[General] Do you say "upping country"?

Status
Not open for further replies.

Kengo

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello people,

Is it natural or even acceptable to say "upping country" instead of "developing country"?
I assume "developing country" is the most common term but it would be good to know if it could serve as a synonym.

Thanks in advance
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic

Kengo

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
I have never heard it used. Emerging country/market is sometimes used for countries that are progressing and are no longer developing countries. This is sometimes sub-divided into advanced emerging and secondary emerging according to the degree of progress achieved.
 

Kengo

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hi Tdol

I've heard "emerging country" but never knew the difference from "developing country".
Great answer as always.

Thanks a lot.:up:
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
Hi Tdol

I've heard "emerging country" but never knew the difference from "developing country".
Great answer as always.

Thanks a lot.:up:

I didn't know they were the same thing either, but had assumed emerging was just the new euphemism. I've learnt something today.

Funny how they are as ephemoral as they are oblique. The more indirect, the faster they sound nasty:

crippled > handicapped > disabled > challenged
retarded > mentally disabled > mentally challenged > at risk
third world > developing > emerging

Not that I would suggest moving backwards.
 

5jj

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Oct 14, 2010
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
Czech Republic
Current Location
Czech Republic

Kengo

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Funny how they are as ephemoral as they are oblique. The more indirect, the faster they sound nasty:

crippled > handicapped > disabled > challenged
retarded > mentally disabled > mentally challenged > at risk
third world > developing > emerging

Maybe "upping country" is to appear next to emerging...? :p

Thank you for the list though. Some new words to me.
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
:up: The only idiomatic context I can think of for the word 'upping' is the collocation 'upping the ante' (an abbreviation of 'upping [i.e. raising] the ante-post stakes [i.e. the odds available before the day of a race]'); this is a fairly close synonym (except for the 'ante-post' bit) of the more common 'raising the stakes'.. (The sense 'raising' si sometimes used informally, often with reference to a small adjustment: 'I suggest upping the dose by 5 mg'.

b
 

Kengo

Junior Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
:up: The only idiomatic context I can think of for the word 'upping' is the collocation 'upping the ante' (an abbreviation of 'upping [i.e. raising] the ante-post stakes [i.e. the odds available before the day of a race]'); this is a fairly close synonym (except for the 'ante-post' bit) of the more common 'raising the stakes'.. (The sense 'raising' si sometimes used informally, often with reference to a small adjustment: 'I suggest upping the dose by 5 mg'.

b

Thanks BobK. I understood this example clearly.
 

Hedwig

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Argentina
Current Location
Argentina
I didn't know they were the same thing either, but had assumed emerging was just the new euphemism. I've learnt something today.

Funny how they are as ephemoral as they are oblique. The more indirect, the faster they sound nasty:

crippled > handicapped > disabled > challenged
retarded > mentally disabled > mentally challenged > at risk
third world > developing > emerging

Not that I would suggest moving backwards.


I, too, thought emerging was the latest euphemism. When I was a girl ya only had developed and underdeveloped.

Noe, my question is, how would you use at risk in a sentence? (from the retarded/mentally disabled string.) I mean, I can see how to use it predicatively but... attributivelly?

Besides, at risk does sound a little too vague, doesn't it? At risk of what, catching a tropical fever, falling down a cliff, being run over by a double-decker?
 

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
In the education field here in Ontario people frequently speak of 'children at risk' when they mean poor children, or, alternatively, academically weak children, and often both at the same time.
 

Hedwig

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Argentina
Current Location
Argentina
Oh, I see. Then I can say something like "their academically weak little girl who is also a child at risk has been having some difficulties at school".

Give me a break! (Not you, society I mean.) It was all so much easier with good ol' simple words. Blunt perhaps, but to the point.

I remember someone correcting a TV journalist or presenter who had called him no vidente (roughly unseeing): "You can call me blind". Or that time when another TV presenter introduced the *African South American* (the latter is to go by today's standards) musician Oscar Alemán and he corrected her saying with a smile, "Actually I'm not couloured; I'm black".

Out of curiosity, what euphemism is used in English for blind?

NB: I'm ranting about euphemisms here. I do not by any means wish to imply anything about any kind of human differences.
 
Last edited:

konungursvia

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Member Type
Academic
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
We do usually use the term blind; also, legally blind. Visually impaired is the most common euphemism here.
 

BobK

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 29, 2006
Location
Spencers Wood, near Reading, UK
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
:up: The only idiomatic context I can think of for the word 'upping' is the collocation 'upping the ante' (an abbreviation of 'upping [i.e. raising] the ante-post stakes [i.e. the odds available before the day of a race]'); this is a fairly close synonym (except for the 'ante-post' bit) of the more common 'raising the stakes'.. (The sense 'raising' si sometimes used informally, often with reference to a small adjustment: 'I suggest upping the dose by 5 mg'.

b


Another source of this -ing form is the informal phrasal verb 'up sticks' - meaning 'move in a way that involves considerable disruption': 'I'm not thinking of upping sticks and moving abroad for good' I'm just looking at holiday cottages somewhere sunny,'


b
 

Hedwig

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 17, 2011
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Spanish
Home Country
Argentina
Current Location
Argentina
We do usually use the term blind; also, legally blind. Visually impaired is the most common euphemism here.

Thanks.

Visually impaired, though, is to blind like hearing impaired is to deaf, right? I mean, it need not mean totally blind?
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Thanks.

Visually impaired, though, is to blind like hearing impaired is to deaf, right? I mean, it need not mean totally blind?

That's correct. There is a definition for "legally blind," which need not be total deficiency.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top