ARRIVE equate two things that mean “treat them the same.” combine originally meant “to merge or blend”, but more recently it has also been used to mean “to confuse”.
combine And equate look and sound similar, and they appear in the same kind of context, making them easy to confuse.
Harry the dog is weeding in the garden for his flower beds. Mabel the cat approached and said:
“Harry, what a lovely marigold!”
Harry began, momentarily speechless:
“My dear Mabel, these are not marigolds; they are marigolds. I am shocked that you equate the two.”
Mabel replied:
“Oh, my dear Harry: I admit to confusing marigolds with marigolds, but to say that I equate the two flowers is a mistake of its own – because, I don’t equate them, I combined them.”
And at this point, we’ll let our anthropomorphized mammal friends discuss the vocabulary problem they’ve come up with: the difference between equate And combine? Did Harry make a mistake? In fact, did Mabel confuse these two flowers?
When ‘conflate’ first appeared in English, it meant “to gather together; to merge.”
‘Equal’ vs ‘Link’
Equating two things, in the most common sense of the word, considers, represents, or treats those as equal or equivalent. If Mabel equates marigolds with marigolds, she thinks marigolds and marigolds are essentially — and maybe even correctly — the same.
And what does it mean if Mabel combines marigolds and marigolds? In the latest sense of the word, it means she confused them. Mabel knows that marigolds and marigolds are separate genera (or genus, if you prefer the Latin plural), but when she sees marigolds, she sometimes accidentally applies the word. zinniaand vice versa.
The original meaning of ‘Conflate’
This is not what combine has always meant. When combine first entered the English language in the early 17th century, it means “to assemble; to unite”, a meaning very close to the meaning of its Latin root. set up the fire: “blow together; merge.” In this sense of the word, to combine marigolds and marigolds is to bring them together in your mind into a single flower – into what could perhaps also be called a marigold, or Marigold. Not quite the same as equating them, but similar.
(Side note: in the 19th century the use of this “fuse” combine developed a literary sense that is applied to combining two readings or versions of a text into a composite whole, as when two drafts of a poem are mixed into a version that includes elements of each section. For example, most of Shakespeare’s plays as we know them are the product of combination. But this meaning does not apply much outside the context of technical literature.)
People who write about usage issues tend not to address the latest meaning of . combineBut American Heritage Dictionary there was a panel of experts who used it to deliberate on the matter in 2015. At that time, 87% of these experts approved of the older meaning of the word “combined; amalgamated”, while only 55% agree with the meaning of “mistake”.
This is not too surprising, given the new usage. The “confusion” meaning of combine was first included in the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 1973, in that year’s brand new dictionary. Eighth Edition belong to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. Until then, in fact, university do not enter combineindicates its related noun combinationis defined as “BLEND, FUSION; special : a composite reading or text.” combine mentioned in our unabridged dictionary, Webster’s Third New Internationalbut it’s simply too rare a word for university. For quite unknown reasons, combine became significantly more popular as the 20th century drew to a close, and as Eighth Edition has been prepared, the proof for combine important enough to qualify for the word entry and required to include this new meaning of “mistake”.
The “confusion” meaning of combine is now arguably its most common meaning—although in some cases it can be difficult to discern which is applicable. Now we return to our friends:
“Harry, are you still cleaning in the garden?” Mabel asked as the golden light of late afternoon spread across the yard.
“Mabel,” he replied, “I’m weeding. I appreciate you not confusing my weeding with tilling.”
By this, Harry means that Mabel mistakenly identified her active weeding as just weeding? Or does he mean that she wrongly thinks that serious weeding is really just some sort of cleanup – that is, is she merging weeding and tilling into a single obscure activity? Harry wasn’t available for clarification at the time of publication, but we can say that combine is an appropriate word in context, if somewhat ambiguous.
And what’s equate? Harry could also use that word in this particular case, in which case he would assert that Mabel thinks all the weeding is really just an ashtray—which isn’t very different from the meaning of “fuse” combine carry in context.
With all this in mind, we won’t blame you if you confuse or confuse these terms from time to time.
Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
