Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #英語
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#英語 In the context of "tacit endorsement of Ukraine drone strikes in Russia," a blogger asked "What in the heck is “tacit endorsement"?" <- This is where more knowledge of ＃日本語 (Japanese) would have helped. 黙認 <- If I may, literally "silent consent/ assent"? 1/
So other cultures have an easy time understanding. The Pentagon didn't say out loud "We endorse this," but they declined to say "We DON'T endorse this". That is tacit endorsement. #English idiom: What you don't say speaks volumes. 2/
In the first place, Ukraine doesn't need anyone's permission to hit back against Russia with home-grown drones. The weapons weren't provided by the Pentagon, so the Pentagon doesn't get to say no. It's just better for everyone involved to come to a... mutual understanding. 3/
#English #英語 Of relevance today: the two versions of "conventional". A convention is actually a reference to something like the Geneva Conventions i.e. our current version of "the laws of war". A missile that "can" carry a nuclear warhead, or some other form of WMD... 1/
...but which has been modified to carry high explosives (a high amount of them because nuclear warheads weigh a lot by nature), we will call this "a conventional missile" in that state. It's the same rocket, it's usually the same guidance system, but = "non-nuclear" *here*. 2/
"Conventional" has been stretched to mean "ordinary", to the point that "unconventional warfare" is considered "warfare of an unusual nature". The element of surprise, ambush, and using maneuverability against a larger, slower force, doesn't make it illegal. 3/
#English #英語 We often see talk of "wave elections" involving major gains for a party (most likely the party out of power), and even of a "tsunami" (at the high end of a wave election). These idioms are normal and accepted in America. I'm not sure I'd use them in Asia.
America's politics adopted a funny "color coding" 22 years ago. On maps, "blue states" were Democrat-voting states (for Al Gore) and "red states" were Republican-voting states (for George W. Bush). Red had been a left of center color for... decades? Centuries? No more!
Thus talk of a "red tide", "red wave" and "red tsunami" involve predictions (of varying size/ severity) of Republicans gaining in the 2022 midterm elections to be held shortly. As readers we must accept the language as it comes to us. Writers, less so perhaps.
For #English, #英語. False equivalence! This is comparing two or more things to make a political point (or similar) when those two things are not in the same category. #Idiom: Comparing apples to oranges. You may see the term once in a while, but you see the "thing" VERY often.
I just finished reading an article about a university taking down a flag a student hung outside of his window because it was a so-called Gadsden Flag and people found it offensive, but the university justified removal saying no other flags were allowed to be hung out of windows.
OK then. So when rainbow flags were left hanging outside of student windows, that's comparing apples to apples. The original student is making a complaint on that basis. HOWEVER... the article then showed a picture of the university hanging a rainbow flag above the door to...
