XPost: alt.usage.english
On Wed, 25 Sep 2024 9:59:21 +0000, Ross Clark wrote:
On 25/09/2024 3:45 p.m., Ken Blake wrote:
Such a reference to Germany is invidious and a distortion of the reality
of
the contribution made by German democracy to the Western community since
the end of the war.
https://www.nato.int/acad/conf/future95/rodman.htm
It's interesting the meaning has flip flopped recently.
invidious
adjective
1a: of an unpleasant or objectionable nature : OBNOXIOUS
invidious remarks
1b: of a kind to cause harm or resentment
an invidious comparison
2: tending to cause discontent, animosity, or envy
the invidious task of arbitration
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/invidious
Etymological flip flop:
Fittingly, "invidious" is a relative of "envy." Both are descendants of
"invidia," the Latin word for "envy," which in turn comes from invidere,
meaning "to look askance at or "to envy." ("Invidious" descends from
"invidia" by way of the Latin adjective invidiosus, meaning "envious,
whereas "envy" comes to English via the Anglo-French noun envie.) These
days, however, "invidious" is rarely used as a synonym for "envious."
The
preferred uses are primarily pejorative, describing things that are
unpleasant (such as "invidious choices" and "invidious tasks") or worthy
of
scorn ("invidious remarks" or "invidious comparisons").
I see interesting changes here, but I don't know about flip-flop.
where do you see the Flip-Flop ???
i wonder... is the company name Nvidia .........
The 1990s: Founding years to IPO
The name NVIDIA is an amalgamation of two terms: invidia,
the Latin word for “envy,” and the acronym NV (short for “next vision”),
which the company used early on to label its files.
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