Aokay (David G. Bryce)
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:36 pm
Post subject: Re: You learn something new every day |
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On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 03:13:13 -0500, "Raymond S. Wise"
<mplsrayNOSPAM@gbronline.com> wrote:
[lots of snippage, including my having written the paragraph
following]
| Quote: | Calling these words 'labor-managementspeak' and 'jargon' is,
with respect, wrong. Yes, they are used in the union contract
context but the meaning is hardly rare or ununusal. What does
having a grievance against one's spouse mean? Or are you gents
too happily married ever to have had one?
This usage of "grieve" was utterly unknown to me until I read the article in
question. It is also a recent term, since it is not listed in the
*Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at www.m-w.com , which is based upon
MWCD10, but is present in MWCD11.
So I certainly found it to be unusual, and the definition in MWCD11
indicates that it is used in the context of filing a *formal* grievance,
which is hardly relevant to the sort of everyday disputes which married
people might have with one another.
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The meanings are related, Ray. What's this relevance stuff?
If my wife aggravated [a euphemism] me in some way, I might have
a grievance. I would be aggrieved. My grievance would be
against her.
If my other boss (if I had one) wrote me up (another peculiar
expression) for something I had not done, I would also be
aggrieved. If I did not have a union contract, my grievance
against the boss would fester. It might even be harboured. So
far everything's the same. But, if I had a union, there'd be a
way of putting my grievance before somebody empowered to
judge/resolve my complaint.
When this formal process was invented, surely it was thought to
be relevant to peaceful relations in the workplace.
English changes words around all the time. You must have led a
sheltered life [g].
aokay
Use your name (or almost anything else) @ treveneth.com for email.
This will work unless you or somebody else who has done the same
thing has put me on spammers' lists. Ain't redirection marvellous? [g]
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Jon Miller
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Sep 15, 2004 12:31 pm
Post subject: Re: You learn something new every day |
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"Raymond S. Wise" <mplsrayNOSPAM@gbronline.com> wrote in message
news:btadna6vI9Da3tzcRVn-iQ@gbronline.com...
[quote]In an article in Wednesday's *St. Paul Pioneer Press,* "Pilots fired for
S.D. landing" by Martin J. Moylan, which can be seen for the next six days
at
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/business/9604039.htm?1c
I found the following unusual use of the verb "grieve": "The fired
Northwest
pilots, whom neither the union nor the company would identify, are
grieving
their dismissal, said Will Holman, spokesman for the Northwest Airlines
Air
Line Pilots Association."
An unusual use in my experience, that is. As it happens, while the usage
in
question is not in the *Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary* at www.m-w.com
,
it is in MWCD11:
| Quote: |
Main Entry: *grieve* [...]
Function: _verb_
[...]
_transitive verb_
[...]
*3 :* to submit a formal grievance concerning <_grieve_ a dismissal
[end quote]
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Well, maybe working in a union shop is one of those things everyone ought to
do as a summer job. Just like digging ditches (by hand of course) and
writing term papers (or worse, contracts). Part of life skills.
Jon Miller |
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