Re: [GreenYes] another question of language

[Pat Franklin <CRI@container-recycling.org>]

Dear Waste Not,

RE:  the word 'waste'

I like to say that we've changed the word 'waste' from
a verb to a noun.



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At 01:20 PM 8/2/01 +1200, Waste Not wrote:
>Since there have been musings today about the use of language ("problem
>bins") I thought that I'd canvass the list on this issue.
>I find it very appropriate that the English word "waste" should have two
>quite distinct but related meanings - "rubbish" and "to use in a profligate
>manner."  It must say something about the culture in which the meanings
>evolved that the same word is used for both.  I have asked a French friend
>(who works as a translator) and there is no such overlap of meaning in the
>various French terms.  I have also asked a Catalan friend (who also works
>as a translator in several European languages) and he knows of no other
>language that has a single word that includes both concepts.  (He also gave
>a diatribe on how only a crude, bastardised language such as English would
>allow one word to be both a verb and a noun, but that's a different
>matter).
>Does anyone know of any other language (and, one supposes, culture) that
>recognises that "waste" is "a waste"?
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Pat Franklin
Executive Director
Container Recycling Institute
1911 Ft Myer Drive, Suite 702
Arlington, Virginia  22209
703.276.9800  fax 703.276.9587
email:CRI@Container-Recycling.org
www.Container-Recycling.org
www.BottleBill.org
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