One thing (the only thing?) we can thank the NSA's vast snooping effort for is the popularization of the term bulk spying. Open up a newspaper (virtual or otherwise) this week and you'd have a hard time missing the term.
It doesn't look as if the term is new, though. The BBC used the term bulk espionage in a piece from 23 Feb 2000, and a student learning English asked the next day what bulk spying meant.
Are there earlier cites? I need different corpora to search through ...
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
An assortment in advance
I was assigned the task today of acquiring a batch of donuts for my group at work. At the donut place I told the girl I wanted a dozen, and she said I could choose the ones I wanted, or alternatively, they had boxes of preassorted donuts.
The pre- part is clear. Why not preselected? When I roll that one around in my mind, it gives the feeling of deliberateness to the selection process. Do they mean that there's some randomness in their assortment? Too bad I didn't have the presence of mind to ask how their preassorting process works.
They are not alone in using the term. I found about 500 legitimate hits on Google. As I look through the listings, I'm not sure I can detect a definitive pattern. Here are some examples:
I actually have access to a kind of subject-matter expert; my daughter works at a store that sells chocolates. I asked her whether they sell "preassorted" collections. No, she said; they use the terms pre-packed or just assorted. Both of which make sense to me.
So I'm still a little unclear on what preassorted conveys that preselected doesn't. Any ideas?
They are not alone in using the term. I found about 500 legitimate hits on Google. As I look through the listings, I'm not sure I can detect a definitive pattern. Here are some examples:
- Pre-assorted tattoo ink. The preassorted variety is not random; they explicitly list the colors they include.
- Pre-assorted cupcakes. Same: a preselected variety.
- Pre-assorted pound of taffy. There might be some randomness to the assortment, but if so, it's constrained: "We pick only the most popular flavors."
- Pre Assorted Nylon headbands x 12. Perhaps this gives us a clue: "No duplicates. You do not get to choose colors." It's an assortment, but we're doing the selecting for you.
- Jacqueline du Pre Pre - Assorted Concerts This is a YouTube playlist.
I actually have access to a kind of subject-matter expert; my daughter works at a store that sells chocolates. I asked her whether they sell "preassorted" collections. No, she said; they use the terms pre-packed or just assorted. Both of which make sense to me.
So I'm still a little unclear on what preassorted conveys that preselected doesn't. Any ideas?
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