Words you don't know
A user review of the recent Journey to the Center of the Earth contained this:
The storyline is a lot more cut to the chase than I've made it sound, the 3D effects are cracking, and despite being landed with the name 'Trevor', Brendan Fraser makes for a great lead. I've always been a casual fan of his since seeing the Mummy as a child, and whilst this role isn't much of a challenge for the erstwhile Fraser, he commands the screen when he's present and is thoroughly entertaining throughout."Erstwhile" Fraser? That word doesn't mean what you think it means... The real problem is, I have no idea what the commenter did mean.
ps - it's rather depressing to realize that The Mummy was indeed made long ago enough that someone could write "since seeing it as a child" and be serious about it.
Labels: entertainment, language, miscellaneous
5 Comments:
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At 7:30 PM, November 08, 2008
Anonymous had this to say...
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At 8:37 PM, November 08, 2008
Wishydig had this to say...
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At 10:54 PM, November 08, 2008
Unknown had this to say...
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At 9:36 AM, November 09, 2008
Barry Leiba had this to say...
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At 7:54 PM, November 27, 2008
Anonymous had this to say...
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<-- Older Post ^ Home Newer Post -->I agree, it's a confusing usage. Not only that, why not be consistent, and go with "erstwhilst" (now who's being the snark!)
I want to know what they mean!
You can't reflect on your childhood if you saw "The Mummy" as a child, Dumb-Dumb. Reminiscing should have some rules. This is a new America!
In a discussion of using Latin abbreviations in computer documentation, someone said that he never remembers the difference between "e.g." and "i.e.", so he just picks one.
In response, a colleague of mine said. "Mistakes you make because you don't know they're mistakes are one thing. Mistakes where you know you don't know better are reprehensible. If you know you don't know what 'e.g.' and 'i.e.' mean, don't use them! Using things because they sound nice is fine in scat singing, but not in the interchange of technical information."
Of course, in this case, the commenter probably thought he did know what "erstwhile" means, but he's just wrong. "Ersatz" doesn't work either (that's the word I usually see people mix up with "erstwhile"). Yes, I do wonder what he's trying to say. But if he thinks that "Trevor" is a name worthy of ridicule, maybe we don't care what he has to say?
My guess is that the commenter has "erstwhile" confused with "aforementioned".
In response to Barry's comment, it doesn't look to me like they're saying Trevor is a name worthy of ridicule per se, only that, in their opinion, it's not a good name for the character (c.f. the standard received wisdom that you can't have a warrior called Timothy).
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