Subj : Can you write it?
To   : alexander koryagin
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Tue Oct 17 2017 17:02:33

Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Nil Alexandrov:

 ak>  Do you think "write" is unclear for the Englishmen?
 ak>  "Transcribe" is somewhat a scientific word, IMHO. :)


           It seems to me that "transcribe" is more precise if you want others 
to reproduce in writing exactly what they heard (or thought they did).  If you 
are willing to let others make a few editorial changes in order to clarify the 
garbled instructions you heard (or thought you did) "write" allows for that.

           While I was still working on the current reply I also reviewed some 
other traffic in the echo & caught myself saying that as a police officer Paul 
would have been expected to "write down" who-what-when-where-why-how data in a 
logical & coherent manner... not to copy every word other folks may have said. 
I'd do much the same as a waitress taking your order for food & drink....  :-)



 ak>  it is an interesting question to the native speakers --
 ak>  when it is necessary to add "up" and "down" to the verbs.


           It would be more usual to say "write down" in this context.  But if 
you got what you wanted I must conclude it's not strictly necessary... [grin].



 ak>  Should it be done to add clearness to the verbs?


           Heh.  There's where I have difficulty with a certain "rule" many of 
the native speakers in E_T are familiar with... "Never use a long word where a 
short one will do."  The shorter, more common words are not necessarily easier 
to understand.  They often have several meanings.  The verbs also tend to have 
irregular inflections &/or to be followed by other short words which look like 
adverbs or prepositions but don't appear to serve any useful purpose.  In some 
cases I think they may have at one time.  Why do we "hang up" the phone, e.g.? 
It doesn't make sense to me if one is using a desk phone or a cell phone & has 
to reach downward in order to accomplish the task.  It makes sense when I cast 
my mind back to the wall-mounted phones some of my elderly relatives who lived 
in farmhouses of about the same vintage used years ago.  I haven't seen such a 
thing in actual use since I was a child, but the language hasn't caught up.

           In a similar vein, university instructors may be called "lecturers"
.... from the Latin verb "to read"... regardless of their subject area or their 
teaching style.  The name = their rank, not their job description.  Before the 
invention of the printing press the Great Man often sat on a podium & read his 
notes to the neophytes who were seated at a lower level.  As a waitress, OTOH, 
I'd usually be standing while my customers were sitting... meaning I'd already 
be looking downward to see their faces before I wrote down their orders.  :-))



 ak>  IMHO, pure Russian phrases are more interesting for
 ak>  the foreigners. After all this idiom is very clear,
 ak>  and a person understands easily that a person has a
 ak>  poor musical ear if it was stepped by a heavy bear.
      |I'd say "stepped on", but I almost missed that...  ;-)

 NA>  In this context (of Russia and bears), you just support
 NA>  the cliche - bears, vodka, balalaika :-)

 ak>  In Australia they have kangaroos, in Russia we have bears.
 ak>  Why should we be shy of it?
      |IMHO "shy about" is more clear in this context.


           Why indeed.  We also have bears in Canada & the US... some of which 
live within a half hour's drive of where I do.  The stories I could tell about 
bears from around these parts take up a lot more bandwidth in my mind than the 
clich‚s I've encountered about bears from SomePlace Else.  At any rate, idioms 
from other languages are fascinating AFAIC & I understood what you meant.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

.