[Ads-l] Zen

Mark Mandel thnidu at GMAIL.COM
Fri Mar 13 19:04:41 UTC 2015


On Mar 13, 2015 12:05 AM, "Benjamin Barrett" <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> Outside of the religious meaning, I've never understood exactly what
> this word means, but Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zen)
> says the adjective means "extremely relaxed and collected," labeling it
> as colloquial, which seems like a good summation. Still, while there
> might be times when such usage is "colloquial," I think that label is
> overkill. (The Oxford Dictionary site has only the religious meaning.)
>
> Beyond "extremely relaxed and collected," the ADS archives provides
> examples such as the following:

> 4. http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2005-January.txt
> There is a domain zen.co.uk
>
> Presumably this is indicative of the cachet of the word "zen."

Cachet and nothing more, unless perhaps "catch", as in a hook to get your
attention. Their home page title begins "Award-Winning Home & Business
Broadband Provider..."; the rest is off my phone's screen.

Mark Mandel

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