Deadly And destiny: they look the same, sound the same, and appear in the same context. Those who give advice on such matters will draw a sharp line between the two for you to observe, but we’re here to tell you that it’s more murky than most would like to admit. . So be careful where you step.
The most common meaning of ‘fatal’ is “in connection with important consequences; foreshadowing”—a meaning commonly shared with ‘fatal’.
Deadly is the initial adjective for destiny, and it can take on the usual simple relational meaning: Destiny is “sister fate”. However, these days, deadly most often used to mean “cause death”, as in “a fatal accident” or “a fatal wound.” The word is also often used in the sense that it is an extension of this usage, where it is destruction or destruction—a hair or shorter is a form of death—that is a remarkable result. scared. For example, in “the fatal attraction to gambling”, attraction is what brings financial ruin rather than death; in the “fatal design flaw”, the design error is so severe that it causes the design to fail. In any case, the situation with deadly is bad.
All clear so far, right? Well, here’s where we introduce the first bit of gloom: destiny has also historically been used in this sense of “to cause destruction or destruction”:
He has dropped the fatal lightning bolt of His swift and terrible sword. — Julia Ward Howe, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” 1862
This is not a common function of destiny, however, so don’t let it get too disturbing. There is worse gloom ahead.
Come back deadly: those of us who use this word are probably quite comfortable with it being used to describe wounds, attractions, flaws and the like. What can make us more uncomfortable, however, is to use it in the sense of “involving important, serious consequences,” as in “a fatal decision.” Assign that meaning to deadly would make it synonymous with the most common meaning of destiny. People who give advice on these things don’t like deadly to do this job. But – murky warning – it does. And it’s been around since Chaucer’s time. We’ll give you examples from Middle English and just give a few examples from the last 300 years:
… if I am inclined to superstitiously consider the day a harbinger or a lucky one… — Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe1719
… the policeman ordered his arrest and sent him to jail…. The news of this really scared him, and he handed over 14 negatives… before the date. death comes. —Lewis Carroll, letter, November 11, 1886
… since she returned to the Vassar Club on that fateful morning… — Mary McCarthy, Group1963
… it was grim as Miss Gillis’ life took a turn after that fateful night when the television was forcibly turned off. — Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times book reviewJuly 27, 1986
In her lecture for the show, its famous curator, Carol Ockman of Williams University, linked the images to themes of death and trauma, helping to explain why Warhol linked them. with pictures of Jackie on that fateful day in Dallas. — Fox Robin Lane, Financial TimesMarch 2, 2018
Of course none of these make destiny—recommended (and commonly used) word in these contexts—any word less likely to do the same job:
And now this fateful interview is over. The valley left in solitude among its dark old trees, with their variegated tongues, will whisper at length what happened there… — Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bright red letter1850
Every vehicle that passed through the village on that fateful day was traced. — Agatha Christie, Secret Enemy1922
… The Fuehrer actually made his fateful decision to declare war on the United States on December 9… — William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich1960
Who could not be captivated by Korda’s account of how he met his wife, Margaret, in Central Park, where the two rode early in the morning, one clockwise, the other clockwise. hands of the clock, until the fateful day when they find themselves going in the same direction “and then, everything accelerates”? — Maxine Kumin, New York Times book reviewApril 22, 2001
destiny really the usual choice in contexts like this. Also worth noting is destinyUnlike deadly In such contexts, there is sometimes a neutral, if not entirely positive, connotation:
I ran to the box and, I’m ashamed to say, my heart was pounding. The envelope of fate was there. — Susan Guzman, New York TimesApril 9, 1989
Take Sigmund Freud’s theory as an example. In a footnote to Civilization and its discontentFreud traces fire control to the fateful moment when man—and “man” in this case really means man—for the first time overcame the urge to put out any fires he came across by peeing on them. —Michael Pollan, Cooked: A History of Natural Transformationtwo thousand and thirteen
This blur does not mean the boundary between deadly And destiny cannot be distinguished precisely. It simply means proof that boundaries are shared in several places. Criticize someone for using deadly means “important” doesn’t make sense, but choosing to use destiny in such cases makes sense, since it’s the more popular choice and therefore less likely to distract the audience.
If you want to follow usage patterns commonly used by your English speakers, we recommend using deadly when describing things that cause death, destruction or failure, or when describing things related to fate as in “fate” and you use destiny When describing an omen, it signals that something big and important is about to happen. But if you choose to do otherwise, it won’t be a fatal decision.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
