LEARNING! But also, this seems to defeat the purpose of segregating bedrooms (not that it isn’t defeated by literal anything else, but still)?
am american, thought it was when the bathroom had a double sink so that “jack and jill” could brush their teeth two feet apart
That’s exactly what I was thinking of, yeah!
Right. The phrase has little meaning to an American. But if I had to put one to it I would have thought of it in the context of ‘his and hers’ like those twin sinks.
I’ve actually heard it in both contexts, now that I think of it
This American’s never heard it…
It is curious how cultures shape the language to the point where common words can mean something totally different from countries with same language.
Spain and all Latin countries share an official academy since XVIII that controls Spanish language rules and even then is really funny because the “innuendo” double meaning is different from each other to point the word who is “clean” and the one is “risque” are inversed. And a Name in Spain is perfectly normal in Argentina is an argot for vagina. Funny times, we all joke about.
The cool part is like our academy has members from all over Spanish language countries you can see in any dictionary what is what in each country.
However in English is a nightmare to know ans one end of using a word that can be sleazy in America (My dictionaries are all Uk English)
I’d imagine it’s a bathroom in a clothing chain store
Guys, do the adjectives “federate” and “federal” mean the exact same thing, or is there a distinction? It’s probably not the most important question anyone ever had, but I just noticed I’ve been using the former a lot where most people would use the latter. Google isn’t being very helpful, it just links me to completely unrelated questions about US politics.
I’ve never heard that first term used anywhere, so I would probably just go with federal
Well, for starters, “federate” is a verb, not an adjective. The adjective form is “federated”.
I THINK “federated” is something that has undergone federation (the action, not the noun), like the US states, whereas “federal” is “relative to a federation”. For example, the FBI is the “federal bureau of investigation”, because its scope of action is the federation of US states.
But don’t quote me on that last paragraph.
Um, no. “Federate” can be totally used as an adjective. It has a verb form, but that’s why I specified I’m talking about adjectives here. My grasp of English isn’t that bad, just non-native.
I just want to know whether that adjective is any different to “federal”.
I believe (I might be wrong) that federal is usually used in government and politics, while federated is usually used to refer to organizations, databases, IT networks and so on. In fact, I think federal is more specific to government and politics, while federated can be used for a broader range of alliances or unions.
I think federate can be both a verb and adjective. Merriam Webster Dictionary, Collins Dictionary.
I’m no expert - I might be wrong. Someone correct me if I am.
The main difference: it’s almost never used. Depending on your project, that could either make it perfect or wrong. If you’re setting it in our world, having an English-speaker talk about federate powers or the federate government would sound alien. In a sci fi or fantasy context, that could be exactly the vocabulary you want, to avoid e.g. Americans thinking “Washington” every time you describe something as federal.
I procrastinated too much over the past week on my not-fun serious writing stuff but I think I’ve finished it now. Just gotta… combine it with some proof stuff as a PDF? Egh… Not fun stuff…
In fun-writing news: My next step for my IF is re-writing the part of the first chapter that establishes the player character build. But instead, today, I ended up skipping ahead multiple chapters and started writing the intro to what’s slated to be Chapter 5. (?!) I’m like “what the heck, brain,” but it was fun to write. When inspiration strikes, it’s important to follow it, right? More importantly, I don’t think the part I’ve written will be affected by the player’s choices thus far, so I most likely don’t have to worry about scrapping what I’ve written here after I get around to writing everything that comes before, which is basically the main concern I have about me randomly skipping ahead to write future scenes. So… yay.
Even if it would be affected, it doesn’t mean you’d have to scrap it - surely it would be applicable to some conditions (unless your plot makes a complete turn from what you’ve planned), so all you’d have to do is to write more branches. (Easier said than done, ha.)
@Omeg American, have definitely heard people use federate as both an adjective and a verb (and a noun, which I’m pretty sure is technically incorrect lol), just not very often–most often older people now I think about it–and in very informal ways.
Like officially I have no honest clue if they are actual synonyms as far as standard English is concerned, but colloquially, I’ve definitely heard “federate” used in sentences like “The federate decided that, so that’s how it is” from several people who are old school, but perfectly fine communicators.
I think it might be one of those things though where most people will read it and it not feel quite right to them and they will expect to see federal.
That’s true. Typical of me to worry about such unlikely things.
I hope the start of the second week of June is going well.
This is the last week of my pre-beta testing; once the weekend rolls around, I intend to use the rest of June to collate the feedback I have received into ToDo action lists and priority focuses for future passes.
An example of a priority focus for me will be to search out repetitive word usage; a vexing tendency I show when tired as I write.
I actually feel farther away from submission at this point than I did as the pre-beta test began.
Due to my inward focus going forward, I might be quiet for the rest of the month, and perhaps beyond.
Please continue to discuss your trials and your triumphs and if you wish to draw my attention to anything, please feel free to tag me, so I see your post sooner than later.
@LilacRebel thank you! Same to you
I hope everyone is having a creative June!
I’m still recovering from my operation, and I am having my 6-month post-operative check tomorrow.
Obviously, I am not writing, as my mind hasn’t been very creative lately despite my plans to write a novella during my recovery. To be honest, it’s probably for the best at the moment because I’m going through the imposter syndrome that every writer experiences at some point in their life.
I can generally deal with moments like this thanks to experience, but the stress around the operation has made it harder than usual. So my focus for the rest of the month is to get through it, which also means answering a question I’ve been asking myself for the past week: whether to continue Daemonglass or put it on hold and focus on UnNatural Season Three. Both choices will have various pros and cons, which is why I’m taking the time to come up with an answer.