| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1043.1 | The opposition? | KERNEL::MORRIS | Which universe did you dial? | Mon Apr 26 1993 06:50 | 10 |
| This is interesting......
> People have relationships. Everything else has relations.
My cat never bothers to contact her relations. Whereas her
relationships with the local birds are very active.
:o)
Jon
|
| 1043.2 | | SMURF::BINDER | Deus tuus tibi sed deus meus mihi | Mon Apr 26 1993 07:45 | 5 |
| relationship == Oh, darling, how lovely! Let's ...
relations == Wham bam thank you ma'am.
:-)
|
| 1043.3 | | VMSMKT::KENAH | blah blah blah GINGER | Mon Apr 26 1993 08:26 | 3 |
| relations == mom, dad, siblings, niblings, wife, in-laws, cousins...
relationships == people interacting; things interacting
|
| 1043.4 | Dotards of the American Revolution | ESGWST::RDAVIS | Some justice, some peace | Mon Apr 26 1993 11:51 | 2 |
| relationship == Mayflower
|
| 1043.5 | relating to the basenote | SSAG::SNYDER | Set your chickens free | Mon Apr 26 1993 20:43 | 16 |
| I purposely said very little in the base note because I knew I'd be
rewarded with several smartass answers, which is one of the true
pleasures of this conference.
However, now that I've been so rewarded, I'll add a little context.
Her advisor was objecting to her use of "relationship" in describing
the ways in which physical entities such as soils, watersheds,
sediments, and vegetation relate to one another. This caused me to
wonder about the use of those words when talking about things nonhuman
(or nonanimal, to satisfy a previous reply): mathematical relations,
physical relation(ship?)s, etc.
Given that context, would you reply differently?
Sid
|
| 1043.6 | one word? | FORTY2::KNOWLES | DECspell snot awl ewe kneed | Tue Apr 27 1993 07:08 | 17 |
| Given that the question in .0 was `What say ye...?' I was tempted to
enter a one-word reply; but I realised that
o that wouldn't be very helpful
o such a reply might exclude me from the `wise and erudite'
bit
On less dismissive reflection, I see the point the `academic advisor'
(oh dear, whatever happened to `tutor'? - still, if that's the monicker
xe gives xirself, what can you do?) was making (I don't agree with it,
I just see it). I suspect this is another Miss Thistlebottom issue:
"People have relationships. Everything else has relations." is the
sort of prescriptive/over-simplified nostrum you can expect from some
English teachers.
b
|
| 1043.7 | re-ratholing | RAGMOP::T_PARMENTER | Human. All too human. | Tue Apr 27 1993 07:29 | 3 |
| "When she starts using the word 'relationship' you know your
relationship is in trouble."
-- comedian in front of brick wall on cable channel
|
| 1043.8 | | SMURF::BINDER | Deus tuus tibi sed deus meus mihi | Tue Apr 27 1993 08:49 | 11 |
| The OAD defines relation with several meanings and finishes by citing
relationship which is not defined separately, as synonymous.
W9NCD defines relationship first as the state of being related or
interrelated, and related as connected by reason of an established or
discoverable relation.
Looks like a wash to me, other than the standard multimeaning baggage
that relationship has accumulated.
-dick
|
| 1043.9 | not that it helps any | STARCH::HAGERMAN | Flames to /dev/null | Tue Apr 27 1993 14:52 | 6 |
| Disregarding dictionaries, it is clear that there is a specific
meaning to "international relations" that is not even close
to the meaning of "international relationships". Also, "the
relationship between wind and rain in the process of erosion" cannot
be expressed as "the relation between wind an rain". The academic
advisor is incorrect, not to mention overly pedantic.
|
| 1043.10 | Sorry, is this where the rathole begins? | VMSMKT::KENAH | blah blah blah GINGER | Tue Apr 27 1993 15:28 | 6 |
| >My wife's academic advisor (physical geography) has told her: "People
>have relationships. Everything else has relations."
Isn't it "People have sex; words have gender?"
andrew
|
| 1043.11 | | CFSCTC::SMITH | Tom Smith AKO1-3/H4 dtn 244-7079 | Wed Apr 28 1993 06:41 | 24 |
| From the Concise Oxford:
relation n. ... 2. what one person or thing has to do
with another, way in which one stands or is related to
another, kind of connection or correspondence or
contrast or feeling that prevails between persons or
things, ("... the relation between them is that of
guardian and ward; the report has relation to a state
of things now past")...
relationship n. state of being related; condition or
character due to being related; kinship
From Fowler:
"...the use of -ship is to provide concretes (`friend,
horseman, clerk, lord') with corresponding abstracts;
but `relation', except when it means related person,
is already abstract, and one might as well make
`connexionship', `correspondenceship', or
`associationship', as `relationship' from `relation'
in abstract senses."
There is, of course, much more.
|
| 1043.12 | Careful with them relations.... | CTHQ::MOHN | blank space intentionally filled | Fri Dec 03 1993 13:17 | 7 |
| re:10
People have gender AND sex AND relations (reminds me of a colleague
who broke up the entire office one day when he said, "Of all my
relations I like sex the best!"
By the way, what happened to relatives vs. relations?
|