live, adj. = "(of entertainment) thrilling"

Wed Dec 29 19:12:50 UTC 2010

Now you're talking. The point is that it *isn't* a one-off. It's a new usage
(i.e., not in OED or - I'm guessing - anywhere else), regardless of
motive(s).

JL

On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 2:06 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: live, adj. = "(of entertainment) thrilling"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I wouldn't call it the "old fakeroo" if the customer is getting
> exactly what is expected -- DirecTV channels just like one gets at
> home.
>
> Aren't all new uses, by definition, not customary?
>
> I am reading these e-mails in gmail, and there are several ads like
> this in the right-hand column:
>
> Watch Live TV
> Your Favorite TV Shows Online.
> Watch Free.
> TVneto.com
>
> Live Tv Channels
> Watch 4500+ channels On your PC
> No Dish, No Fees, 100% Legal .
> www.NettvTop.net <http://www.nettvtop.net/>
>
> So this is not a one-off.
>
> DanG
>
> On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 1:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter
>  <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: live, adj. = "(of entertainment) thrilling"
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Yeah, Dan & Larry, but you seem to assume that DirecTV just wants to tell
> it
> > like it is as concisely as possible.  So naive.  It's an ad!  And it's
> for
> > Entertainment!  And you don't expect the old fakeroo?
> >
> > With the news and sports exceptions, they're not claiming that the shows
> are
> > "live" (as we generally understand it) in any way, shape, or form.  The
> > shows are, presumably, quite unaltered from what you might watch at home,
> > but those shows aren't "live" either, unless they're being broadcast
> live.
> > Does "live" customarily include the notion the you're seeing them in
> "real
> > time" at the very instant the person/ robot/ cyborg activates the switch?
> > My life experience sez no.
> >
> > And if it were to say yes, that would be a new and fakey use of "live."
> QED,
> > OED!
> >
> > Couldn't they have called it "real TV" or "real-time TV" or something
> else a
> > little less, er, self-serving and misleading?  Remember, the ad has
> > been carefully crafted by persons/ robots/ cyborgs who spend all day
> trying
> > to part you from your precious spondulix.
> >
> > I myself might have popped for six bits, but six smackers?  Puhleeze.
> That's
> > a cup of coffee and a down payment on a 1000-calorie bran muffin.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 6:52 AM, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Margaret Lee <mlee303 at YAHOO.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: live, adj. = "(of entertainment) thrilling"
> >>
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>
> >> In terms of live as thrilling/exciting, the R &B group Lakeside had
> >> a=A0198=
> >> 0 hit, "Fantastic Voyage," that says that the party is "live, live, it's
> >> al=
> >> l the way live ... forget about your troubles and your 9 to 5 ..."=A0
> >> =A0
> >> --Margaret Lee
> >>
> >>
> >> --- On Wed, 12/29/10, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> From: Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject: Re: live, adj. =3D "(of entertainment) thrilling"
> >> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> Date: Wednesday, December 29, 2010, 1:05 AM
> >>
> >>
> >> Thrilling?
> >>
> >> Surely by "live" they mean you are watching the same broadcasts you
> >> would be able to watch at home, instead of some previously recorded
> >> (and typically dated) programs.
> >>
> >> DanG
> >>
> >> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 7:48 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> >> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------=
> >> ------
> >> > Sender:=A0 =A0 =A0=A0=A0American Dialect Society <
> ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >> >
> >> > Poster:=A0 =A0 =A0=A0=A0Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> >> > Subject:=A0 =A0 =A0 live, adj. =3D "(of entertainment) thrilling"
> >> >
> >>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> >> ------
> >> >
> >> > This could be the "handcrafted" of tomorrow. At the moment it's
> chiefly
> >> a=
> >> n
> >> > ex. of an ad technique that comes close to ye olde "bait & switch." It
> >> > probably already has a name, though I don't know offhand what it is.
> >> >
> >> > DirecTV offers cable TV channels in flight (on, e.g., Frontier
> Airlines)
> >> =
> >> at
> >> > six bucks a look.=A0 If you don't slide your credit card, the little
> >> scre=
> >> en
> >> > eighteen inches from your eyes just keeps playing the ad (and a few
> >> other=
> >> s)
> >> > repeatedly, making it difficult to concentrate on anything but the
> >> screen=
> >>  or
> >> > sleeping with your eyes shut.
> >> >
> >> > But the point here is that the ad says, "Enjoy Live TV During Your
> >> > Flight....It's Live TV That You Control....Imagine Live TV at 30,000
> >> Feet=
> >> .
> >> > We did." But in fact the only reasonably "live" TV you can watch is
> the
> >> n=
> >> ews
> >> > on Fox and CNN, and certain live sporting events that may coincide
> with
> >> y=
> >> our
> >> > flight schedule.=A0 Nevertheless the ad also claims that you can
> "Access
> >> =
> >> 24
> >> > Channels of Live DirecTV and our GPS Live Mapchannel."=A0 Yet few of
> >> thos=
> >> e 24
> >> > channels are "live TV," and only the two news channels are "live" most
> of
> >> > the time.=A0 (I didn't notice any little "TM" suggesting that the
> phrase
> >> =
> >> "Live
> >> > DirecTV" might be a service mark, and thus presumably beyond
> criticism.)
> >> >
> >> > Some of the TV you can watch really is "live" in the customary sense,
> but
> >> > most is not.=A0 DirecTV seems to be spotlighting the exceptional and
> >> > trumpeting it as the typical. (See paragraph one.) But "live," in at
> >> leas=
> >> t
> >> > one of the quotes, must mean something like "really terrific" in
> >> addition=
> >>  to
> >> > its "legitimate" TV sense.
> >> >
> >> > HDAS includes this hitherto uncommon meaning ("thrilling, exciting,
> >> > wonderful") from 1978-80. It is nonetheless startling to see it used
> in
> >> a=
> >> n
> >> > advertisement, in cold blood.=A0 Unless it's far more current than I
> >> thou=
> >> ght.
> >> >
> >> > At any rate, I find it remarkable, but maybe that's just me.
> >> >
> >> > JL
> >> > --
> >> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> >> truth=
> >> ."
> >> >
> >> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >> >
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >> =0A=0A=0A
> >>
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org