Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: odd (not often)

Sul cambridge advanced learner's dictionary trovo, fra le varie, la
seguente accezione di odd che non avevo mai visto:
odd (NOT OFTEN)
adjective [before noun]
----> not happening often
(1) She does the odd teaching job but nothing permanent
(2) You get the odd person who's rude to you but they're generally quite
helpful
Mica ho capito bene come funziona questo significato di odd.
Senza leggere il cambridge io a sentire quelle frasi avrei interpretato
piuttosto liberamente : 
- Lei fa lo strano lavoro di insegnare, ma non
continuativamente 
Ma se significa "not often" dovrebbe essere:
Fa raramente il lavoro di insegnante, ma .... 
in entrambi i casi non ha molto senso pero' la frase, e neanche la
successiva.
Io non ho capito bene questa faccenda di odd come not often, e mi pare che
l'often piazzato li' proprio come un aggettivo sia indistinguibile
dall'odd che significa "strano", "curioso".
Anche le frasi di esempio sono molto poco chiare.
Qualcuno mi illumina ?
Grazie !

 Mica ho capito bene come funziona questo significato di odd.
Vuol dire "saltuario, occasionale", come nell'espressione "odd jobs" = 
lavori occasionali. Spesso l'italiano rende il concetto con "ogni tanto", 
come nel secondo esempio che vuol dire "ogni tanto trovi una persona 
maleducata ma generalmente sono abbastanza gentili".
chris 

 wrote in message 
news:pan.2005.05.02...@nomail.com...

The examples given are fine , the definitions are sloppy ; 'odd' is always 
an adjective ('not often' is adverbial) , and though 'not happening often 
(or regularly)' gives the general idea , it's not very precisely applicable 
to a person . An exact synonym in English is 'occasional' , but I don't 
think you have a word in Italian which is used in the same way (though 'odd 
jobs' = 'lavori occasionali' ?) ;  you'd usually have to replace it , I 
suppose , by an adverb phrase modifying the verb in the sentence : e.g. Di 
quando in quando you get a person who's rude to you , etc.  If you rephrased 
the idea in English , you'd use phrases like 'from time to time' , 'now and 
then', 'occasionally' (but not 'rarely' which would give a different 
emphasis) .
Note that the idiom really involves the use of the definite article , 'the 
odd' :
   She bakes *the odd* cake = From time to time she bakes *a* cake
   You meet *the odd* person ...= Every now and then you meet *a* person...
('You meet an odd person' , 'she bakes an odd cake' would indeed give the 
sense of 'strano','curioso') . This usually is enough to avoid ambiguity .
Very often (not always , tho'), as in the two examples you quote , you'll 
find the clause with the 'the odd' usage in it followed by another clause 
introduced by 'but' which emphasises the complementary more frequent state 
of affairs :
 You've made the odd mistake , but overall it's an excellent piece of work .
 You meet the odd shepherd with his dog , but most of the time you never see 
a soul .
 He scored the odd birdie , but mostly he played like a dog .
Mike

 sense of 'strano','curioso') . This usually is enough to avoid ambiguity .
I feel it like "Fa quella torta ogni tanto", "puoi incontrare quello che/la
persona che...".
[...]
Ciao, FB
-- 
"The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live, that is what I mean—so
Bunbury died."
"He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians."
("The Importance of Being Earnest", Oscar Wilde)

 [cut]
grazie a tutti e a Mike in particolare, la cui spiegazione e' stata
esaurientissima
ciao
pip

 The examples given are fine , the definitions are sloppy ;
grazie per l'esauriente spiegazione Mike, è una forma che anch'io avevo
incontrato di tanto in tanto ("he smokes the odd cigarette") ma non avevo
mai capito bene...
Lorenzo

 persona che...".
No, as Mike said, "she bakes the odd cake" significa "ogni tanto fa una
torta". e "you meet the odd person ..." significa "ogni tanto incontri
uno ..."
-- 
Mary

 uno ..."
That's what I meant. Perhaps I used a very idiomatic expression:
"Fuma quella sigaretta ogni tanto, ma in genere non fuma"
I don't much like it.
Bye, FB
-- 
"Suppose I say I'm not interested."
"Does five hundred dollars interest you?"
"Very much."
"Then bring it: it's an expensive restaurant".
(The Cheap Detective)

 "Fuma quella sigaretta ogni tanto, ma in genere non fuma"
Ah, è vero, non ci avevo pensato.
-- 
Mary