Saturday, December 6, 2025

'Permanently pause' is an oxymoron?

特朗普"permanently pause migration",汉语直译是“永久暂停移民”。问Google "Does 'permanently pause' sound like an oxymoron?"(注:oxymoron是“矛盾修辞”)回答Yes, the phrase "permanently pause" is an oxymoron because its two words contradict each other. 问ChatGPT,答It sounds contradictory, but it isn’t actually an oxymoron因为"pause" is being reinterpreted: instead of meaning “temporary stop,” it’s being used in a broader sense of “stop (without specifying duration).” Then "permanently" clarifies the duration. 问DeepSeek,答它can be considered a mild oxymoron / is technically oxymoronic但through common usage—especially in tech and business—it has developed a clear and practical meaning: to halt a process with no intention of ever resuming it, while often implying that the thing itself is not being deleted. So, while it's an oxymoron in a dictionary sense, it's a useful and accepted phrase in modern language. 查Google图书,在1895年的《New York Court of Appeals》中就已出现"permanently pause"。另外,汉译为“永久暂停”也许非上乘,不妨译作“不设期限地暂停”更符合该词组的真正的意义。假如外国人问为什么那么多“无期徒刑”并且“缓期执行”实际并非“无期”?道理相同,也是因为我们用词不当。

Sunday, July 20, 2025

Just because ... doesn't mean ...

We know and, or, but are conjunctions. If a conjunction is at the head of a sentence or clause, this clause cannot be used as the subject or object of a sentence. It is wrong to say "And he is young is interesting". Instead, say "the fact that he is young is interesting".

But there is one exception in English, the "Just because ... doesn't mean ..." construct. For example, "Just because it works doesn't mean it works well". The sentence is completely acceptable and makes clear sense. You could rewrite it as "The fact that it works doesn't mean it works well", but that's unnecessary and, in fact, it would sound affected except in formal writing. What about the grammar, though? Can we say that "Just because ..." serves as the subject of the sentence? If you ask AI's, they will say Yes. In other words, a clause serving as a subject cannot begin with "because" but *can* begin with "just because", as long as the predicate is "does not mean". This rule is so restrictive that we may as well say it is made just for this specific sentence structure.

"Just because ... doesn't mean ..." is used in everyday English. It has entered writing, even in non-fiction books. But in seriously formal writing, this construct should be avoided, as experts have suggested. The reason, I suspect, may have to do with its unusual grammar, as said before: a clause introduced by a conjunction cannot serve as the subject (or object) of a sentence, generally speaking.