XPost: alt.usage.english   
   From: larry@invalid.ca   
      
   On 2024-04-26 03:44, Chris Elvidge wrote:   
   > On 26/04/2024 at 08:26, Aidan Kehoe wrote:   
   >>   
   >>   Ar an séú lá is fiche de mí Aibreán, scríobh Steve Hayes:   
   >>   
   >>   > 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 after "waffle" had been replaced by a colon.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?   
   >>   
   >> For example!   
   >>   
   >> Another really common one comes up when a consulting firm (e.g.   
   >> Accenture) is   
   >> hired. The people hiring the consulting firm are the managers of the   
   >> relevant   
   >> business, and their job as managers is to understand and to assess the   
   >> conditions of their business and to make decisions based on that   
   >> understanding   
   >> and that assessment, in order to improve their business. They are   
   >> hiring the   
   >> consulting firm to understand and to assess their business and to come   
   >> up with   
   >> decisions based on that understanding and assessment in order that the   
   >> business   
   >> can be improved ...   
   >>   
   >   
   > Consultant: Someone who borrows your watch and uses it to tell you what   
   > time it is.   
      
   I thought it was a guy that knows 49 ways of making love, but doesn't   
   know any women.   
      
   --   
   The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your life.   
       ~ George Carlin   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)