12 Italian Loanwords

12 Italian Loanwords 12 Italian Loanwords 12 Italian Loanwords By Mark Nichol The Italian language and its Latin-derived relatives have enriched English with many words, primarily those pertaining to art, music, and cuisine. Occasionally, such terms lend themselves well to prose about matters outside those subject areas. For example, one might describe a shadowy cityscape with the word chiaroscuro (â€Å"light-dark† the element -oscuro is cognate with obscure), which refers to the technique in painting and later in photography and cinematography of producing distinct areas of light and darkness. Fermata (â€Å"stop,† related to firm), the term for an arbitrary extension of a chord, note, or rest, might be used metaphorically to refer to an awkward silence. And a person of nearly frantic demeanor could be said to have an espresso attitude, from the name of a type of coffee highly concentrated and therefore producing a potent jolt of the stimulant caffeine made expressly (hence the name) for a given customer. Here are other words derived from Italian that fall both inside and outside of the usual categories: 4. Extravaganza: This extravagant word originally referred to exaggerated performances or prose but now denotes an event marked by spectacular elements. 5. Ghetto: This term now associated with a socioeconomically depressed city neighborhood, of disputed etymological origin, most likely derives from borghetto, the diminutive of borgo, cognate with borough and burg (sometimes seen as -burgh in such city names as Pittsburgh). It acquired a powerful connotation due to the segregation (and persecution) of the Jews in Europe and especially in Nazi Germany; it’s also a sensitive term in reference to areas inhabited primarily by black people or members of other formerly (and sometimes currently) persecuted minorities. However, it is sometimes used neutrally to refer to a distinct area or one noted for a particular quality: Berkeley, California, is home to the original Gourmet Ghetto; the name has since been applied elsewhere. A business district or a part of a company’s offices, alternatively, might be referred to as a technology ghetto. 6. Lingua franca: The original lingua franca the phrase means â€Å"Frankish tongue† was the pidgin Italian, heavily influenced by other languages, employed in the Middle East during the Crusades of the medieval era. (Why â€Å"Frankish†? The Arabs traditionally referred to all Europeans as Faranji, meaning â€Å"Franks,† or â€Å"French.†) Now, it usually refers to a specialized vocabulary or jargon employed by a certain group. 7. Quarantine: The primary sense of this term (literally, â€Å"forty†), a reference to isolation of contagious or infected people, alludes to the medieval custom of restricting ships from plague-stricken areas from docking at a harbor for forty days; the original Italian expression is quarantina giorni (â€Å"(period of) forty days†). The term can be applied figuratively, for example, in reference to an effort to separate rivals or to keep a dieting person away from fattening food. 8. Regatta: This term for a boat race (usually one involving sailboats) stems from the name of a competition held by medieval Venetian gondoliers and means â€Å"contest,† though its verb form had a secondary meaning of â€Å"to haggle.† Figurative uses could include a reference to a parade of ostentatiously dressed people as a regatta. 9. Scenario: This theatrical term (â€Å"pertaining to stage scenes†) came in English to refer to an outline of a play, the equivalent of a treatment for a film. Later, it applied to a hypothetical or imagined situation. 10. Segue: Originally strictly a musical term referring to a seamless transition from one movement of a composition to another, segue (â€Å"there follows† it’s related to sequel and sequence) now applies to any such deft maneuver. Because -ue is rarely if ever pronounced as a separate syllable in English brogue, league, and vague exemplify the norm some writers who have heard but not seen the word misspell it segway (perhaps influenced by a small motorized vehicle called the Segway). 11. Sotto voce: This expression (â€Å"under the voice†) refers to the act of whispering so as not to be overheard, though it often applies to a stage whisper, a character’s speech supposedly unheard by other characters in a performance but amplified so that the audience can hear it. Offstage, the phrase might refer to a comment someone makes as if in confidence to someone else but deliberately uttered loudly enough to be heard by others. 12. Volte-face: This French word derives from the Italian phrase volta faccia (literally, â€Å"turn face†), which means to change one’s direction or opinion. The American English synonym of choice, used often in political and business contexts, is flip-flop, though the near-literal translation about-face, originally a military command to reverse the direction one is facing, is also seen and heard; U-turn is common in British English. 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 Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:4 Types of Gerunds and Gerund Phrases16 Misquoted QuotationsHow often is "bimonthly"?

Managerial Behaviour Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Managerial Behaviour - Essay Example We were responsible for development, design and implementation of a website for a retail company which was aimed at enabling it to receive online orders directly from its customers. The project was planned to be completed in 6 months and was led by a manager, who was already working on two other projects. However, within a short period of 2 months, there arose drastic conflicts between team members and manager had to intervene to resolve them promptly so that the project would not suffer. 1. How does the manager undertake the activity being studied? When the matter reached the manager, he developed sound knowledge of background and circumstances of the situation before arriving at any conclusions or resolutions. Soon it was revealed that the bone of contention was partially the manager himself. The complexities of matrix structuring and ambiguous project requirements made it difficult for the team members to be clear about their team roles and duties and allocation of resources. This in turn was caused by the manager’s minimal input in the project and absence from most of the team briefings. His negligence towards this specific project had caused role conflicts and low morale amongst the members. The manager diagnosed the nature of conflict and identified that the team members were blaming each other for delay in designing a phase of the website. As a result a milestone, which was to be achieved 2 weeks back, was still in progress while 3 specialists responsible for it were finding a scapegoat for this setback. With no proper delegation and allocation of tasks, there were clashes as to who was responsible to complete which process. They claimed that the resources were not sufficient and time was wasted due to unavailability of website development tools simultaneously to each of them. Manager decided to focus his attention on this project to get it back on track according to initial project plan. He allotted each member equal tasks according to their skil ls and strengths and scheduled the processes to facilitate the sharing of resources. Project had limited funds and therefore it wasn’t possible for him to arrange for more and therefore it was necessary to ensure completion within the given manpower and equipment. He drafted formal role definitions for each of the members to avoid any ambiguities and confusion regarding what was expected to be contributed by each of them. His attention was substantially needed in areas of controlling and monitoring since the project was lagging behind schedule. He mobilized the resources and ensured effective and efficient utilization of each member’s core competences and resources available, diverting resources from stronger areas and focusing them on those more in need of them. He held team meetings and conducted one-on-one sessions to address concerns of each member, educate them with project requirements and deadlines, familiarize himself with the entire team and boost their morale through empathizing skills. He also encouraged members to feel free to contact him in person and whistleblow about other members if necessary. After taking updates on progress of each task, he compared them with the planned timetables and appraised performances accordingly. Since thereafter, he gave equal attention to this project and finally completed the project successfully,

IB Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

IB - Assignment Example The other marketing strategy are franchising, licensing and other mode of entries. It is important for the retail business, opening stores abroad retail business cannot succeed. The price of the product, the promotion strategy, store design and customer service of an international retail business should be appropriate for business to prosper. A company needs to look into many factors like political, environmental, social and technological when entering a international market. In an international business the governmental policies, weather condition, the needs and demands of people from various culture and technological influence affect the success of the business. Other factors like pricing and promotion strategy and customer service also affect the business promotion on an international platform. The company has to analyze the marketing strategy by taking into account ins strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. In such a case this garment company will be able to enter the international business in a successful way. E-tailing is a business operation of retailing which occur with the help of internet. It has been introduced in the 20th century and is a business to consumer transaction. According to Rouse (2005)â€Å"E-tailing began to work for some major corporations and smaller entrepreneurs as early as 1997 when Dell Computer reported multimillion dollar orders taken at its Web site†. In e- tailing the online catalogues and business management is done with the help of software tools. This new technological retailing is the new trend in Western countries. In this type of retailing, the consumer interacts with virtual shops to purchase their services and products. In this system, the customer can pay online acquire products by courier and shipping service. Since a decade there had been a hike in E- tailing in western countries however it is still in an infancy stage. Across the world,

Culture and Healthcare in America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Culture and Healthcare in America - Essay Example According to Loraine Magda (2007) "From academia to the applied sciences, medicine, law and politics, Western society operates from a paradigm firmly based on materialism with grave skepticism, and unless proven true by science, becomes relegated to the wasteland of wishful thinking." Most scientists believe that science starts with basic questions and as they try to answer, and develops the answers, it leads to further questions. When students are taught on this basic belief they ignore the interplay of science with society, and such training tends to obscure connection between science and society. Thomas Kuhn says "to acquire the status of a paradigm, a scientific achievement must offer sufficiently convincing resolutions of previously recognized problemsmust also have enough unresolved problems to provide the puzzles for subsequent research practice within the research tradition it comes to define" (Marshall1998).

Social Sciences In Theatre :: essays research papers

Social Sciences in Theatre How are the social sciences associated with theatre?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his article â€Å"Performance Studies†, Helbo identifies many social sciences associated with theatre including psychology, sociology, and semiotics. Psychology, he states, has greatly increased the work of the actor by giving him a tool to examine his character or role in greater depth. Psychology has also affected the spectator by creating a release and even a form of therapy. Sociology is used in theatre to determine the cultural politics involved, the link between demand patterns and economic patterns, and the role of theatre in everyday life. Semiotics plays a vital role in theatre by determining how signs, whether they are speech pattern or facial expression, affect the audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schechner focuses solely on anthropology and its use in theatre. Schechner even goes so far as to define theatre anthropology. It is defined as â€Å"the study of the biological and cultural behavior of man in a theatrical situation.† He writes that anthropology and theatre have no definite boundary and uses anthropology to show theatrical aspects in everyday life, which brings one to ask the second question. How do the social sciences show theatre used in everyday life?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Helbo uses sociology and biology to site instances through which theatre is used in everyday life. Sociologists see theatre in the social structures we face on a daily basis. A handshake, tipping a doorman and even the forbidden middle finger is what Erving Goffman terms â€Å"rituals of interaction.† Every culture is immersed in some aspect of performance, even biologists can see theatre in everyday occurrences. The biologist Laborit sees behavioral functions associated with theatre as liberating. Social Sciences In Theatre :: essays research papers Social Sciences in Theatre How are the social sciences associated with theatre?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In his article â€Å"Performance Studies†, Helbo identifies many social sciences associated with theatre including psychology, sociology, and semiotics. Psychology, he states, has greatly increased the work of the actor by giving him a tool to examine his character or role in greater depth. Psychology has also affected the spectator by creating a release and even a form of therapy. Sociology is used in theatre to determine the cultural politics involved, the link between demand patterns and economic patterns, and the role of theatre in everyday life. Semiotics plays a vital role in theatre by determining how signs, whether they are speech pattern or facial expression, affect the audience.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Schechner focuses solely on anthropology and its use in theatre. Schechner even goes so far as to define theatre anthropology. It is defined as â€Å"the study of the biological and cultural behavior of man in a theatrical situation.† He writes that anthropology and theatre have no definite boundary and uses anthropology to show theatrical aspects in everyday life, which brings one to ask the second question. How do the social sciences show theatre used in everyday life?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Helbo uses sociology and biology to site instances through which theatre is used in everyday life. Sociologists see theatre in the social structures we face on a daily basis. A handshake, tipping a doorman and even the forbidden middle finger is what Erving Goffman terms â€Å"rituals of interaction.† Every culture is immersed in some aspect of performance, even biologists can see theatre in everyday occurrences. The biologist Laborit sees behavioral functions associated with theatre as liberating.

Assessment and Development Essay

1. What is a competency? What are its characteristics? How is it different from Job Description? Competency: Competencies refer to skills or knowledge that leads to superior performance. These are formed through an individual/organization’s knowledge, skills and abilities and provide a framework for distinguishing between poor performances through to exceptional performance. Competencies can apply at organizational, individual, team, and occupational and functional levels. Competencies are individual abilities or characteristics that are key to effectiveness in work. Some examples of competencies required by the employees are: 1. Adaptability 2. Commitment 3. Creativity 4. Motivation 5. Foresight 6. Leadership 7. Independence 8. Emotional Stability 9. Analytical Reasoning and 10. Communication Skills Characteristics of Competencies ? ? ? ? ? ? Competencies are the characteristics of a manager that lead to the demonstration of skills and abilities, which result in effective performance within an organizational area. The best way to understand performance is to observe what people actually do to be successful rather than relying on assumptions pertaining to trait and intelligence. The best way to measure and predict performance is to assess whether people have key competencies. Competencies can be learnt and developed. They should be made visible/accessible. They should be linked to meaningful life outcomes that describe how people should perform in the real world 3|P a ge Common difference Competencies & Job Description. Competencies †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Underlying characteristic of a person’s inputs. Clusters of knowledge, attitudes and skills. Generic knowledge motive, trait, social role or a skill. Personal characteristics. Set of skills, related knowledge and attributes. On the other hand, Job Description †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ Superior performance in a given job, role or a situation. Individual’s ability to perform. Linked to superior performance on the job. Contribute to effective managerial performance. Successfully perform a task or an activity within a specific function or job. 4|P a ge 2. What are the different types of competencies? What is their relevance? 1. Behavioral Competency: Behaviors, knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics that contribute to individual success in the organization ? ? ? Can apply to all (or most) jobs in an organization or be specific to a job family, career level or position For example:- teamwork and cooperation, communication Focus on the person 2. Technical or functional Competency: Specific knowledge and skills needed to be able to perform one’s job effectively ? ? ? Job specific and relate to success in a given job or job family For example:- knowledge of accounting principles, knowledge of human resource law and practice Focus on the job A trainer requires a different set of competencies than an accountant, and a teller requires a different set than a maintenance worker. If there are different levels within the same position, then each job level might also have its own set of vertically derived competencies 3. Core Competency: ? ? A core competency is defined as an internal capability that is critical to the success of business. These are organizational competencies that all individuals are expected to possess. These competencies define what the organization values the most in people. For example:- an organization might want each individual to possess teamwork, flexibility and communication skills. 5|P a ge 4. Threshold competency: ? ? The characteristics required by a jobholder to perform a job effectively are called threshold competencies. For the position of a typist it is necessary to have primary knowledge about typing, which is a threshold competency. 5. Differentiating competency: ? ? The characteristics, which differentiate superior performers from average performers, come under this category; such characteristics are not found in average performers. Knowledge of formatting is a competency that makes a typist to superior to others in performance, which is a differentiating competency. 6|P a ge 3. What is the difference between Assessment Centre and Development Centre? Differences between Assessment and Development centers Assessment centers usually ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Have a pass/fail criteria are geared towards filing a job vacancy address an immediate organizational need have fewer assessors and more participants involve line managers as assessors have less emphasis placed on self-assessment focus on what the candidate can do now are geared to meet the needs of the organization assign the role of judge to assessors place emphasis on selection with little or no developmental feedback and follow up give feedback at a later date involve the organization having control over the information obtained have very little pre-centre briefing tend to be used with external candidates. Development centers usually ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? do not have a pass/fail criteria are geared towards developing the individual address a longer term need have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant do not have line managers as assessors have a greater emphasis placed on self-assessment focus on potential are geared to meet needs of the individual as well as the organization assign the role of facilitator to assessors place emphasis on developmental feedback and follow up with little or no selection function 7|P a ge ? ? ? ? give feedback immediately involve the individual having control over the information obtained have a substantial pre-centre briefing tend to be used with internal candidates 8|P a ge 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Assessment Centre and Development Centre? Assessment Centers: Assessment centers consist of a number of exercises designed to assess the full range of skills and personal attributes required for the job. Advantages: ? Assessment centers map the next level challenges and simulate them in exercises. This raises the validity of the assessment tool. The old way of evaluating the person based on past performance does not work many times, as the challenges of the next level are different from the challenges in the existing position. Assessment centers not only help the organization in placing the right candidate for the right job/assignment but also help in developing the participants. When participants see others handling the same exercise differently, it gives them an insight into their own performance thereby raises the credibility of the selection procedure. It appeals to the lay person’s logic and therefore is regarded as a fair means of assessment by the participants. Assessment Centers can be customized for different kinds of jobs, competencies and organizational requirements. They are far more accurate than a standard recruitment process as they allow a broader range of selection methods to be used during the process. They enable interviewers to assess existing performance as well as predict future job performance. They give the opportunity to assess and differentiate between candidates who seem very similar – in terms of quality – on paper. They give the candidates a better insight into the role as they are tested on exercises, which are typical for the role they have applied for. They help employers build an employer brand. Candidates who attend assessment centers which genuinely reflect the job and the organization are often impressed by that company, even if they are rejected. The cost of an assessment centre is usually cheaper compared with the potential cost of many recruitment phases and the cost of recruitment errors. 9|P a ge ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? They are a fair process – they complement an organization’s diversity agenda and ensure that people are selected on the basis of merit alone. Disadvantages: ? ? ? ? ? Assessment Centers are very costly and time consuming. Assessment Centers requires highly skilled observers as the observers may bring in their own perceptions and biases while evaluating. Those who receive poor assessment might become de-motivated and might lose confidence in their abilities. New recruits with high expectations can feel disappointed if the assessment centre has encouraged them to believe the job or organization fits their values if, in fact, it does not. If you haven’t defined the key competencies prior to the event – and a way to measure these competencies – you will only be able to compare candidates on anecdotal details.

Learn How to Conjugate the French Verb Habiter (to Live)

French verb conjugator habiter Present Future Imperfect Present participle j habite habiterai habitais habitant tu habites habiteras habitais il habite habitera habitait nous habitons habiterons habitions vous habitez habiterez habitiez ils habitent habiteront habitaient Pass compos Auxiliary verb avoir Past participle habit Subjunctive Conditional Pass simple Imperfect subjunctive j habite habiterais habitai habitasse tu habites habiterais habitas habitasses il habite habiterait habita habitt nous habitions habiterions habitmes habitassions vous habitiez habiteriez habittes habitassiez ils habitent habiteraient habitrent habitassent Imperative tu habite nous habitons vous habitez Verb conjugation patternHabiter  is a  regular -ER verb  that begins with  h  muet