V-8 powered Seabee

"Barnyard BOb --" wrote I sincerely and most humbly
apologize.
My generosity was aimed to cut these defunct folks some slack.
However, I have no problem seeing it your way. g


Barnyard BOb --

I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

Eric

Eric Miller wrote:

"Barnyard BOb --" wrote I sincerely and most humbly
apologize.
My generosity was aimed to cut these defunct folks some slack.
However, I have no problem seeing it your way. g


Barnyard BOb --

I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

N.B. the above should read "feint praise"

feint:
(n.) 1. a false show; sham 2. a pretended blow or attack intended to
take the opponent off his guard, as in boxing or warfare
(vi., vt.) 1. to delivery such a blow or attack

This message is intended to educate, not mock or degrade.

Russell Kent

"Russell Kent" wrote in message
...
Eric Miller wrote:
I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

N.B. the above should read "feint praise"

feint:
(n.) 1. a false show; sham 2. a pretended blow or attack intended to
take the opponent off his guard, as in boxing or warfare
(vi., vt.) 1. to delivery such a blow or attack

This message is intended to educate, not mock or degrade.

Russell Kent

The correct expression and spelling is "faint praise"; the praise isn't
false (a feint) it's weak (faint).
Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thomps...aintpraise.asp
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=faint

Eric

I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

N.B. the above should read "feint praise"

feint:
(n.) 1. a false show; sham 2. a pretended blow or attack intended to
take the opponent off his guard, as in boxing or warfare
(vi., vt.) 1. to delivery such a blow or attack

This message is intended to educate, not mock or degrade.

Russell Kent

The correct expression and spelling is "faint praise"; the praise isn't
false (a feint) it's weak (faint).
Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

Eric
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Could this be characterized as...

1. A battle of nits by wits
2. Vice versa
3, or, who cares about wit nits
4. or, vice versa g


Barnyard BOb -- phaking a phaint pheint

Eric Miller wrote:

"Russell Kent" wrote in message
...
Eric Miller wrote:
I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

N.B. the above should read "feint praise"

feint:
(n.) 1. a false show; sham 2. a pretended blow or attack intended to
take the opponent off his guard, as in boxing or warfare
(vi., vt.) 1. to delivery such a blow or attack

This message is intended to educate, not mock or degrade.

Russell Kent

The correct expression and spelling is "faint praise"; the praise isn't
false (a feint) it's weak (faint).
Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thomps...aintpraise.asp
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=faint

Interesting. I'm now equally uncertain as to which is the proper phrase. I
can see where one might use "faint (weak) praise" or "feint (false or
deceptive) praise". A brief Google search failed to turn up a definitive
page. Numerous usages exist for both forms.

Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

Irrelevant. Red is a noun. What part of speech does "red" play in the phrase
"roll out the red carpet"? It's an adjective, or more properly an adjectival
noun. So "feint" would be functioning as an adjectival noun for "praise".

As I am uncertain which form is the proper one, I retract my earlier
correction.

Russell Kent

Russell Kent wrote:

Irrelevant. Red is a noun. What part of speech does "red" play in the phrase
"roll out the red carpet"? It's an adjective, or more properly an adjectival
noun. So "feint" would be functioning as an adjectival noun for "praise".

And everyone knows that no air-cooled noun has ever suffered
a catastrophic loss of coolant. Water-cooled nouns are killers,
however, and should never be used in the same sentence as an
aviation-related noun. To do so tempts fate...and BOb.

Dave 'but can you say it in Klingonese?' Hyde

Russell Kent wrote:

Interesting. I'm now equally uncertain as to which is the proper phrase. I
can see where one might use "faint (weak) praise" or "feint (false or
deceptive) praise". A brief Google search failed to turn up a definitive
page. Numerous usages exist for both forms.

AltaVista shows 96 occurrences of "feint praise" and 10,447
occurrences of "faint praise" across the web. While popular usage is
certainly not always an accurate measure of correctness, it can
sometimes provide reasonable clues when authoritative sources are
lacking. The adjectival form of "feint", meaning "feigned", is
archaic (1). Many expressions, however, use archaic words.
The best clue in this particular case is in the phrase itself. While
one could "damn" with faint (weak) praise, one would likely only
"deceive" with feigned (false) praise. IMO, the phrase just doesn't
make much sense using "feint". It could be argued that one could damn
with excessive or effusive feint (feigned) praise, but that is more
than the phrase in question suggests. Bartlett's Familiar Quotes has
this,

Damn with faint praise, assent with civil leer,
And, without sneering, teach the rest to sneer;
-- Alexander Pope, Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot [1734]. Prologue to
Imitations of Horace, l. 193

Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

Irrelevant. Red is a noun. What part of speech does "red" play in the phrase
"roll out the red carpet"? It's an adjective, or more properly an adjectival
noun. So "feint" would be functioning as an adjectival noun for "praise".

All my dictionaries show red as both a noun and an adjective. Your
use of "red" simply uses its common adjective form. An example of an
adjectival noun would be the word "village" in the phrase "village
idiot". I expect Barnyard Bob could have a field day with that
opening.

As a last resort in resolving such issues, I have found the newsgroup
alt.usage.english quite helpful.

David O -- http://www.AirplaneZone.com

1: Webster's Third New International Dictionary - Unabridged

David O wrote:

All my dictionaries show red as both a noun and an adjective. Your
use of "red" simply uses its common adjective form. An example of an
adjectival noun would be the word "village" in the phrase "village
idiot". I expect Barnyard Bob could have a field day with that
opening.

Oy. Touche', touche'. I should've chosen a *correct* example of my point.

As a last resort in resolving such issues, I have found the newsgroup
alt.usage.english quite helpful.

Your subtle, and Dave Hyde's less so :-), point taken. I'm happy to let this
sub-thread die.

Russell Kent

In article , Russell Kent wrote:


Eric Miller wrote:

"Russell Kent" wrote in message
...
Eric Miller wrote:
I think that's called "damning with faint praise" =D

N.B. the above should read "feint praise"

feint:
(n.) 1. a false show; sham 2. a pretended blow or attack intended to
take the opponent off his guard, as in boxing or warfare
(vi., vt.) 1. to delivery such a blow or attack

This message is intended to educate, not mock or degrade.

Russell Kent

The correct expression and spelling is "faint praise"; the praise isn't
false (a feint) it's weak (faint).
Notice that faint is an adjective while feint is not.

http://www.cuyamaca.net/bruce.thomps...aintpraise.asp
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=faint

Interesting. I'm now equally uncertain as to which is the proper phrase. I
can see where one might use "faint (weak) praise" or "feint (false or
deceptive) praise". A brief Google search failed to turn up a definitive
page. Numerous usages exist for both forms.

The correct form *is* "faint praise". With faint having the meaning of
'lacking in conviction'.

A 'feint' is a deception that is *intended*to*be*believed*. Something that
is intended to mis-direct, distract, draw attention _away_ from the real
issue. What Juan Jiminez routinely does. grin

'Faint praise' is issued with the intent that it *NOT* be believed. The
intent is that you believe the _opposite_ of what was actually said. By
stating it with a market 'lack of conviction', one calls attention to the
falsity of the statement.

Marc Anthony's speech on the death of Caesar is the archtypical example
of 'damning with faint praise' -- "..For Brutus is an _honorable_man_.
So are they *all*, _honorable_men_...."

The _last_ thing Marc Anthony wanted was for people to "believe him".
He _is_ 'praising' them, with the _intent_ of being 'not believed'.

wrote ...
By
stating it with a market 'lack of conviction', one calls attention to the
falsity of the statement.

Market: a gathering of people buying and selling livestock

Marked: noticeable; obvious; appreciable; distinct; conspicuous.


Usenet Rule #12: any posting that complains about someone's spelling must
itself contain at least one misspeling.

Rich