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Author Topic: Quotes from work  (Read 192192 times)

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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #950 on: June 16, 2011, 03:28:25 PM »
I think the author intended what you got, which is that he didn't belong to any particular church and never acted on his faith. But for some reason I'm having a hard time coming up with a nice, concise substitute.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #951 on: June 16, 2011, 03:35:10 PM »
Quote
But for some reason I'm having a hard time coming up with a nice, concise substitute.
The trouble is that you want it to be nice, concise, and accurate.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #952 on: June 16, 2011, 03:36:15 PM »
I'm just difficult that way.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #953 on: June 16, 2011, 03:40:01 PM »
How about:

Quote
For most of my life, I was a nondenominational Christian.  I believed in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, but I never did anything about it.
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Offline Marianne Dashwood

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #954 on: June 16, 2011, 03:54:44 PM »
I would just take out the "meaning" and split it into two sentences. Remove the causality. Otherwise, that's rather offensive to nondenominational Christians.
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Offline Marianne Dashwood

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #955 on: June 16, 2011, 03:55:29 PM »
Or, you know, what Porter just said on the second page I didn't read.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #956 on: June 16, 2011, 03:56:02 PM »
Good suggestion. Or how about just changing it to "nonpracticing"?
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Offline BlackBlade

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #957 on: June 16, 2011, 04:39:18 PM »
Porter's route seems fine. I like it better than nonpracticing, as nonpracticing implies that Christianity in practice requires church going. That would make Joseph Smith a nonpracticing Christian for a long time.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #958 on: June 16, 2011, 05:23:28 PM »
I prefer not adding the word "nonpracticing" and any and all implications might come with it, but I disagree with BB as to what those implications are.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #959 on: June 16, 2011, 05:55:16 PM »
Quote
For most of my life, I was a nondenominational Christian, meaning I believed in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, but I never did anything about it.
I'm going to go back and say that my original interpretation of this sentence was correct.

Mary Cate has a Relief Society activity tonight, which means that I need to figure out what I'm doing for dinner.

I'm not defining anything, but I'm describing a ramification of her having the activity tonight. 

Or, to use the author's slightly odd construction,

Mary Cate has a Relief Society activity tonight, meaning I need to figure out what I'm doing for dinner.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #960 on: June 17, 2011, 10:27:08 AM »
Hmm. I still disagree. The OED says, "To signify; to convey or carry a meaning, significance, consequence, etc." I think that's a pretty apt definition. Your having to worry about dinner is a consequence of Mary Cate's not being there to make dinner. Not doing anything about his faith is not necessarily a consequence of his being nondenominational. Plenty of people are nondenominational but active churchgoers.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #961 on: June 17, 2011, 11:00:52 AM »
Me cooking dinner is not necessarily a consequence of Mary Cate being gone.  Plenty of people don't cook dinner but have a spouse that is gone for the evening.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #962 on: June 17, 2011, 11:22:47 AM »
But your having to cook dinner is a necessary consequence of your spouse being gone. His being inactive is not a necessary consequence of his being nondenominational.
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Offline Marianne Dashwood

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #963 on: June 17, 2011, 11:24:50 AM »
I agree with Porter - I think you should just omit the implication of any sort of connection between the two.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #964 on: June 17, 2011, 11:40:39 AM »
But your having to cook dinner is a necessary consequence of your spouse being gone.
No it wasn't.  I could have taken the kids out to dinner.  We could have gone hungry.  I could have convinced my kid to cook something they liked.  (This is what actually ended up happening, BTW.)

Quote
His being inactive is not a necessary consequence of his being nondenominational.
It wasn't a necessary consequence, but it was the consequence for him.  I don't know why you feel that it has to be a necessary consequence for the word to be used that way.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #965 on: June 17, 2011, 11:43:44 AM »
But your having to cook dinner is a necessary consequence of your spouse being gone.
No it wasn't.  I could have taken the kids out to dinner.  We could have gone hungry.  I could have convinced my kid to cook they liked.  (This is what actually ended up happening, BTW.)

Let me rephrase: your having to worry about dinner was a consequence.

Quote
Quote
His being inactive is not a necessary consequence of his being nondenominational.
It wasn't a necessary consequence, but it was the consequence for him.  I don't know why you feel that it has to be a necessary consequence for the word to be used that way.

I don't think it's even a consequence. He's nondenominational and he doesn't do anything about his faith. I don't think there's any causal relationship at all, so I don't think it's correct to say that one means the other.
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Offline Porter

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #966 on: June 17, 2011, 11:45:15 AM »
I think that the author would disagree with your claim that there's no causal relationship at all.
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Offline Tante Shvester

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #967 on: June 17, 2011, 01:54:04 PM »
I think the author is a non-observant Christian.
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Offline Marianne Dashwood

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #968 on: June 17, 2011, 02:50:13 PM »
I think that the author would disagree with your claim that there's no causal relationship at all.

See, I agree with this - I think the author is fully intending a causal relationship. But I think that would be offensive to others who read it.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #969 on: June 17, 2011, 03:00:10 PM »
I think that's the problem to me. The author may perceive some causality or equivalency, but I don't think that makes it true, and I especially don't like the implication that it's true for anyone but himself.
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Offline rivka

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #970 on: June 17, 2011, 03:06:33 PM »
Are you objecting as an editor or as a reader?
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #971 on: June 17, 2011, 04:09:13 PM »
Both?
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Offline BlackBlade

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #972 on: June 17, 2011, 04:14:05 PM »
Both?
You should object as forum administrator too, that way it's a trifecta.
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Offline Jonathon

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #973 on: June 17, 2011, 04:16:35 PM »
Done!
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Offline rivka

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Re: Quotes from work
« Reply #974 on: June 17, 2011, 04:33:02 PM »
Both?
Heh. As a reader, I agree with your objection. But were I editing, I think I would not -- the intent he (apparently) wishes to convey is being accurately conveyed. The sentence says what he wants it to.
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