Talk:idea

Pronunciation

I've heard the word pronounced "ideer". Where is it pronounced like that? Eric Kvaalen 11:45, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

In Rhode Island. I am a Rhode Islander who does not pronounce it as such, so I know.— This unsigned comment was added by 68.14.9.106 (talk) at 13:44, 15 May 2011‎ (UTC).

I came to this page for this reason, I've just heard an Englishman from London say it. For some reason, Dutch 'educated' people pronounce it like that as well when trying to sound as if they don't have an accent. 81.68.255.36 20:39, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

For a Londoner this wouldn't be an unusual pronunciation. It's simply intrusive R, which is pretty standard in British English. Londoners also say: "lawr and order". The peculiar thing is when you hear it pronounced "idear" by Americans. — This unsigned comment was added by 84.188.184.220 (talk) at 16:58, 9 February 2018‎ (UTC).

It's not "intrusive R" unless the word is follow'd by a word that starts with a vowel. I don't know about Londoners, but Rhode Islanders for example put the R in regardless of whether the next word starts with a vowel. Eric Kvaalen (talk) 07:53, 5 June 2018 (UTC)

Well, yes. That's what I said. In southern British English, /ɹ/ is only ever pronounced before a vowel. So "idea" is [aɪ̯dɪə̯], and with intrusive R it can become [aɪ̯dɪə̯ɹ‿]. The point is that there's nothing special about the word "idea" in these non-rhotic dialects; it simply behaves like any word in [ɪə̯] (which is usually ‹-eer›, ‹-ear›, ‹-ere›). And then I repeat my last sentence: "The peculiar thing is when you hear it pronounced "idear" by Americans." Because in these dialects it's really an /ɹ/ that's been added to the word.

RFC discussion: June 2007–November 2009

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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idea

The derived terms section includes terms derived from terms in the list (eg, "ideally" from "ideal") which should be moved out of this table; further, not all terms are derived from "idea": those beginning "ideo-" are certainly not; these may well be related, however.

Note that this table was mistitled "Related terms", so probably lumped all derived and related terms together. — Paul G 14:33, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Has been fixed --Volants 16:59, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Philosophical senses from Chambers 1908

• An archetype of the manifold varieties of existence in the universe, belonging to the supersensible world, where reality is found and where God is (Platonic).
• One of the three products of the reason (the Soul, the Universe, and God) transcending the conceptions of the understanding transcendental ideas, in the functions of mind concerned with the unification of existence (Kantian).
• The ideal realised, the absolute truth of which everything that exists is the expression (Hegelian).

Equinox ◑ 18:13, 8 August 2019 (UTC)

interjection

Isn't "the idea!" an interjection? --Backinstadiums (talk) 00:21, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

Occurs in many forms, e.g. "the very idea of it!". Also other nouns e.g. "the cheek!" (rudeness). I would not consider idea an intj. Equinox ◑ 00:24, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

@Equinox: what meaning does "the idea!" conveys? --Backinstadiums (talk) 00:37, 18 February 2020 (UTC)

@Backinstadiums: If I exclaim "the X!" then I am saying that the X (whatever it is) is something unacceptable, probably taking liberties, very rude and cheeky. Suppose I just met you tonight and you ask to sleep over at my house. My wife says "the idea!". She means: it's very rude for you to ask that, and even the idea, the thought of doing it, is very rude and unacceptable. Equinox ◑ 02:25, 20 February 2020 (UTC)

get ideas

get (any) ideas
To have thoughts or schemes about taking advantage of a particular person or situation. Often used in a negative imperative.
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/getting+ideas

--Backinstadiums (talk) 21:05, 26 August 2020 (UTC)

Sometimes implicitly good?

"That's an idea!" "It might be an idea to..." These phrases are not used when the idea is bad or unworkable. Equinox ◑ 19:21, 10 June 2022 (UTC)