is the tea or the teaware or the combination there of) to be awesome and/or beautiful.

TeaChat is a relaxed environment (usually, unless talking about radiation or catechins) to discuss all things tea related. If we can not unwind and get excited about tea here, then where, in a closet? :lol:

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Sep 19th, '11, 17:57
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by teaisme » Sep 19th, '11, 17:57

Ludwig-1954 wrote:would it not be appropriate to align our behaviour
Lets all be the same and have the same tea experiences...then write about them in a uniform style...hmmm no thanks I am not in prison :wink:

But really I do understand your frustration my friend, sometimes it does seem that words are increasingly becoming more empty, less heartfelt

Sep 19th, '11, 19:37
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by Proinsias » Sep 19th, '11, 19:37

totally awesome thread man

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Sep 20th, '11, 01:44
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by David R. » Sep 20th, '11, 01:44

While I do respect the idea, I'd like to point out that a lot of members here, including myself, are not native english speakers. I for my part often feel frustrated not being able to translate exactly what I feel, but it is nice to speak with people from all over the world, even if they/we don't speak like Shakespeare. :wink:

But I do agree that written langage on forums especially is getting ugly, with abbreviations and such, but I think TC is doing quite ok.

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Sep 20th, '11, 05:43
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by andrzej bero » Sep 20th, '11, 05:43

David R. wrote:While I do respect the idea, I'd like to point out that a lot of members here, including myself, are not native english speakers. I for my part often feel frustrated not being able to translate exactly what I feel, but it is nice to speak with people from all over the world, even if they/we don't speak like Shakespeare. :wink:
yes, it looks the same from my point of view, but I understand Ludwig-1954's post was more for English native speakers. I hope:)

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Sep 20th, '11, 12:34
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by rdl » Sep 20th, '11, 12:34

i do agree with your sentiment, Patrick, but the first thing to understand is america has no academy, like in france, nor is there the queen's english like in the uk. language, like most things we in this country fashion into our own, is very malleable, in constant change. these words you list will never return to their previous meaning. i think we need to find a linguist who can search the world's languages and find or put together new words to replace those whose meanings are forever lost (except to the "old fashioned" and the "definitively pedantic").
it can be very confusing to converse when a great percentage of words have no relation to what is being intended. but that's american english. it may not be correct, but we're famous for breaking the rules.

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Sep 20th, '11, 13:21
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by bearsbearsbears » Sep 20th, '11, 13:21

This reminds me of how the word mismo (Spanish for same/self as in "himself" "herself" "itself") was born. It came from Latin ipse, but speakers kept changing the word to be more intense, hammering the point of "itself" with a linguistic hammer:

ipse - self
ipsissimus - self (superlative)
metipsissimus - self (superlative intensified)
shortened to metipsimus
shortened to misimo
shortened to mismo

Perhaps in a century or four amazing will mean "just ok". :mrgreen:

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Sep 20th, '11, 14:10
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by rdl » Sep 20th, '11, 14:10

bearsbearsbears wrote:Perhaps in a century or four amazing will mean "just ok". :mrgreen:
hasn't it already?
sublime also is derived from humble latin origins. but what i think the OP is pointing out is the use of this new fashionable rhetoric of the last decade or so. which is nothing different than "cool" and "hip" and those words of a past generation. purists, fight on :D

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Sep 25th, '11, 01:09
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by tea-awed » Sep 25th, '11, 01:09

Ouch! :)

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Sep 25th, '11, 02:01
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by gingkoseto » Sep 25th, '11, 02:01

Interesting topic. But language has no quantitative standards, so I guess everybody has to use their own and everybody has a different set of standards.

This reminds me of something I've learned from a psychiatrist friend. "High-context culture" and "low-context culture" are probably familiar concepts for those into social sciences. I heard these terms from my friend only last week. These are interesting concepts and you can wiki them. According to my psychiatrist friend, one subtle difference between the two types of culture is how conservative or generous people give compliments. In typical high context cultures such as China and Japan, if a teacher is very proud of his student, he said, "not bad." In typical low context cultures such as US, when someone likes something, he may say, "I absolutely love it." There is no misinformation behind either type of expression. You just need to understand the context to know what they mean.

After my friend explained this to me, I suddenly found a lot of things became easier to understand to me. Quite a few years ago, I wrote a grant proposal. It was reviewed by 3 people and the 3 sets of feedback I received were titled "outstanding", "excellent" and "very good", respectively. And I didn't get the grant :lol:

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Sep 25th, '11, 02:08
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by gingkoseto » Sep 25th, '11, 02:08

About purity of language, I make grammar mistakes every day. But I've found it almost unbearable to hear radio/TV show hosts and many other supposedly cultured people say "thanks very much" every day. Am I just refusing to enter the new era? :roll:

Sep 27th, '11, 19:03
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Re: Awesome Words, Amazing Sentences

by CasualConnoisseur » Sep 27th, '11, 19:03

I clench my teeth every time I hear someone refer to 'growing' their business, 'growing' their company, etc.... Most of the newer words and phrases I can accept, but others I can't. We all have our pet peeves; I guess you've found yours. But then again, I have been known to speak (and write) like I'm a hundred years out of fashion.

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