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- "La prossima misura è crescen…
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I got this right but what does it mean? What could anybody possibly be talking about to say 'The next measure/measurement is growing'? If I was explaining a chart to someone I could conceivably say something like 'As you see here the next measurement has increased from the last one..' As for 'The elephant does not cook' which I had last week - I had to listen to it twenty times before I was convinced that the scrappy audio was actually coming out with that!
You are in Siberia at a normal working day at the local thermonuclear facility. In the control room you have a series of dials and gages to measure the state of the fission process, like temperature, pressure, and so on. You're then performing a routine check with your assistant, who shocked and frightened says:
― The next measurement is growing!
― Oh dear... Oh my god.
― Ohhhhhh my gooood! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!
― Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! (sshhhhhhKAAAAABUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!)
...
(This is just a fictitious scenario and no assistant has been harmed for its production.)
Yes, I stretch my imagination to understand this one. I do not think a measurement grows or increases in size, but rather the thing that it measures grows and increases and a second measurement is then taken. From the results of the second measurement one can see that the thing being measured has grown or increased in size. The original measurement is still the same amount as it was before.
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It would make sense in a lab. For example when counting atomic particles with a counter and some software.
Yes, it would! Well done you!
If I cast my mind far back enough, I recall an instrument of torture called a Pulse Height Analyser, and waiting hours for a reading to accumulate ... and wailing because someone messed with the settings, wiping my tears and starting over.
Alex, you deserve a Lingot for that.
Mind you ... that was lifetime ago. I would still struggle to use it this week.
Have a fabulous day. :) :)
Hi Linda
I love these little insights into the lives (past and present) of DL users. I was driven to Google a Pulse Height Analyser, I now have visions of you singing "Whoops there goes another particle!" To the tune of High Hopes!
"Give me cake or give me death!" -That's pretty profound ( I would have posted a link to the Eddy Izzard sketch but the language is a bit ripe)
Always a joy to find you on DL. Have a great day:)
Maggie
Hullo again Baggie!
What a sweetheart you are.
The PHA experiment is burned into my memory; it was my first year at University, and I HATED the Friday physics practicals. [In the third year, someone wrote the Schroedinger Wave equation on the blackboard, and, underneath - "Except on Fridays".]
My partner and I were kicked off our apparatus after two hours of mind- #@*&-ing boredom to allow a model to sit at the equipment and have her picture taken for the new syllabus. Bad enough - but she played with the settings to add some realism to the shot. AAAAAAARGH! WAAAAAH! Nothing Eddie Izzard could say would be bad enough.
A fabulous day to you, too. :)
This sentence is incorrect. Please report it and ignore the mistake.
The word "crescente" is an adjective—more specifically a present participle—but is in this sentence trying to be passed off as a verb—specifically a gerund. In english, participles and gerunds are just words ending in "-ing" like growing, talking, laughing, but are not interchangeable in any language.
Here's an example of the difference between the two:
"The shining sun was bright." Here "shining" is a present participle (adjective).
"The sun was shining brightly." Here "shining is a gerund (verb).
You can see now that using an adjective in the sentence "The next measurement is growing" is grammatically incorrect. The sentence should be:
"La prossima misura sta crescendo."
In Italian, gerunds end in "-ando" or "-endo" but that's a whole other discussion.
Sorry to nitpick but your explanation contains a common error. In your examples above, both -ing words are participles. In "the shining sun" the participle is being used as an attributive adjective, and in "the sun is shining" as a predicate adjective. A gerund on the other hand is a verbal noun ("Swimming is fun.")
I agree with you about the Italian sentence not making sense, though!
Panjomin: Agreed except for your 'correction' of "The sun is shining." "Shining is NOT a predicate adjective whatsoever, it's functioning as a verb, expressed as a progressive tense. The sentence is describing what the sun does/is doing. Think of it as if the subject were slightly different, say; "Sonny (of Sonny & Cher fame) is singing". Would you describe 'singing' as a predicate adjective? NO! It's a verb describing what Sonny's doing. The same with 'the sun is shining.' Apologies for nitpicking.
222
I am not completely sure, but I believe this phrase has to do with classical music. I think crescente denotes "rising," i.e., becoming louder or more dramatic. I believe the opposite is called decrescente, which would be a gradual softening, or becoming quieter, of the music. My daughter played violin and flute for a couple of years, and I believe I heard about these terms at some point then. Any music aficionados want to clarify this?
MUSIC! A musical 'measure'! Goodness, I never thought of that. (Face palm.)
Especially since 'crescendo' is a hell of a hint. (Double face palm.)
So - the next BAR gets louder. Riiight.
I was imaging a dressmaker taking measurements for a pregnant woman, and joking about her boep.
The musical interpretation has way more class.
Grazie mille, Donna Diana. :)
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Prego LindaB! I kept checking to see if anyone agreed or disagreed with my interpretation. I was pretty sure but good to see someone else agreed. Oh, now I see that AernJardos suggested a musical interpretation 5 months ago. Guess we all missed it! Ciao! :)
Sorry to put a damper on this but I think you are off track here. Of course the word crescendo comes from the Italian - all our musical terms come from the Italian (piano/forte/diminuendo/etc)- but the simple translation of the word is just 'increasing' so it is not necessarily to do with music (what is a musical measure anyway?).
The question remains - 'what would an Italian mean if he said 'la prossima misura e crescente' because the English phrase 'the next measure is growing' appears to be nonsense.
Ciao, Flysalot. (Beata te!)
Hold off on the damper pedal for a mo' - you're right, I would LOVE to hear what an Italian would mean when saying this. Ovviamente.
A measure is another term for a BAR. So far, it's the closest fit I've heard for this phrase. Beats my pregnant lady hands down. BUT - it would be super to hear from an Italian.
Un po' d'aiuto, per favore? Moderator?
Have a good one. :)
222
Ciao Flysalot! I agree with LindaB that misura could be the same as a bar (also known as a measure) of music. And I don't know if English has a good translation for crescente in the musical sense, but I would explain it to someone as a "rising" quality, in volume or intensity. It sure would be great if a native speaker could confirm this translation. Until then... :)
Ciao, Donna, Ciao, Flysalot
Still no word on this one ....disappointing.
It does seem odd that crescendo and crescente would exist side-by-side meaning the same thing. They're so alike ...
I see from Context Reverso that 'crescente' can also mean 'ascending'.
How about - the next bar is ascending - as in going up the musical scale? That's a sentence I have heard used in real life. Honest to Betsy, I've heard that.
Any better?
Have a sunshine day. :)
LindaB: Haven't heard 'Honest to Betsy' in years and my bet is it's going to stump non native speakers who'll be wondering just who in the world she is and what she's got to do with Italian. That said, if the next bar is ascending I'm for getting aboard and ordering a stiff one....preferably a nice chianti or, hey, even oil, if you remember that classic DL line from exercises past.
222
Ciao LindaB! Agreed, it's disappointing that no one has weighed in that could give us a more definitive answer on "crescente." In a list of "Italian musical terms," you see crescendo but not crescente. However, I'm thinking crescendo would not have made sense in the given sentence because it would have been the wrong part of speech. I'm still holding out for a musical interpretation unless someone who knows better says otherwise! :)
I have heard both "Honest to Betsy" and Heavens to Murgatroyd, although it's been awhile!
I found and think that "crescent" would be an equivalent, but it is in a dictionary as "dated" in its function of adjective.
Also, ascendent, ascendant, ascensive.
Anyway, the meaning of this sentence remains uncertain. Maybe ... removing "prossima", changing the verb to future tense, or the noun to "line" or "figure"...
392
If i wanted to use increasing, i would say
... è aumentante (aumentare)
edit: ... sta aumentando
On a personal note, I love the off beat sentences. Hearts and gringots be damned, I think it still teaches form and structure.
560
I don't think they need to make too much sense. It catches you off guard. I know I checked thrice before submitting my answer.
Correlation of verbs and adjectives.: crescere to grow, cresc-ente becomes adjective growing. Here used as an adjective.
Suffixes. To nouns, -accio(m noun) makes bad book, boy, weather. -accia to (f noun). -one (m) big nasone, -ino little nasino, -ona (f) letterona long letter. then to (m pl) of noun attach issimo or i issima or e. Verbs :diffid -are , distrust, diffid ente, suspicious. abbond -are, abound, abbond-ante, abundant . Realizz - are, to achieve, Relizza-bile (bile) achievable. Giustica-re, to justify, Giustifica-bile, justifiable. Pass-are, Pass-aggio =passage (noun). Lav-are, Lavaggio (act of) washing (noun). Commin-are, Commin-ata, a walk. Giur-are, swear, vow. Giura-mento, oath, promise. Contare, count Conta - tore, a counter or meter. Costru-ire, Costru- zione structure or building.. I have sent posts of correlations in Italian because I am too dumb and need word associations. If anyone has links, ideas, solutions that helps in this endeavor I would love to pursue. There are a ton of endings that change a definition from verb to a noun to adjective or adverb.
1556
One looks at these sentences, and asks oneself, "What on Earth are they trying to say?" For a moment one is just relieved that, for once, nothing is a victim and no cows or dogs have died. "Obviously, 'crescente' means something like increasing or mounting or rising. Oh look, rising is given in the new vocabulary hint. I'll put that. 'The next measurement is rising'. " What an idiot I am; of course not. What, if I might ask the great and the wise, is a "growing measurement"?
When I see a sentence like this, I scratch my head and say "Should I write what I think/know it is?" and when I do and it's correct, I am amazed. But then the English makes no sense, and I go into comments and I see a lot of people also are wondering what the sentence means! Then I know I'm not alone.
I don't think a measurement can grow: If you're measuring something, e.g. the temperature of cold water in a kettle on the stove, once every minute, every measurement will give you a fixed value. These values will be increasing from one to the next if the stove is on (until the water boils), and when you keep your eye on the thermometer you can predict that the next measurement is going to be higher than the last. But the "next measurement" doesn't exist or have a value until it is actually taken, so it cannot be growing! Report! :)
Much of speech is when it's out of context. What we're looking for here is the context. I assume the last measurement was shrinking or stayed the same if the next measurement is growing. But of course the last measurement absolutely could have been growing too. Measurement of what? Frogs multiplying on a pond.