![]() ![]() Like intents, whet in "whet your appetite" is often taken as another, more familiar word, wet. One who is "focused, full of purpose" is likely to be intense as well. Whether " intensive purposes" is merely a matter of the running together of sounds or the fact that the word intent is rarely used in the plural form in everyday speech, the collocation is supported by the easy logic of the adapted phrase's meaning. The phrase is old it's a shortened form of an English legal formulation that dates all the way back to the mid-16th century's "to all intents, constructions and purposes." The "constructions" has long been dropped, and now you might be just as likely to hear "for all intensive purposes" instead of "intents and." What we can do, as linguistic glaciologists, is strap on our crampons, drill for an ice core, and get down to marveling at what is changing and why.Īnd what better place to begin than with a phrase I just had the pleasure of using, "for all intents and purposes," which, according to Google searches and grammar columns, seems poised to morph into "intensive purposes" any decade now. (And a third man's source of humor - read this review of Robert Alden Rudin's new collection of language errors, Going to Hell in a Hen Basket for more.)īut for all intents and purposes, and no matter that you might think language change represents the collective dumbing down of our culture (I don't), we can't stop it. One man's malapropism is another's innovation. Language moves much in the way of a glacier: slowly, constantly, and with a force impossible for any human intervention to halt. Now, as I contemplate a new collection of frozen phrases, caught earlier in the process of change, I see that their analysis might better be described as linguistic glaciology. Call what I was doing linguistic paleontology. Sting.A few months ago, I wrote about phrases that had piqued (or is that peaked?) my interest, in a column on malapropisms that show us fossilized words found in phrases frozen in time. Here are a few songs to show how some of the expressions above work. It’s my bag (slang): Clubbing is my bag, and what’s your kind of thing?.It’s my (kind of) thing: Learning languages is my thing.It’s right up my street (British English): I’m into dancing, so salsa lessons would be right up my street.It’s right up my valley (American English): Such corporate events are up my valley.It’s my cup of tea: Skiing is not my cup of tea, but ice hockey is.I fancy (often a person, sometimes a thing) (British English): 1) The water wasn’t very clean and I didn’t fancy swimming in it.I have a soft spot for it: I have a soft spot for cats, but I can’t say the same about dogs.I’m attached to it: 1) I am very attached to my nephew.2) I didn’t like the job at first, but eventually it grew on me. It grows on you: 1) Try the drink again – it grows on you (= you get to like it as time passes).It’s an acquired taste (= a thing that I have come to like only through experience). I’ve grown to like it: I’ve grown to like coffee.I’m partial to it (formal or old-fashioned): I am partial to green tea ice cream.2) I hope the proposal will go down well. It goes down well: 1) The news didn’t go down well with the boss (= it wasn’t received well).It sounds good (to me): A picnic sounds good to me.I like the idea of it: I like the idea of merger between the two supermarket chains.I’m addicted to it: 1) I’m addicted to sweets.I can’t get enough of it: 1) I can’t get enough of singing.2) I’m not wild about base jumping but I’ll do it. I’m crazy/mad/wild about it : 1) He’s crazy about you, but all you are crazy about is your work.It’s to my liking/taste (more formal than “I like it”): 1) This city is not to my liking.It appeals to me: 1) This idea appeals to me.I am keen on it: 1) He is rather keen on her, but she doesn’t seem to like him.I am enthusiastic about it/interested in it: 1) I’m enthusiastic about this project.I am a fan of it: I’m a fan of jazz, though most young people are not into it. ![]() I am passionate about it: If you are passionate about your job, you’ll achieve success.2) Mary is into John (= she likes him very much). 2) I’ve always been fond of horses, and I’m fond of my riding instructor too. I am fond of it: 1) I am fond of horse-riding.Do you need a phrase to describe what you don’t like? Just make a negative sentence with one of the phrases below. ![]() See the synonyms for the ever popular phrase I like it and increase your vocabulary with this post. We talk about what we like all the time, don’t we? So, having an extensive vocabulary to talk about your likes and dislikes sure is desirable (see useful tips for memorizing vocabulary here). ![]()
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