Two nice things, and nice itself

[oxoniensis]

I had this lovely email the other day from a GK fan called mechio - she said to pass on her regards to everyone who worked on the After Action site. She's not a native English speaker, and her friends aren't, so they've found the transcripts invaluable.

nightanddaze wrote me gorgeous Brad/Nate huddling for warmthI've had issues with the word 'nice' lately -

Comments

[anoel]

I actually use nice a ton when I'm playing tennis referring to someone else and at least in that context it means more like awesome. It's just fast to say I guess.

[oxoniensis]

I think it's one of those words that work better in the spoken language - you can add shades of meaning with the ton, and they just don't come across when it's written down.

[jujubinha]

Being a non-native speaker myself, I've always struggled with colloquialism. I remember my disbelief when someone explained to me that some people differentiate calling someone nice (as in, blah), and very nice (as in, thumbs up). I was like, but it's the same word! I still use nice as good, though, because that's how I learned it. And I have the dictionary to back me up! :)

And I thoroughly appreciate After Action too. That site is brilliant!

*off to read the Brad/Nate fic*

[oxoniensis]

The finer details of the English language are a quagmire to navigate!

After Action makes me happy - I love browsing it when I'm writing.

[dodificus]

Eeeep! I just used the word nice to fb your GK story. If it helps I meant it in the sleazy, drawn out, niiiiice way.

[oxoniensis]

Aww, no worries at all! I'm completely fine with it now, and niiiiice is definitely welcome!

[hestia_lacey]

There's a dialect word in my region which I like to use in place of 'nice'. It can mean anything from 'truly, amazingly, stupendously awesome' to 'utterly abysmal' dependant on your intontation and implied level of under or over-statement. The word?

Canny.

Unfortunately, it's not a word that translates well to the interwebs.

[oxoniensis]

I always mentally add a Scottish accent when I come across the word! *g*

Unfortunately, it's not a word that translates well to the interwebs.

Some words just don't work without tone and facial expressions.

[askmehow]

This is my favourite quote on 'nice', simply because it shows that the same arguments about the semantic bleaching of that word were around back then too:

["]But now really, do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world

[oxoniensis]

I was thinking about that scene when I wrote the post, but I couldn't remember the book or author or enough details to identify it! My English teacher drummed that into us - 'nice' was not a word we got away with on English assignments.