Talk:imprecative
Latest comment: 1 year ago by Soap in topic English
English
editIn If only it weren't so cold the mood is called imprecative (wishing for something not to occur). The term is also, incidentally, applied to any sentence containing a swear word. https://www.eltconcourse.com/training/inservice/functions/suasion.html#1 JMGN (talk) 10:33, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
replies
edit- The person may have over-extended the meaning of the word curse to include obscenities. i dont think that e.g. I need to piss! would be considered part of the imprecative mood by any reasonable analysis. —Soap— 19:55, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
- okay I think I understand what you said now. i need to piss isnt an imprecative *mood*, but the word piss is an imprecative *word* just because "imprecative" has indeed broadened to include obscenities. —Soap— 20:30, 13 August 2023 (UTC)
- Imprecative retorts as described by Wikipedia seem to have a strict formula of [imprecative phrase] + [pronoun] + [auxiliary verb]. The word seems to be linguistics jargon, perhaps recently coined, as it's not in most other dictionaries. I will try to add a 2nd sense to our entry for imprecative as an adjective but I want to get it exactly right instead of just guessing based on the snippets I can see of grammar books on Google. Thanks, —Soap— 20:40, 13 August 2023 (UTC)