Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Bigness

Il dizionario me lo da come sinonimo di  "size".
Ma č vero ?
E in quali contesti lo usereste ?
Yours
Sal


Sal,
the Shorter Oxford Dictionary gives "large size or bulk" and gives the
example of "The bigness of a pea".  I can't think that I've ever come
across the word either in conversation or reading.
By comparison, "smallness" is commonly used.  The smallness of some
rodents is quite surprising.
Cheers 
John
-- 
John G Davies

 Ma è vero ?


 rodents is quite surprising.
Does
"The bigness of some dinosaurs is quite amazing" sound strange to a native
speaker?
Er, should that be dinosauria ?
cheers,
Peltio

E in quali contesti lo usereste ?
Potrebbe essere sinonimo, ma non necessariamente.  Mi pare che si possa fare
un'analogia con  "grandezza" e "misura" in italiano. 
Nella frase che ha scritto Peltio "bigness" puo' essere sostituito da "size" e
quindi in quel contesto e' sinonimo.
Secondo me "bigness" quando NON e' sinonimo di size ha il significato di
"grandezza oltre al normale".  Example:  Bigness is one of the main elements
you notice as soon as you arrive in Las Vegas.
Another example: his love for bigness clouded his judgment.
It's not a terribly used word.
ciao
arianna

 Ma è vero ?



  >Grazie a te e agli altri .
Mi avete chiarito molti dubbi.
Yours
Sal

 rodents is quite surprising.
Anche quella di qualche gente.
"smallness" and "bigness" do not necessarily refer to actual size, but
are often used as a figure of speech.  "He made the donation out of the
bigness of his heart."


While understandable, it sounds awkward.
--

 Dave
Bravo!  Anche a me cosi' sembra, ma come tante altre parole simili, ha
trovato un posto nella nostra lingua perche' e' molto usata dagli adulti
che, per quanto riguarda la lingua e l'educazione, sono ancora bambini.
Oggi, in USA, in confronto agli anni '40, il medio laureato universitario
legge al livello del quinto anno della scuola elementare.  Mi fa vergognare.

 It's not a terribly used word.
Al contrario.  Ogni tanto e' usata molto terribilmente. <:o)

 wrote in message
news:3AF46504...@earthlink.net...

Vorrei semplicemente che i miei dipendenti potessero scrivere senza l' uso
dello "spell checker".

OK...here's more on "bigness".
I looked it up in my three volume Webster Dicionary and here is what I found:
Big-ness n. quality of state of being big   2. size whether great or small 3.
broadness of outlook or scope.
I gather from this thread that some of you do not consider this to be  a
"respectable" noun.  Why?  What makes a word better than another?    I am not
trying to be antagonistic.  I am just attempting to understand why there is a
general feeling of aversion toward this word (or am I wrong?...it's hard to
tell in these posts!) The function of a word is to convey a meaning.  If a word
can fulfil its function, it seems to me that it must be a useful and therefore
"good" word.  I didn't say a "beautiful" word, or a "musical" word.
 As I said before, it can be synonymous with "size" (see 2 above), but not
necessarily.  When it is not, it usually means "big" beyond one's expectations.
 Therefore, it cannot always be substituted with "size".  Here are some
synonyms for bigness:
bigness (noun)
      Synonyms:  SIZE 2, amplitude, greatness, largeness, magnitude,
sizableness
(cut and pasted from the Merriam Webster)
ciao
Arianna 

 I am not trying to be antagonistic.
Recently I went to see a play at the Berkeley Rep. (they built a new theater,
you know). The woman who sat next to me was dressed in sweat clothes. During the
performance she drank some bottled beverage and ate something (who knows what it
was) that required unwrapping. She leaned forward in her seat and periodically
made verbal grunts in response to the actors' lines. Had she started to unwrap
the aluminum foil from a burrito and begun to eat it, I would not have been
surprised. (This, instead, happened at the Kabuki Theater during the recent
showing of a film.) So, in response to your query, I would say that like
clothing and public behavior it's all a matter of taste. But, there are
conventions that some people appreciate.
Incidentally, my OED includes "bigness" but my single-volume unabridged
Webster's does not include it. I hope, out of the largess of your heart, that
you don't take this response, either, as antagonistic.
Ciao,
Ron
USA

 wrote in message
news:20010505191847...@ng-df1.aol.com...

Non credo che nessuno abbia detta che la parola non e' valida.  Pero', per
me, suona un po' strano.  Forse la parola veniva piu' usata anni fa - non lo
so.  Pero', come in ogni aspetto della vita, ci sono delle mode.  Io direi
semplicemente che non e' comune usare quella parola.  Probabilmente, sarebbe
molto facile trovare altre parole che non sono piu' nell' uso comune (o il
cui significato e' cambiato).