Longest Worm

[S485122]

Originally Posted by Nick

We have a new word, here: "Anderhalvemetersamenleving", literally the one-and-a-half-metres-society (a reference to social distancing in the corona era).

Am I the only one shocked by the abuse of the word "social" ?

social distancing ?

Using that word when we are even spurred to use every mean to have contacts with others, i.e. to have social contacts with whomever, whatever their origins, class or social position and what more, on the express condition that we respect a physical distance, I find irritating, to say the least.

I must admit that the physical distance one likes to keep when meeting others has been qualified as "social distance", but it is a variable and personal thing. Please, speak about physical distance and distancing.

So you wanted to say, just what the word you quote means : "a reference to the physical distancing in the corona era" ; - ) (Especially since the Dutch word for society, "samenleving" is literally "living together".)

Nothing personal here, I had to vent the accumulated ire caused by this misuse of the word social. Misuse that has also infected Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French and other languages as if the current Covid-19 pandemic was not disturbing enough.

Jacob

[retina]

Originally Posted by S485122

social distancing ?

Yeah, good point. We can be socially distant but physically close. Or socially close but physically distant. They are on orthogonal axes.

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by Nick

We have a new word, here: "Anderhalvemetersamenleving", literally the one-and-a-half-metres-society (a reference to social distancing in the corona era).

1.5 meters is an awfully long word.

Originally Posted by S485122

Am I the only one shocked by the abuse of the word "social" ?

social distancing ?

The reference social is in regard to "social" situations. If you are at a stop light, you can be closer than 2 meters to the passenger in the next car. But, you are not in a social situation with them. The word has several nuanced meanings and/or connotations. You are looking at a single slant of the word. It was used with a different one in mind.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by S485122

Please, speak about physical distance and distancing.

Good point!

[xilman]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

If you are at a stop light, you can be closer than 2 meters to the passenger in the next car. But, you are not in a social situation with them.

So very true.

[Nick]

This is one of those discussions which is difficult across linguistic and cultural borders,
illustrated here by the fact that the Dutch word "gezelligheid" notoriously has no exact equivalent in English.

Jacob's objection ( if I have understood correctly) is that the phrase "social distance" suggests
emotional distance rather than physical distance.
Social cohesion right now is important: we should stay close to friends and neighbours in the sense of warm human relationships,
just keep our physical distance when there is no barrier to block viral transmission.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Nick

This is one of those discussions which is difficult across linguistic and cultural borders,
illustrated here by the fact that the Dutch word "gezelligheid" notoriously has no exact equivalent in English.

That's clearly the Dutch version of the German 'geselligkeit', which my English<==>Teutonisch dictionary translates as any of [chumminess, companionability, folksiness, gregariousness, sociability].

Jacob's objection ( if I have understood correctly) is that the phrase "social distance" suggests
emotional distance rather than physical distance.
Social cohesion right now is important: we should stay close to friends and neighbours in the sense of warm human relationships,
just keep our physical distance when there is no barrier to block viral transmission.

I see 'social distancing' as being a shortening of 'socializing while maintaining an appropriate physical distance'. As such, it's not a means-something-quite-different Verstoß gegen die Logik like, say 'civil war'.

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

1.5 meters is an awfully long word.

Yes, over three times the length of a sesquipedalian word.

In The Awful German Language, Mark Twain said, “Some German words are so long that they have a perspective."

EDIT: Here in the USA, the recommended separation is 6 feet. That's significantly greater than 1.5 meters, which is a little bit shy of five feet. Six feet is a bit shy of one and five-sixths meters.

[ewmayer]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

Here in the USA, the recommended separation is 6 feet. That's significantly greater than 1.5 meters, which is a little bit shy of five feet. Six feet is a bit shy of one and five-sixths meters.

I'm reminded of the late, great comedian Ed Wynn (cf. the classic Twilight Zone episode One For the Angels - also father of the late Keenan Wynn, who stars in perhaps the funniest TZ episode ever, A World of His Own), one of whose standard onstage props was an 11-foot pole, for people he wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole.

[kladner]

I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot Pole, nor with an eight foot Swede, either.