Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[ahinton]

If however it was, like John Ogden's, manifestly about to fall apart, I might call it dangerous, though it would only be so to the immediate bystanders.

...or more worryingly and properly to John Ogdon himself had any of it been lost to the four winds (or indeed any one thereof) when he was about to commence recording an overwhelmingly challenging 4½ hour long piano work which had for obvious reasons not been committed even to his phenomenal memory and whose contents were once described by Ogdon's friend Ronald Stevenson as several hours of unrelenting complexity relieved only by bouts of transcendental vistuosity.

[ahinton]

Neither of those. We have already entered it.

...or rather been dragged into it (which is manifestly different to - and arguably more dangerous than - entering it wilfully as a matter of personal choice)...

[P. G. Tipps]

Not at all. For one thing, I can see that, in certain circumstances, something might represent a potential danger (i.e. one which might or might not arise due to certain factors) while others might represent an actual danger (i.e. one where dangerous consequence is either inevitable or at the very lesat identifiably far greater); for another, I make it my business never to sit on fences because to do so would almost certainly cause physical discomfort and, who knows, it might also be potentially or actually dangerous...

AH-HAH! ... so you agree with ME, ahinton?

Wouldn't it be easier just to say so or, if you couldn't bring yourself to do such a thing, simply say absolutely nothing at all? ...

[ahinton]

I would suggest that danger may well have breached the realms of both Potentiality & Pedantry some time ago ...

OK, well you supply the potentiometer and I'll provide the pedometer so that those bothered about it can stand some chance of finding their respective ways out of it.

In the meantime, I wonder if any orthodontists might be reading this thread with ever-increasing perplexity?

[ahinton]

AH-HAH! ... so you agree with ME, ahinton?

Wouldn't it be easier just to say so or, if you couldn't bring yourself to do such a thing, simply say absolutely nothing at all? ...

If it's all the same to you (or even if, as seems rather more likely, it isn't), I'll decide when to say something and when not to do so. I might agree with you to the extent that some things are more dangerous than others and some embrace inevitable of very likely danger whereas others might not necesarily do so, but that does not mean that I am in total agreement with you on this; take Bryn's suitcase containing a bomb (sorry, Bryn, but it was you who mentioned it!), whilst the level of risk applicable to an unsuspecting member of the public in picking it up would likely be immense, that applicable to a bomb disposal professional would likely be considerably less, so it's all a matter not only of particuloar circumsnace but also of degree and of who might encouter this, that or the other risk.

My comment about John Ogdon and Opus Clavicembalisticum, which you appear to have overlooked, was that some might have percieved a different kind of danger, potential or otherwise, in his unfit-for-purpose suitcase not bursting open and scattering its contents!

By the way, you've also still not yet revealed what you perceive to be untoothsome (and why) about the expression "not fit for purpose" when used to describe something that plainly isn't such.

[P. G. Tipps]

No. If it was a fine, well-formed, fit-for-purpose suitcase dangerous only by virtue of what it might contain (of which I had no knowledge), I would not use either dangerous or potentially dangerous to describe it..

Neither would I, but I suppose it could still feasibly be described as potentially dangerous due to the lack of knowledge as to what the seemingly 'fit-for-purpose' suitcase might contain?

If however it was, like John Ogden's, manifestly about to fall apart, I might call it dangerous, though it would only be so to the immediate bystanders..

So your 'might' suggests a degree of uncertainty indicating a potentiality of danger to immediate bystanders rather than any confident expectation of actual danger to those unfortunate enough to be so close to ahinton when he encountered John?

Finally, do you consider we are in any danger, potentially or actually, of ever agreeing about this?

[Beef Oven!]

'No-brainer'

[P. G. Tipps]

'No-brainer'

Yup, dude, that kinda lingo is real worrisome but at least it ain't yet a slam dunk ... ?

[vinteuil]

'No-brainer'

.

Realised afterwards that Boulez only conducts one disc - but for the price, it's a no-brainer.

[Pabmusic]

Schadenfreude, or even epicaricacy. Horrible emotions, both. Don't like 'em at all.

[cloughie]

Schadenfreude

What's it mean?...or any other of the other too frequently used German expressions.

[Pabmusic]

What's it mean?...or any other of the other too frequently used German expressions.

They both mean the same - taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune.

[vinteuil]

Schadenfreude, or even epicaricacy. Horrible emotions, both. Don't like 'em at all.

« Les fautes des autres, c’est toujours réjouissant » - [André Gide]

Thank you for 'epicaricacy' : I think I'll stick with that good old English word, schadenfreude...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

What's it mean?

Literally, "shadow joy" - the dark pleasure at other people's misfortunes. ("Shadow" because one acknowledges that one ought to keep such feelings private - rather than outright gloating.)

[Pabmusic]

« Les fautes des autres, c’est toujours réjouissant » - [André Gide]

Thank you for 'epicaricacy' : I think I'll stick with that good old English word, schadenfreude...