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b-hebrew - Re: [b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II

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  • From: "Stoney Breyer" <stoneyb AT touchwood.net>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Daniel 6:27 (time indefinite) II
  • Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2005 08:51:58 -0600



-----Original Message-----
"indefinitely extended time" is not the same as "indefinite time"; the
former means a time extended without limit, whereas the latter simply
means an uncertain time.

SB: I think not. Time extendend without limit would be "infinitely
extended"; "indefinitely extended" implies "extended, but I don't know
how far."

One of the issues was whether this phrase was a regularly used and
meaningful English phrase. Its apparently very restricted use, outside
the specific context for which it is being promoted, strongly suggests
that it is not.

SB: I concur that it is not. It's bad English, with unfortunate
overtones of legal weaseling. Syntactical inversion is a constant NWT
mannerism, but in this particular case my professional guess is that
whoever coined the phrase was trying to find something that would borrow
legal/proverbial resonance from the familiar "from time immemorial".


I note, however, that the phrase is *becoming* regularly used
(presumably by writers raised in the NWT tradition). If you'll revisit
your Google results you'll find "to time indefinite" in, inter alia, a
romantic short story ... personal wedding congratulations ... and a
sentence in a Wikipedia article which purports to translate a diary
entry by on the elder Lucas Cranach: "But I know these things happenth
not, for the marriage of her and I shall last to time indefinite". It
speaks for itself.

Stoney Breyer
Writer/Touchwood, Inc.








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