XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Thu, 25 Apr 2024 09:19:58 +0100, Aidan Kehoe    
   wrote:   
      
   >   
   > Ar an cúigiú lá is fiche de mí Aibreán, scríobh Steve Hayes:   
   >   
   > > >Speaking (in sci.lang) of Andy Grove, he uses waffle in the above sense in   
   > > >his good, well-edited ‘High Output Management.’ In my youth I would   
   only   
   > > >have used or understood the word in the meaning ‘to ramble on, to say   
   > > >nothing of much consequence,’ and OED2 documents that the   
   > > >fail-to-make-a-decision sense is colloquial or non-standard.   
   > >   
   > > What is the "above" sense?   
   >   
   >The one in the subject, ‘to waver, to vacillate, to equivocate, to   
   dither.’   
      
   Ah, I didn't read it like that. I might have done so if the comma   
   after "waffle" had been replaced by a colon.   
      
   > > >I presume I have misunderstood various Americans over the years in not   
   > > >picking up on the ‘dither’ meaning. How universal is that meaning over   
   > > >there?   
   > >   
   > > For what values of "that"?   
   >   
   >“Dither,” to fail to make a decision when making a decision would be   
   >appropriate.   
      
   As in the driver of a car on a multilane highway being unable to   
   decide which lane they want to drive in, and holding up the following   
   traffic while they try to decide?   
      
      
      
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa   
   Web:  http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm   
   Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com   
   E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)