On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Noel J. Bergman <n...@devtech.com> wrote: > Robert Burrell Donkin wrote: > >> IMO suspension is the wrong way to handle inactive podlings. >> Suspension implies fault and punishment. Long term inactive >> podlings should just be archived into an Attic. > > IMO, you seem to have latched onto the wrong definition of the word suspend, > which has multiple meanings outside of the school building. :-) > > Nor was I sugguesting its official use as defined Incubator term. Just > spoken, or in this case written, English.
OED: "noun 1 the action of suspending or the condition of being suspended. 2 the system of springs and shock absorbers by which a vehicle is supported on its wheels. 3 a mixture in which particles are dispersed throughout a fluid." so we're talking about meaning 1 which leads to suspend "verb 1 halt temporarily. 2 temporarily remove (someone) from a post as a punishment or during investigation. 3 defer or delay (an action, event, or judgement). 4 suspended Law (of a sentence) not enforced as long as no further offence is committed within a specified period. 5 hang from somewhere. 6 (be suspended) be dispersed in a suspension." so, the base meaning is "halt temporarily" but the major of the English connotations and refinements are to do with judgement or punishment. i don't speak American well but Webster says: "Suspend Verb 1. Hang freely; "The secret police suspended their victims from the ceiling and beat them". 2. Cause to be held in suspension in a fluid, of particles, in chemistry. 3. Bar temporarily; from school, office, etc. 4. Stop a process or a habit by imposing a freeze on it; "Suspend the aid to the war-torn country". 5. Make inoperative or stop; "suspend payments on the loan". 6. As of a prison sentence." which is less uniformly judgement i still think that archive describes the actions in a much less ambiguous and pejorative way - robert --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: general-unsubscr...@incubator.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: general-h...@incubator.apache.org
