Timeline for Blunt, brusque, curt, and terse -- is there a gradation of connotation here?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
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| Jun 12, 2020 at 11:38 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | theforestecologist - Yes, I'm sure the vast majority of native speakers would have opinions regarding the relative "strength" of many pairs selected from your list. But that's basically because both individually and collectively, people naturally tend to remove synonyms from their vocabulary (either stick with one choice all the time and allow the other to become obsolete, OR assign some different meaning / nuance to one of any apparently synonymous word-pair). Anyway, it's really easy these days to compare many indexed examples of any words you're interested in, through Google Books. Do that. | |
| Jun 12, 2020 at 4:58 | comment | added | theforestecologist | @JasonBassford I believe that to be fair if I can't get a non-opinion answer, but I was really hoping there was a non-opinion, formalized answer to this question. (e.g., some nuance in the OED or some such detail that would be helpful). I thought it worth a try... | |
| Jun 12, 2020 at 2:13 | comment | added | Jason Bassford | @theforestecologist Your question is fair, but not a good one for this site. Any answer is going to be completely subjective. Which is why I've also voted to close it as opinion-based, as I have the other two questions referenced. | |
| Jun 12, 2020 at 1:53 | answer | added | Quuxplusone | timeline score: 6 | |
| Jun 12, 2020 at 1:12 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Jun 11, 2020 at 20:06 | answer | added | Mitch | timeline score: 4 | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 18:01 | comment | added | Xanne | The judgment to use words like this in a nuanced way comes from reading, not dictionaries. | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:50 | history | edited | theforestecologist | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:49 | comment | added | theforestecologist | @Fumblefingers thanks for the comment, but from what I can gather from SE posts and elsewhere, there certainly is at least a perceived difference in connotation between these words (although perhaps not consistent). I think my question is fair and on-topic because I'm looking for a more formal response regarding this gradation of negative connotation to better assure myself given the contradiction in opinions I've gathered to date. In other words, I want to forego opinion and am asking explicitly for something more factual or official. | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:41 | comment | added | theforestecologist | @Mitch you may have a good point about the nuances being less formally explicit in a written authority... | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:33 | review | Close votes | |||
| Jun 20, 2020 at 3:03 | |||||
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:27 | comment | added | Mitch | Good question. Extracting exactly what the subtle differences are is important. The OED would probably be the most supportive of any answer here beyond trusting the authority of a knowledgeable native speaker. But the nuances that really do exist between these may not be stated explicitly by a written authority. | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:25 | answer | added | Weather Vane | timeline score: 5 | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:20 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I see no good reason to suppose any of those choices (or indeed, short, laconic, brief, succinct,...) are obviously "stronger" or "weaker" than any others. And I certainly see no reason to suppose many native speaked would agree on the same "gradation" sequence for many such terms. In short, it's all just a matter of different opinions. (And I've just closevoted against both those two earlier questions for the same reason, now they're been pointed out! :) | |
| Jun 11, 2020 at 17:11 | history | asked | theforestecologist | CC BY-SA 4.0 |