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"put some language around..." what does this really mean?


terence57

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Over the past couple of decades I have noticed the phrase "put some language around...(a certain topic)"  turning up in conversation with ever greater frequency. In particular, political debates harness this phrase a lot, as if language was a kind of legalistic power tool. So, is this any different from saying, say, "write a clear report about" or "let's condense these ideas into writing"?  Or is there some special way of using words that I am not familiar with, and where does this originate from?

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  • 3 weeks later...

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Your native language is listed as English. Is that a mistake, or are you really coming to this forum to try to improve your mother tongue?

As for your question, it depends on the context, but I think it's normally used as an informal way of requesting someone to write something up so it can be evaluated, voted on, etc.

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1 hour ago, Wanda Kaishin said:

Your native language is listed as English. Is that a mistake, or are you really coming to this forum to try to improve your mother tongue?

Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. :P
I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar".

In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example).

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14 hours ago, Blaveloper said:

Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. :P
I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar".

In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example).

Hahaha - do you realize how many errors there are in your post? You need to learn to just let it go man. If you're not willing to do the work required to reach C1/C2 in a language, then just be happy with your level and don't get frustrated. Correcting native speakers because you think they are in error is a fruitless pursuit, and you are no doubt better off using that time and effort practicing your languages instead.

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1 hour ago, Wanda Kaishin said:

Hahaha - do you realize how many errors there are in your post? You need to learn to just let it go man. If you're not willing to do the work required to reach C1/C2 in a language, then just be happy with your level and don't get frustrated. Correcting native speakers because you think they are in error is a fruitless pursuit, and you are no doubt better off using that time and effort practicing your languages instead.

I can take a lot, but this just got too rude.

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On 3/13/2016 at 7:51 AM, Blaveloper said:

Having English as your native language doesn't make you the sage of everything regarding the English language. :P
I often find myself in situations where I even have to teach Americans or Brits some English, because they "don't care about spelling and/or grammar".

In many cases, non-natives can even get more knowledgeable to a given language than native speakers, because native speakers generally never learn super complicated words or rules while a non-native speaker does (unless the native speakers have to, like studying law for example).

 

LOL, agreed.  So many native English speakers out there don't seem to know the difference between ''they're and ''their'', it does get in my nerves, but I understand this is very common specially among English native speakers.  It's the same with Spanish speakers, I think most people have doubts regarding to their own mother language sometimes, I actually have  grammar and orthography books (2) . I've them just in case I get stuck with something :P  I bought them a long time ago, because I figured out I could always improve my Spanish.

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