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Vice versa or visa versa1/2/2023 If the English language skills of our presumed professionals is so poor that some of them don’t know the difference between “vice versa” and “vis-à-vis” (properly spelled with the “à” in English), then we might as well abandon any effort to educate them and resign ourselves to the victory of ignorance over knowledge.īeyond that, the article’s pronunciation guides for both “vice versa” and “vis-à-vis” are both incorrect. It is also true that English does not have simple ways to express “en masse” and “vice versa”. Learning foreign phrases can come later on. They do need to go “en masse” into programs for improving their vocabularies in English first and foremost. Once again, for most writers now, to use phrases from French, Latin, Greek, or German is just an open invitation to get them wrong. 20 Clipped Forms and Their Place (If Any) in Formal WritingĨ Responses to “Vice Versa and Vis-à-Vis”.Yay, Hooray, Woo-hoo and Other Acclamations.Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below: The important thing is not to say vice versa when what you mean is vis-à-vis–and vice versa. As a blogger named ClarE has pointed out, if we want to get picky, maybe we should reject both English efforts and try to pronounce it like classical Latin. Merriam-Webster puts the four-syllable pronunciation first. The OED puts the three-syllable pronunciation first, but acknowledges the four-syllable pronunciation as an alternate. Some bloggers ridicule speakers who pronounce vice versa with four syllables, but they are mean-spirited and uninformed. …the constellations do shift, so that what you see during the summer is overhead during the day in the winter and vice versa. …the constellations do shift, so that what you see during the summer is overhead during the day in the winter and vice versa, the constellations you saw in winter, are overhead in the summer. It can be used with or without a restatement of the previous item: The other expression, vice versa or, came into English directly from Latin from a word meaning “turn.” It’s used as an adverb meaning “with a reversal or transposition of the main items in the statement just made.” The citizens had called the meeting vis-à-vis a proposed redistricting.Īs an adverb, vis-à-vis means “opposite, so as to face each other.” Example: On the mantelpiece the actor’s two Oscars stood vis-à-vis. Example: Reggie’s first vis-a-vis with the new commander left him shaking.Īs a preposition, vis-à-vis can be used to mean literally “face to face with,” or in the sense of “in relation to”:Īt the town meeting, a farmer sat vis-à-vis the Mayor. Example: At the international conference of editors, my Russian vis-a-vis was a short, chubby man with a cheerful countenance and a ready laugh.ģ. Example: At the table, my vis-a-vis was a woman dressed all in black and wearing a veil.Ģ. a person or a thing situated opposite another. The only thing the two expressions have in common is that they alliterate.Įnglish vis-a-vis is from French vis-à-vis, “face to face.” It can be used as noun, preposition, or adverb.ġ. I think the principal intended to say, “the more parent visitors we have, the more they trust us and vice versa.” The more parent visitors we have, the more they trust us and vis-à-vis. Current examples would be: ‘“What works in the United States may not work well in other countries, and vice versa” and “Polar bears cannot live where we are most comfortable, and vice versa.The following quotation appeared in a newspaper article about a school where parents are encouraged to visit their children’s classroom: This phrase is quite useful in that it enables us to complete a statement without expressing as much in words. “Vice versa (literally ‘turn around’ or ‘the other way around’ in Latin)” is a latin phrase that is commonly used to indicate that the reverse of what someone said is also true. For this summer, ISO Culture Thursday will introduce some basic Latin words every week. Special summer series on Latin phrases! While many of Latin words are still used in today’s English-speaking academia, not many opportunities are given for international students to learn those useful expressions thoroughly.
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