ameliorate and not improve
PCPB
was just another way of saying "improve". Any enlightenment in dispelling or
confirming my belief is appreciated.
Here is the sentence and the reference I found it in:
http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/187083.pdf (page 17)
"They patrol, guard, investigate, respond to emergencies, monitor, collect
intelligence, work undercover, constrain, ameliorate crime-producing
conditions, advise about crime prevention, and control disorder."
As the sentence is obviously referring to law enforcement, the impetus of
the action depicted can only mean (one hopes) that the intent is to reduce
crime-producing conditions. This thus gives "ameliorate" an absolute moral
or legalistic value in that anything being "ameliorated" is being made
morally and legally right, whereas if the sentence read "improve
crime-producing conditions" it would be meaningless in a police context, the
police's role being, among others, to reduce crime-producing conditions.
In short, does "ameliorate" mean "improve" or are the authors of the quote
right in their use of "ameliorate"?
Please bear with any spelling and syntax mistakes, as English is not my
first language. Thanks in advance for any help.
PCP Brassard
Mark Wallace
"PCPB" <pcpbr...@enpq.qc.ca> wrote in message
news:ca3m8.32195$i66.1...@wagner.videotron.net...
I wouldn't use 'ameliorate' as a direct synonym for 'improve', as I
see its meaning as being more suited to 'make easier'; but even that
is, I hope, not what the writer intended.
He probably had his dictionary stolen.
--
Mark Wallace
-----------------------------------------------------
For the intelligent approach to nasty humour, visit:
The Anglo-American Humour (humor) Site
http://humorpages.virtualave.net/mainmenu.htm
-----------------------------------------------------
.
Matti Lamprhey
"PCPB" <pcpbr...@enpq.qc.ca> wrote...
> I have just read a sentence making me question my belief that "ameliorate"
> was just another way of saying "improve". Any enlightenment in dispelling
> or confirming my belief is appreciated.
>
> Here is the sentence and the reference I found it in:
> http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/187083.pdf (page 17)
> "They patrol, guard, investigate, respond to emergencies, monitor, collect
> intelligence, work undercover, constrain, ameliorate crime-producing
> conditions, advise about crime prevention, and control disorder."
>
> As the sentence is obviously referring to law enforcement, the impetus of
> the action depicted can only mean (one hopes) that the intent is to reduce
> crime-producing conditions. This thus gives "ameliorate" an absolute
> moral or legalistic value in that anything being "ameliorated" is being
> made morally and legally right, whereas if the sentence read "improve
> crime-producing conditions" it would be meaningless in a police context,
> the police's role being, among others, to reduce crime-producing
> conditions.
>
> In short, does "ameliorate" mean "improve" or are the authors of the quote
> right in their use of "ameliorate"?
One important difference is that "ameliorate" is used only in the sense of
making a bad situation less bad. It is used correctly in the example you
give, whilst "improve" would be ambiguous as you imply. The words have
linked meanings, but are by no means synonyms.
Matti
Mark Wallace
"Matti Lamprhey" <matti-...@totally-official.com> wrote in
message news:a7aoq5$jl43p$1...@ID-103223.news.dfncis.de...
I think that's stretching the definition a touch. 'Alleviate' fits
that bill better.
--
Mark Wallace
-----------------------------------------------------
Doctor Charles.
You can trust him.
http://humorpages.virtualave.net/m-pages/doc01.htm
-----------------------------------------------------
RoboRobBand
The roads were improved last summer.
The roads had been damaged by large trucks. They would have been totally
destroyed if the damage had not been emeliorated by...
Eric Walker
>I have just read a sentence making me question my belief that
>"ameliorate" was just another way of saying "improve". Any
>enlightenment in dispelling or confirming my belief is
>appreciated.
>
>Here is the sentence and the reference I found it in:
>http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/187083.pdf (page 17)
>"They patrol, guard, investigate, respond to emergencies,
>monitor, collect intelligence, work undercover, constrain,
>ameliorate crime-producing conditions, advise about crime
>prevention, and control disorder."
>
>As the sentence is obviously referring to law enforcement, the
>impetus of the action depicted can only mean (one hopes) that
>the intent is to reduce crime-producing conditions. This thus
>gives "ameliorate" an absolute moral or legalistic value in
>that anything being "ameliorated" is being made morally and
>legally right, whereas if the sentence read "improve crime-
>producing conditions" it would be meaningless in a police
>context, the police's role being, among others, to reduce
>crime-producing conditions.
>
>In short, does "ameliorate" mean "improve" or are the authors
>of the quote right in their use of "ameliorate"? [...]
Yes and yes.
In the phrase "improve crime-producing conditions," the
operative word is the noun "conditions": "crime-producing" is
an adjective that restricts the universe of all conditions to a
particular subset (though technically it is "descriptive" not
"limiting," it effectively acts as a limitation).
What are conditions that cause crime? Poverty is commonly
taken to be one. (While in a practical sense police are
unlikely to be doing anything about poverty, the principle is
the same.) If one reduces poverty, one is improving the social
condition "poverty," hence ameliorating it. To "improve" a
negative is not to make it more negative but less.
Conditions the police might be ameliorating could include the
prevalence of inadequately secured shops, as for example by
reminding shop-keepers to lock up thoroughly at closing time.
--
Cordially,
Eric Walker
Owlcroft House
Eric Walker
[...]
>One important difference is that "ameliorate" is used only in
>the sense of making a bad situation less bad. It is used
>correctly in the example you give, whilst "improve" would be
>ambiguous as you imply. The words have linked meanings, but
>are by no means synonyms.
The Mother of All Dictionaries says at _ameliorate_:
1. trans. To make better; to better, improve.
2. intrans. To grow better.
My desk dictionary quite concurs.
RorysMusicCafe2
1. trans. To make better; to better, improve.
2. intrans. To grow better.
My desk dictionary quite concurs. <<
Oddly enough, I don't think I've seen the word use that way. Just from hearing
and reading it in context (which is how we most often learn new words), I
thought it applied when something minimizes or partially counters the bad
effect of something else. "His nasty attitude is somewhat ameliorated by his
sense of humor."
Matti Lamprhey
> Matti Lamprhey wrote:
> [...]
> >One important difference is that "ameliorate" is used only in
> >the sense of making a bad situation less bad. It is used
> >correctly in the example you give, whilst "improve" would be
> >ambiguous as you imply. The words have linked meanings, but
> >are by no means synonyms.
>
> The Mother of All Dictionaries says at _ameliorate_:
>
> 1. trans. To make better; to better, improve.
> 2. intrans. To grow better.
>
> My desk dictionary quite concurs.
So does mine (NSOED), as one might expect from the etymology. But they are
all a little out of date, I'm afraid. Amelioration is now almost wholly
restricted to the sense I described.
As a matter of interest, Eric, do you regard the narrowing usage of a word
as a good thing, in general? If yes, does the newly-misleading etymology
upset things a little?
Matti
Eric Walker
[...]
>As a matter of interest, Eric, do you regard the narrowing
>usage of a word as a good thing, in general? If yes, does the
>newly-misleading etymology upset things a little?
The first question cannot, I think, be answered out of context,
that context being the other words with meanings in the same
vicinity. Generally, I favor increased differentiation (in
that, obviously, it increases available precision), which
usually would mean narrowing usage--but if certain words narrow
in meaning to the extent that some senses for which there are
no convenient alternative terms become excluded, that's a
problem.
With "ameliorate," if the sense has so narrowed--though I think
it's more a change than a narrowing--to "make less severe" (and
I too feel that sense), I daresay that is A Good Thing, in that
there are plenty of words that mean "improve" (such as, uh,
"improve") but few or none that mean "make less severe."
The newly misleading [customarily no hyphen after an adverb]
etymology is not quite the issue--sheer etymology is often
misleading--it is the dictionaries that need updating to
reflect the change, *if*, as we seem to feel, that is the
common current sense.
PCPB
Pierre Brassard
"Eric Walker" <ewa...@owlcroft.com> a écrit dans le message news:
rjnyxrebjypebsgpb...@news.cis.dfn.de...
> On Wed, 20 Mar 2002 11:54:23 -0500, PCPB wrote:
(...)
Odysseus
>
> With "ameliorate," if the sense has so narrowed--though I think
> it's more a change than a narrowing--to "make less severe" (and
> I too feel that sense), I daresay that is A Good Thing, in that
> there are plenty of words that mean "improve" (such as, uh,
> "improve") but few or none that mean "make less severe."
>
--Odysseus
Eric Walker
I have a _very_ bad memory. The doctor, however, assures me,
after brief verbal tests, that it is not Alzheimer's.
itloZ*
news:3C9A98E8...@yahoo.ca...
> Alleviate? Extenuate? Mitigate? Palliate?
Assuage?
-itloZ*
Mark Wallace
"itloZ*" <it...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:a7he9s$f3r$1...@news.xmission.com...
Are we forgetting, in our rush for obscure words, 'ease'?
meirman
<pcpbr...@enpq.qc.ca> posted:
>I have just read a sentence making me question my belief that "ameliorate"
>was just another way of saying "improve". Any enlightenment in dispelling or
>confirming my belief is appreciated.
IIRC in Latin, melior is the comparitive form of bonus (good) so
melior means better. Nonetheless, in English it generally means to
make a problem less bad, rather than to make a good thing better.
>Here is the sentence and the reference I found it in:
>http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/187083.pdf (page 17)
>"They patrol, guard, investigate, respond to emergencies, monitor, collect
>intelligence, work undercover, constrain, ameliorate crime-producing
>conditions, advise about crime prevention, and control disorder."
Just what I was talking about.
>As the sentence is obviously referring to law enforcement, the impetus of
>the action depicted can only mean (one hopes) that the intent is to reduce
>crime-producing conditions. This thus gives "ameliorate" an absolute moral
>or legalistic value in that anything being "ameliorated" is being made
>morally and legally right, whereas if the sentence read "improve
>crime-producing conditions" it would be meaningless in a police context, the
>police's role being, among others, to reduce crime-producing conditions.
>
>In short, does "ameliorate" mean "improve" or are the authors of the quote
>right in their use of "ameliorate"?
By crime producing conditions they mean the presence of drug sellers
or users, of vagrants. etc. In some places, bad lighting. They
ameliorate the conditions by getting rid of these people or improving
the lighting, not by making it better for criminals from their own
point of view. But I can see how you looked it at that way.
So it still means improve. (Also, just as I said, here too it means
make less bad, rather than taking something good and making it
better.)
>Please bear with any spelling and syntax mistakes, as English is not my
>first language. Thanks in advance for any help.
>
>PCP Brassard
>
>
>
>
>
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please
say if you are posting the same response.
Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years
Indianapolis, 7 years
Chicago, 6 years
Brooklyn NY 12 years
Baltimore 17 years