From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption, repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.
--
athel

Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

athel.cb@gmail.com hat am 25.09.2026 um 21:07 geschrieben:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the
Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so
if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.

What about English-language online sources? The Guardian has no firewall.
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> writes:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information that it's very important to know about immediately. In
general the French word spelt the same means exactly the same but
the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today
the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts have talked about
nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are
waiting for the Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means
that is nonsense.

For we'uns octogenarians, the default, or at least trypical, sense of
"urgent" refers to the arrangement of controlled excretory events,
forstalling in situ uncontrolled events of that nature.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is
up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it
before Monday.

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the breaking
point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief as an
excretory event.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 26/09/26 05:07, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is
up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it
before Monday.

You might not hear anyway. The last I heard, there were still no
reporters covering his speeches.
--
Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On Fri, 25 Sep 2026 19:07:55 GMT, athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> wrote:

What does "urgent" mean to you?

It depends on the context.

In the subject line of an email message it's a synonym for "spam".

For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately.

In the context of time management, it's a way to sort your agenda in
the order to be dealt with (or "addressed", as people like to say
nowadays):

1. Important and urgent.
2. Urgent but not important.
3. Important but not urgent.
4. Neither urgent nor important.

In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are >inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the >Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

Maybe it's the equivalent of the English "Breaking".
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

on 9/25/2026, athel.cb@gmail.com supposed :

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news
programmes are inclined use very loosely.

For me, it means some has to run back to the store and get some
unguent.

Today the Pope is in France, and
the news broadcasts have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption, repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent"
means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.

I'm sure his Holiness will mention something about it.

-d
--
"It wasn't just a splash in the pan"
-- lectricbikes.com
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

Le 25/09/2026 |a 20:07, athel.cb@gmail.com a |-crit :

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the
Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I'm with you, as are the Larousse, the Robert, the dictionary of the Acad|-mie, and the TLF. This is interesting, however:

-2 LrCOurgent est une d|-p|-che de deux paragraphes. Il est pr|-c|-d|- par une alerte, sauf dans les rares cas o|| il suit un flash. Le plus souvent, lrCOalerte et lrCOurgent lancent une premi|?re information m|-ritant une diffusion instantan|-e [...] -+ - <https://www.afp.com/fr/les-differents-formats-de-depeches-afp>

Donc 'urgent' is jargon at least within AFP, meaning a two-paragraph
dispatch that is worth broadcasting right away. Perhaps this internal
use has leaked on to your TV screen.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so
if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.

OK. His Holiness the Pope vs His Holeyness The Donald (who's stuck in
the rough).

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 25/09/2026 23:58, Mike Spencer wrote:

athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> writes:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of
information that it's very important to know about immediately. In
general the French word spelt the same means exactly the same but
the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today
the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts have talked about
nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are
waiting for the Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means
that is nonsense.

For we'uns octogenarians, the default, or at least trypical, sense of "urgent" refers to the arrangement of controlled excretory events, forstalling in situ uncontrolled events of that nature.

<smile knowingly>

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is
up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it
before Monday.

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the breaking
point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief as an
excretory event.

Thank you for 'bdelygma'. I had not come across that term before. I
suspect it's a term that the US Customs authorities will not detect,
hence bar you from entry to the US. (I understand it is common practice
now to vet entrants to the US by doing a thorough scan of social media
to detect 'hostile' persons.)
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> posted:

athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> writes:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information that it's very important to know about immediately. In
general the French word spelt the same means exactly the same but
the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today
the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts have talked about
nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are
waiting for the Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means
that is nonsense.

For we'uns octogenarians, the default, or at least trypical, sense of "urgent" refers to the arrangement of controlled excretory events, forstalling in situ uncontrolled events of that nature.

Unfortunately, when I were a lad no one thought of telling me that that was
one characteristic that was going to make growing old fun.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is
up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it
before Monday.

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the breaking
point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief as an
excretory event.

Well, he doesn't seem to care when or where these events occur.
--
athel

Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


athel.cb@gmail.com <user12588@newsgrouper.org.invalid> posted:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the
Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

The urgent news of this moment is that the Pope has just landed at Lourdes after
flying from Paris. It's also important that we know that the plane was piloted by a young woman. If they had asked me I could have told them that that was going to happen around now, as the plans have been known for weeks, if not months. However, apparently it came as a surprise to the journalists, who felt that it was urgent that we all know. Anyway, if he needs to stock up on statuettes of the Virgin Mary it will be a good place to be, as every second shop in Lourdes has lots of them. I expect that he'll have to meet some people who miraculously recovered from various illnesses after asking St Bernadette to intercede with God.
--
athel

Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 25/09/2026 20:07, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the
Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so
if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.

For me "URGENT", in bold letters on an envelope that drops onto the
doormat, means the contents are some form of (snail mail) spam.
--
Sam Plusnet
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:36:01 +0100, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:

On 25/09/2026 20:07, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece of information
that it's very important to know about immediately. In general the French word
spelt the same means exactly the same but the television news programmes are >> inclined use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news broadcasts
have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this evening there was caption,
repeated many times, that said "Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the
Pope." For my understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His Holiness is up to, so
if Trump has sent troops into Canada I won't know about it before Monday.

For me "URGENT", in bold letters on an envelope that drops onto the
doormat, means the contents are some form of (snail mail) spam.

The word usually appears on an envelope that contains a notice that
some coverage-for-fee program that I don't have is about to expire.
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 27/09/26 05:20, Tony Cooper wrote:

On Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:36:01 +0100, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com>
wrote:

On 25/09/2026 20:07, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:

What does "urgent" mean to you? For me it refers to a new piece
of information that it's very important to know about
immediately. In general the French word spelt the same means
exactly the same but the television news programmes are inclined
use very loosely. Today the Pope is in France, and the news
broadcasts have talked about nothing else all day. Earlier this
evening there was caption, repeated many times, that said
"Urgent. 18000 young people are waiting for the Pope." For my
understanding of what "urgent" means that is nonsense.

I fear we're in for another two days of hearing what His
Holiness is up to, so if Trump has sent troops into Canada I
won't know about it before Monday.

For me "URGENT", in bold letters on an envelope that drops onto the
doormat, means the contents are some form of (snail mail) spam.

The word usually appears on an envelope that contains a notice that
some coverage-for-fee program that I don't have is about to expire.

This also happens in my e-mail. If I don't respond within three days
I'll miss out on the nineteen million dollars.

For some reason I get a lot of threats these days that my e-mail account
(on my own mail server!) is about to be deleted.
--
Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 27/09/26 03:18, athel.cb@gmail.com wrote:

The urgent news of this moment is that the Pope has just landed at
Lourdes after flying from Paris. It's also important that we know
that the plane was piloted by a young woman. If they had asked me I
could have told them that that was going to happen around now, as the
plans have been known for weeks, if not months. However, apparently
it came as a surprise to the journalists, who felt that it was urgent
that we all know. Anyway, if he needs to stock up on statuettes of
the Virgin Mary it will be a good place to be, as every second shop
in Lourdes has lots of them. I expect that he'll have to meet some
people who miraculously recovered from various illnesses after asking
St Bernadette to intercede with God.

It strikes me that such excursions must be embarrassing for the Pope.
He, like a number of popes before him, is well-educated and probably intelligent, but his job description requires him to interact with the superstitions of the unwashed masses.

But I guess that's also a problem for intelligent politicians.
--
Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

Le 26/09/2026 |a 18:18, athel.cb@gmail.com a |-crit :

The urgent news of this moment is that the Pope has just landed at Lourdes after
flying from Paris. It's also important that we know that the plane was piloted
by a young woman. If they had asked me I could have told them that that was going to happen around now, as the plans have been known for weeks, if not months. However, apparently it came as a surprise to the journalists, who felt
that it was urgent that we all know. Anyway, if he needs to stock up on statuettes of the Virgin Mary it will be a good place to be, as every second shop in Lourdes has lots of them. I expect that he'll have to meet some people
who miraculously recovered from various illnesses after asking St Bernadette to
intercede with God.

He's carrying Jesus's message, which is 2,000 years old. Less urgent it
would be hard to find - especially since a message cancelling it has
already reached us from the fact-checkers.

It reminds me of this (only the other way about):

KING EDWARD: Is Clarence dead? The order was reversed.

RICHARD [III]: But he, poor man, by your first order died,
And that a winged Mercury did bear;
Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,
That came too lag to see him buried.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


occam <occam@nowhere.nix> writes:

On 25/09/2026 23:58, Mike Spencer wrote:

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the breaking
point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief as an
excretory event.

Thank you for 'bdelygma'. I had not come across that term before.

You're welcome. But I don't know how to pronounce it. The initial
"bd" is the problem. The 'b' is silent in "lambda" and "bd" is not a
problem between syllables such as in "obdurate" or "brobdingnagian".

Wasn't someone opining on Greek pronunciation here recently?

I suspect it's a term that the US Customs authorities will not
detect, hence bar you from entry to the US. (I understand it is
common practice now to vet entrants to the US by doing a thorough
scan of social media to detect 'hostile' persons.)

Not a problem. You couldn't pay me to go to the US.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 27/09/2026 09:37, Mike Spencer wrote:

occam <occam@nowhere.nix> writes:

On 25/09/2026 23:58, Mike Spencer wrote:

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the breaking
point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief as an
excretory event.

Thank you for 'bdelygma'. I had not come across that term before.

You're welcome. But I don't know how to pronounce it. The initial
"bd" is the problem. The 'b' is silent in "lambda" and "bd" is not a
problem between syllables such as in "obdurate" or "brobdingnagian".

Wasn't someone opining on Greek pronunciation here recently?

That would've been me. But since this is the first time I'm encountering
the word, I'm keeping my opinions to myself. <smile>

I suspect it's a term that the US Customs authorities will not
detect, hence bar you from entry to the US. (I understand it is
common practice now to vet entrants to the US by doing a thorough
scan of social media to detect 'hostile' persons.)

Not a problem. You couldn't pay me to go to the US.

--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english

On 27/09/26 17:37, Mike Spencer wrote:

occam <occam@nowhere.nix> writes:

On 25/09/2026 23:58, Mike Spencer wrote:

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the
breaking point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief
as an excretory event.

Thank you for 'bdelygma'. I had not come across that term before.

You're welcome. But I don't know how to pronounce it. The initial
"bd" is the problem. The 'b' is silent in "lambda" and "bd" is not
a problem between syllables such as in "obdurate" or
"brobdingnagian".

Yet English speakers have no problem with consonant clusters like "spl"
and "kr". We handle it because the adjacent consonants are pronounced in different parts of the mouth. Similarly for "bd". One part is made with
the lips, the other with the tongue, so the two components can be
pronounced almost simultaneously.

It's nothing like the Russian "v vodye" or "k garashu". Until I had to
say those I would have said that "vv" and "kg" were impossible
combinations, but with practice one can handle them.
--
Peter Moylan peter@pmoylan.org http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW
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From Newsgroup: alt.usage.english


Peter Moylan <peter@pmoylan.org> posted:

On 27/09/26 17:37, Mike Spencer wrote:

occam <occam@nowhere.nix> writes:

On 25/09/2026 23:58, Mike Spencer wrote:

Here in Canada, it wouldn't be stretching a metaphor to the
breaking point to regard such a move by the US Bdelygma in Chief
as an excretory event.

Thank you for 'bdelygma'. I had not come across that term before.

You're welcome. But I don't know how to pronounce it. The initial
"bd" is the problem. The 'b' is silent in "lambda" and "bd" is not
a problem between syllables such as in "obdurate" or
"brobdingnagian".

Yet English speakers have no problem with consonant clusters like "spl"
and "kr". We handle it because the adjacent consonants are pronounced in different parts of the mouth. Similarly for "bd". One part is made with
the lips, the other with the tongue, so the two components can be
pronounced almost simultaneously.

I'm always a little surprised at the difficulty Spanish speakers have for pronouncing st, sk or sp at the beginning of a word, as these seem perfectly simple for speakers of English and many other languages. I wonder where this came from, as classical Latin had important words like sto, and modern Italians seem to have no difficulty in saying Spagna for the country Spanish speakers call Espa|#a.

Apart from Spanish speakers, Turkish speakers have the same problem, and often put i in front of names derived from Greek, such as Izmir for Smyrna and Isparta for Sparta. I'm not sure whether one can put Istanbul in the same category, because although it is said to derive from -a-a++++ +a-i+++|++ ("to the City"),
-a-a++++ is itself a contraction of +|+|-e -a++++.

It's nothing like the Russian "v vodye" or "k garashu". Until I had to
say those I would have said that "vv" and "kg" were impossible
combinations, but with practice one can handle them.

--
athel

Living in Marseilles for 39 years; mainly in England before that,
with long periods in Singapore, California, Chile and Canada
--- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2