given

[Jonathan Lighter]

But if you "consider" the small number of cases (at least in one sense),
there may not be enough of them to allow a conclusion one way or the other.

It could be that the virus spreads very efficiently among people sharing a
household, but less so through casual contact. That would not necessarily
mean its spread is (or will remain) "inefficient."

On second thought, I suppose the sentence means that, if it spread readily,
there should be more cases by now.

Either way, the syntax struck me as quite strange.

JL

On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 6:21 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: given
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To me, the "cautiously and skeptically" is provided by the word "appears",
> not the word "given". I think it means what you think it means in this
> sentence.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 6:10 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:      given
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Isn't this a weird (or at least very recent) use of "given"?
> >  http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ncv/case-def.html<
> > http://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/ncv/case-def.html>
> >
> > "The efficiency of person-to-person transmission of novel coronavirus is
> > not well characterized but appears to be low, given the small number of
> > confirmed cases since the discovery of the virus."
> >
> > It seems to mean "if one takes cautiously or skeptically into account" or
> > something. But to me, "given" means more like "because of." (OED isn't
> much
> > help on this.)
> >
> > JL
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
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>



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