English is stupid

[danaeris]

I have spent at least an hour today going in circles trying to understand why one article is talking about putting a bill aside for now and all the rest are discussing it as though it were still in parliament.

From dictionary.com:
ta·bled, ta·bling, ta·bles
To put or place on a table.
To postpone consideration of (a piece of legislation, for example); shelve.
To enter in a list or table; tabulate.

Idioms:
on the table
Up for discussion: Her new offer is on the table.
Put aside for consideration at a later date.

*bangs head against desk* English is stupid! I didn't even know that this could mean "up for discussion" when used as "tabled a bill" or "government tables bill." These are contradictory definitions! I cannot think of much that is more ridiculous than something which means the opposite thing from itself in the same language.

Comments

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

In fairness though, they do tend to be used in different places (US and UK) we're just stuck with both because we're in Canada.

There are other examples of course, my favourite being 'sanction' which can both mean to allow, and to punish for doing.

Then there are also words that should be opposite, but are apparently synonyms. 'thaw' and 'unthaw' come to mine.

[redhawke.livejournal.com]

First, understand that most of my statements are hot off the presses of the Federal Commission on Pulling Things Out Of My Ass...

My recollection of use is that the transitive use (i.e. "tabling," or "to table") is solely used in the "set aside" meaning - my guess is that, in such usage, tabling derived from "take it from where it's hot - right in front of me - to where it isn't in the way - on the table over there. I have never heard the term "to table" used in any other sense, esp. not in the sense of "up for discussion."

OTOH, "on the table" is an idiomatic reference of negotiation technique - i.e. to take something out of where it's hidden (and the other side is unaware of it) and put it where it can be seen - on the table (the one sitting between the parties doing the negotiation). I have never heard this idiom used to mean anything different.

As to the primary issue, a bill that's tabled isn't gone - it's in bureaucratic limbo, neither dead nor alive. That's the beauty and effectiveness of tabling a bill or proposition. It's effectively no longer a current worry, but no one has to take the heat for actually voting to kill it - it just either goes away or waits, depending on the changing vaguaries of the political process. That also means that, depending on the personal bias of the writer, a bill that's been tabled can alternately (and truthfully, if technically so) say the bill is set aside, but also still "in Parliament" - both are technically true.

FWIW.

[kgola.livejournal.com]

I agree with redhawke. if something is "on the table", it's up for discussion; if something "has been tabled" it has been postponed to be discussed at a later date.

And if you're at a WPI SGA meeting, you must vote to stay the discussion on whether or not to table the issue's discussion until the following week. Ah, government!

[mycroft.livejournal.com]

This reminds me of the old quip about what it means to "secure" a building in the four branches of the U.S. military...

In the Air Force, it means you lease the building for use.

In the Army, it means you surround and guard the building.

In the Navy, it means you close and barricade the building.

In the Marines, it means you storm the building and take control of it by force.

These aren't antonums, though -- they're all about exerting control in some fashion. You have to be careful who you're talking to, though.

[karenbynight.livejournal.com]

It's just American english that is stupid. For our insistance on using "to table" to mean "to put away" as if your average table were as inaccessible as your average broom closet, we should all be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

OTOH, I highly approve of our tendency not to clutter up perfectly good words with unnecessary extra letters.

[beowabbit]

"Inflammable."

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

But that only has one meaning. It's just that most people think that it means something different from what it actually does mean.

Inflame + able.

[beowabbit]

Oh. I was all ready to paste a definition from dict.org and say "Nyah, nyah", but dict.org put me in my place. I'll just go crawl under a rotting copy of The Devil's Dictionary now.

[lastmx.livejournal.com]

You tihnk you have it bad? I have to teach people this bloody language. I start off by admitting it makes no sense!

[yiab.livejournal.com]

i think it depends all on the context in which it was said, or rather the state in which the thing to which it is referring was previously in.

say a bill was being drafted but hasn't been up for consideration yet. then "putting the bill on the table" means putting it up for discussion if it's being said by the people who will eventually discuss the bill, and it means setting the bill aside if being said by the people who have been drafting the bill.
if the bill was already up for consideration, "setting the bill on the table" means putting it down for a bit and moving on to something else if it's being said by the people debating it, or it means bringing it back to the drawing board if said by people who would redraft it.

basically, this is one of the reasons i keep reminding myself that words are meaningless, you have to try and see through them.