Timeline for Can the noun “sheen” denote the simple outward appearance of something?
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7 events
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| Nov 4, 2012 at 0:17 | comment | added | J.R. | @MετάEd: I don't think the O.P. was inquiring about "sheen of legitmacy" per se – as was said, that's a "made-up example." It may have just as well said "sheen of villiany" or "sheen of honesty" or "sheen of disrepute". At any rate, the expression can be found in published works. | |
| Nov 4, 2012 at 0:00 | comment | added | justin-- | I don't doubt that the word will be understood and is used in this sense. I'm trying to flesh out exactly when this word could or could not be used, because it is rather rare and restricted to certain situations in English, and although I immediately recognized the same sense of the Swedish cognate sken, this particular usage seems much more common and unrestricted in that language than it ever would be in English. | |
| Nov 3, 2012 at 23:42 | comment | added | justin-- | @MετάEd not necessarily "sheen of legitimacy" -- could be "sheen of righteousness" -- or anything similar that is or would be seen in an unduly positive light. | |
| Nov 3, 2012 at 22:53 | comment | added | MetaEd | To the contrary: the British-only ngram actually has -0- examples of sheen. It seems to be America only. books.google.com/ngrams/… | |
| Nov 3, 2012 at 22:35 | comment | added | Rory Alsop | It Is though-certainly in the UK. Not as common as veneer but it is used. | |
| Nov 3, 2012 at 22:33 | comment | added | MetaEd | I don't doubt that one would be understood but I disagree with the claim that sheen is used: books.google.com/ngrams/… | |
| Nov 3, 2012 at 22:13 | history | answered | Rory Alsop | CC BY-SA 3.0 |