| Author |
Message |
Sara Lorimer
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:31 am
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
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Alan Jones <atj@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | "Sara Lorimer" <que.sara.saraDELETE@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1h5nga4.ly73nmhcewe8N%que.sara.saraDELETE@gmail.com...
Maria Conlon <maria.c-b@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
BTW, I seldom hear the "take" version, but maybe that's because I'm no
longer in the workplace. Others in aue seem to hear the "take" version
regularly. True?
I've never heard "take a decision," or at least not noticed if I did.
Perhaps there's a slight difference in usage. If a committee argued about a
proposal and finally came to a conclusion as to what should be done, I'd say
the committee "took a decision", perhaps because a vote would have been
taken.
|
Ah. This is a situation I've never been involved in.
--
SML |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 6:40 am
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
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the Omrud wrote:
| Quote: | Paul Wolff <bounceme@two.wolff.co.uk> spake thusly:
In message <MPG.1dd85f131e02288898a206@news.ntlworld.com>, the
Omrud
usenet.omrud@gmail.com> writes
Laura F. Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> spake thusly:
Do you *take* a decision or *make* a decision? Is there a
difference? I can't decide.
I'm sorry to say that I think there's a difference and I might
use
either. I'm sorry, because now I have to try to enunciate the
difference.
"take" seems very formal, and I would use it where the decision
is
to be published or recorded. "make" seems more personal and I
would use it where the decision is not relevant to others.
So, at work, where money is involved and other people are
affected,
I might take a decision, but if I go for a walk and could turn
left
or right at the end of the road, I would make the decision.
Spot on. The SalVo-Areffian accolade is well earned.
Gosh. I'd like to announce that I've taken the decision to be
doubly
flattered.
|
Hmmm. I'm not at all convinced that good style ever allows one to
"take" a decision. You don't take a mistake. You don't take an error
of judgement, or even judgment. You don't take your mind up. You take
something from outside, not from inside. Come to that, making tea is
one thing; taking tea is quite another. You take influenza, if you're
as old-fashioned as we know Areff to be; you certainly don't make it,
even, perhaps, if you're a Chinese chicken. "These men took history"?
--
Mike. |
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Pat Durkin
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 8:05 am
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
"the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1dd9843f433ab4fe98a213@news.ntlworld.com...
| Quote: | Pat Durkin <durk183@sbcglobal.com> spake thusly:
"Michael Nitabach" <mnitabach@acedsl.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97072D7ADB7mnitabachacedslcom@216.196.97.140...
Salvatore Volatile <me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:dklliv$mfg$1@news.wss.yale.edu:
Laura F. Spira wrote:
Do you *take* a decision or *make* a decision? Is there a
difference? I can't decide.
A few years ago we had a discussion of this (or more than one
maybe) in AUE. The gist of it is, is, "take a decision" is BrE
(PostRon[say...]?). In AmE we only accept "make a decision".
I have never heard an American use "take a decision".
Nor I. However, I do hear "take lunch" and "take a conference"
following the suggestions "Lets". The former has, apparently,
replaced
"do lunch".
"take lunch" sounds like UK upper class English, in fact I think it
would be more common to "take luncheon". There's also an upper class
usage "take wine with X" which means to have a drink with X.
I have never taken a conference; what would I do with one and where
would I keep it?
|
They can be terribly boring. I would take a nap with the conference,
and keep shtum. |
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the Omrud
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 3:50 pm
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
Pat Durkin <durk183@sbcglobal.com> spake thusly:
| Quote: |
"the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1dd9843f433ab4fe98a213@news.ntlworld.com...
Pat Durkin <durk183@sbcglobal.com> spake thusly:
"Michael Nitabach" <mnitabach@acedsl.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97072D7ADB7mnitabachacedslcom@216.196.97.140...
Salvatore Volatile <me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:dklliv$mfg$1@news.wss.yale.edu:
Laura F. Spira wrote:
Do you *take* a decision or *make* a decision? Is there a
difference? I can't decide.
A few years ago we had a discussion of this (or more than one
maybe) in AUE. The gist of it is, is, "take a decision" is BrE
(PostRon[say...]?). In AmE we only accept "make a decision".
I have never heard an American use "take a decision".
Nor I. However, I do hear "take lunch" and "take a conference"
following the suggestions "Lets". The former has, apparently,
replaced
"do lunch".
"take lunch" sounds like UK upper class English, in fact I think it
would be more common to "take luncheon". There's also an upper class
usage "take wine with X" which means to have a drink with X.
I have never taken a conference; what would I do with one and where
would I keep it?
They can be terribly boring. I would take a nap with the conference,
and keep shtum.
|
Watching Bleak House last night (in spite of JF's anti-
recommendation, I am enjoying it and am continually transfixed by the
magnificent sight of Charles Dance striding thought the period as
though here were the Devil, although it's true that the English seems
to have been dumbed up to date), I was reminded of the now-defunct
"take a letter". Defunct, because the last few secretaries were
rounded up at the end of the 20th Century and herded into a compound
in Shetland to preserve them for future generations to wonder at.
--
David
=====
replace usenet with the |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 4:14 pm
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
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On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 15:06:59 GMT, "Pat Durkin" <durk183@sbcglobal.com>
wrote:
| Quote: |
"Michael Nitabach" <mnitabach@acedsl.com> wrote in message
news:Xns97072D7ADB7mnitabachacedslcom@216.196.97.140...
Salvatore Volatile <me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:dklliv$mfg$1@news.wss.yale.edu:
Laura F. Spira wrote:
Do you *take* a decision or *make* a decision? Is there a
difference? I can't decide.
A few years ago we had a discussion of this (or more than one
maybe) in AUE. The gist of it is, is, "take a decision" is BrE
(PostRon[say...]?). In AmE we only accept "make a decision".
I have never heard an American use "take a decision".
Nor I. However, I do hear "take lunch" and "take a conference"
following the suggestions "Lets". The former has, apparently, replaced
"do lunch".
|
We can be grateful for something, at least.
Thinking of obnoxious phrases and terms, did anyone notice Coop's
reference to "trad" music?
--
Charles Riggs |
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Tony Cooper
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 7:18 pm
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:14:28 +0000, Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net>
wrote:
| Quote: |
Thinking of obnoxious phrases and terms, did anyone notice Coop's
reference to "trad" music?
|
Would you object to someone referring to "pop" music?
--
Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
Pat Durkin wrote:
| Quote: | "the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message
[...]
I have never taken a conference; what would I do with one and
where
would I keep it?
They can be terribly boring. I would take a nap with the
conference,
and keep shtum.
|
Better yet, take a Walkperson in an inside pocket. You let on that
you're rather deaf, so everybody thinks the earpiece is connected to
a hearing aid.
--
Mike. |
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Charles Riggs
Guest
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2005 11:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 12:18:33 GMT, Tony Cooper
<tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:
| Quote: | On Tue, 08 Nov 2005 09:14:28 +0000, Charles Riggs <chriggs@éircom.net
wrote:
Thinking of obnoxious phrases and terms, did anyone notice Coop's
reference to "trad" music?
Would you object to someone referring to "pop" music?
|
Not at all. Horses and courses, Coop.
--
Charles Riggs |
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dcw
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:01 am
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
In article <MPG.1dd9843f433ab4fe98a213@news.ntlworld.com>,
the Omrud <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | I have never taken a conference; what would I do with one and where
would I keep it?
|
Eat it. It's a kind of pear, innit?
David |
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Paul Wolff
Guest
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:30 am
Post subject: Re: Decisions, decisions... |
|
|
In message <3ta70uFr5sr1U1@individual.net>, Mike Lyle
<mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> writes
| Quote: | the Omrud wrote:
Paul Wolff <bounceme@two.wolff.co.uk> spake thusly:
In message <MPG.1dd85f131e02288898a206@news.ntlworld.com>, the
Omrud
usenet.omrud@gmail.com> writes
Laura F. Spira <laura@DRAGONspira.fsbusiness.co.uk> spake thusly:
Do you *take* a decision or *make* a decision? Is there a
difference? I can't decide.
I'm sorry to say that I think there's a difference and I might
use
either. I'm sorry, because now I have to try to enunciate the
difference.
"take" seems very formal, and I would use it where the decision
is
to be published or recorded. "make" seems more personal and I
would use it where the decision is not relevant to others.
So, at work, where money is involved and other people are
affected,
I might take a decision, but if I go for a walk and could turn
left
or right at the end of the road, I would make the decision.
Spot on. The SalVo-Areffian accolade is well earned.
Gosh. I'd like to announce that I've taken the decision to be
doubly
flattered.
Hmmm. I'm not at all convinced that good style ever allows one to
"take" a decision. You don't take a mistake. You don't take an error
of judgement, or even judgment. You don't take your mind up. You take
something from outside, not from inside. Come to that, making tea is
one thing; taking tea is quite another. You take influenza, if you're
as old-fashioned as we know Areff to be; you certainly don't make it,
even, perhaps, if you're a Chinese chicken. "These men took history"?
Decisions, decisions. They can be taken, sure as oafs is oafs. |
Different nouns, different verbs. You can take a First, or just make
it. The implications differ.
--
Paul
In bocca al Lupo! |
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