real-time

[Jonathan Lighter]

I understand your point.  But there's only one kind of time in this neck of
the cosmos.  Suppose they were watching it on a video recording. Forget what
the %0^^2#* video is doing - they're still *watching* the video in *real*
time. The clock is ticking away as they watch. Time doesn't get any realer
than that. It would make as much sense to me to have said, "In the White
House, they watched the raid and breathed real air."

Not to mention that given the *real-world* context and who's watching what,
the default assumption would be that they are indeed watching it as it
happens. If it were a tape or a classic rerun, *that's* what would require
explanation.

Now, if the genius of Inglish wishes to replace meaningful phrases like "as
it happened" - or "as it unfolded," "on a live feed," "on live TV" (or just
plain "live," since that's short for the preceding and even shorter than "in
real time"), or even "glued to their closed-circuit TV monitor" - with an
idiot phrase like "in real time," you'll have noticed that I can't stop it.

But I will resist its use.

JL



On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 8:55 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: real-time
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't remember who was speaking when I heard "watching the mission
> in real time", and it was in the afternoon.  So you could very well
> have heard what you reported.  That leaves me with only the
> speculation that CNN erred in the morning (either the script said
> "launch" or Starr misread it) and had corrected itself by the afternoon.
>
> Jon, I'm not clear on something else.  Did you mean to say "watching
> in real time" is silly for this ... er, situation?  It seems quite
> sensible to me -- they were watching the events as they occurred, not
> later via a recording.
>
> Joel
>
> At 5/2/2011 08:43 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Joel, this is not inconceivable. I saw exactly the segment you describe as
> >well and didn't hear anything unusual. The quoted ex. was uttered earlier
> >this morning by Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr.
> >
> >I suppose I could have misheard it, though I was listening attentively.
> >(Uh-oh.)
> >
> >However, "watching in real time" would be less ambiguous than "launching"
> in
> >real time. It can only mean they were watching as it happened. In that
> case
> >it's plain silly. "Real" time is the only time available.
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >On Mon, May 2, 2011 at 8:21 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      Re: real-time
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > Jon, are you sure CNN didn't way "The White House *watched* the
> > > mission against Bin Laden in
> > > real time."?  I'm sure I heard that at least once, accompanying the
> > > still photo of Obama, Biden, et al. in ... a situation room?
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > At 5/2/2011 06:42 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > > >CNN reports that "The White House launched the mission against Bin
> Laden
> > > in
> > > >real time."
> > > >
> > > >It seems to mean "using super electronic devices that allowed for
> > > >instant communications between people in Washington and others in
> > > >helicopters, in Pakistan, in Afghanistan, at sea, and God knows
> where-all
> > > >else."
> > > >
> > > >That may be. But it's only a guess.
>
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