Management Expectations

[NW-Bound]

I only knew a little bit about Welch, but I will say that I was not impressed.

And I am not going to ask you to chill out.

 

[HFWR]

Nonsense! Now please excuse me while I go drive my car on the parkway and then park it in the driveway.

And why do they call them buildings? Shouldn't they be "builts"?

And why does the alarm "go off"? Doesn't it "come on"?

 

[Walt34]

... and the plural of "mouse" is "mice"

... so why is not the plural of "house", "hice"?

Native (American) English speaker/writer hear and it makes no sense to me either.

 

[imoldernu]

What's the record for the most posts on a single thread in 4 hours?

 

[steelyman]

What's the record for the most posts on a single thread in 4 hours?

Go for it. I think you'll have a hard time surpassing the medical community.

 

[NW-Bound]

Surely, English has some quirks, but the same is true with French. Verb conjugating is tougher in French, plus you have to remember the sex of the words. For example, the word retirement is feminine, while the word travel is masculine. You need to know the sex of a word to use the matching article or adjective.

That applies to all words. How the hell would you know if the French consider Alaska masculine or feminine? Or the word America?

The first is masculine, while the second is feminine.

 

[Walt34]

That applies to all words. How the hell would you know if the French consider Alaska masculine or feminine? Or the word America?

The first is masculine, while the second is feminine.

States and countries have genders? How are those determined?

 

[NW-Bound]

1) Yes. All words, even those describing abstract concepts and ideas, must be either masculine or feminine. There's no neutral. Love is masculine, but friendship is feminine.

2) You don't! You have to ask a French about the gender of a word. Do the French all agree? I would hope so. Perhaps a French native speaker can explain.

 

[Chuckanut]

I believe that the Italian word for 'dress' is masculine.



Sent from somewhere in the world with whatever device I can get my hands on.

 

[steelyman]

What's the most feminine US state? I say Vermont.

 

[aja8888]

I was raised by my grandmother and mother when my father was in the Navy in WWII. I was speaking pure Lithuanian by 5 years old and had to learn English when I went to 1st grade. I think I am still learning English....

(But I can't remember a word of Lithuanian now)

 

[CaliforniaMan]

I am a native English speaker, but do find that European English speakers often have better grammar and sometimes better vocabulary as well.

The word that always got my blood to boil was flammable.

Some things are logical others are illogical.
Some people are modest others are immodest.
Some things are flammable, but the same things are also inflammable.

Actually, misunderstanding this one could be dangerous.

Who invented this language anyway?

 

[Silver]

What's the most feminine US state? I say Vermont.

Maryland

 

[M Paquette]

I remember one of Jack Welch's (well-known former CEO of GE) management methods is to classify employees and fire the bottom 10% or so every year. Ranking employees is what all businesses do, but they usually use that list only when the economy is bad and layoffs become necessary.

I wonder if GE's salaries are above normal, or if that practice is still in effect.

Microsoft adapted and ran with this system (stack ranking, and cut the bottom) til 2012. It did wonders for teamwork. And the stock price...

 

[NW-Bound]

I started this stuff about the French language, so I need to post this follow-up.

I cannot find what the French think of Vermont, but I think it's most likely masculine. Larousse, a French dictionary as authoritative as Merriam-Webster for English, says that Maryland is masculine. I cannot find explicit definitions for other place names, but other well-known and popular words are easy and I did not even have to look them up. For example, the US and Canada are masculine, while Australia, Africa, and Asia are feminine.

Why the above? A simple rule of thumb I remember is that nouns that end in the letter e are usually feminine.

America - Amérique (f)
United States - États-Unis (m)
Africa - Afrique (f)
Asia - Asie (f)
Europe - Europe (f)
Australia - Australie (f)
Canada - Canada (m)
New-Zealand - Nouvelle-Zélande (f)

For other tougher words, such as love, amour (m), or friendship, amitié (f), one just has to remember it. It is said that French children hear a word used once, then they remember its gender. It is that natural to them.

 

[Meadbh]

Surely, English has some quirks, but the same is true with French. Verb conjugating is tougher in French, plus you have to remember the sex of the words. For example, the word retirement is feminine, while the word travel is masculine. You need to know the sex of a word to use the matching article or adjective.

That applies to all words. How the hell would you know if the French consider Alaska masculine or feminine? Or the word America?

The first is masculine, while the second is feminine.

It's not sex, it's gender.

 

[NW-Bound]

As previously mentioned, nouns ending in e are usually feminine, but there are so many exceptions. For example, le parapluie (umbrella) not la parapluie, le chèque (check), le champagne, etc...

 

[NW-Bound]

It's not sex, it's gender.

Yes. After many years here, I still make this error. In some languages, the two words are the same.