[Vocabulary] prefix vs suffix: quasi vs. -esque

[James Cheng]

Hi everyone,

Hope this question is not annoying to any of you! I really cannot figure out the difference between quasi vs. -esque. Both imply 'resemblance' but not genuineness.

I am asking because I do not know how to describe a museum run by a charity, which is the subject of study in my essay.

To me, it is like a corporate museum (very profit-driven). So I wonder if it is better to be dubbed 'a quasi-corporate museum' or 'a corporate museum-esque'.

Thank you in advance for any suggestions. Your help would be very much appreciated!

Cheers,

 

[tedmc]

I would call it a commercially-run private museum. It is understood that such a museum is profit driven to be sustainable.

 

[James Cheng]

I would call it a commercially-run private museum. It is understood that such a museum is profit driven to be sustainable.

Cheers! But I am still intrigued to know how to use quasi and esque in this context

 

[jutfrank]

I think these two suffixes have quite different meanings.

-esque usually means something like reminiscent of or in the style of. It can therefore be used to talk about things generally to do with art. It works well when added to an artist's name, for example.

quasi- has a scientific/academic register and means something like partially. It is therefore often suffixed to an adjective.

In your example, I would say that quasi- much more easily attaches to corporate, but I'm not sure that this would give the sense you want. To me, quasi-corporate would suggest partly corporate, in some technical sense, not 'corporate-like'.

 

[Rover_KE]

Kudos, jutfrank! A great analysis.

James, I was merely going to say that I don't consider either of the above to be suitable for use in this context.

***

I am still intrigued to know how to use "quasi-" and "-esque" in this context. [STRIKE][/STRIKE]

Please don't use home-made emoticons to replace standard punctuation marks.

 

[James Cheng]

Please don't use home-made emoticons to replace standard punctuation marks.

Oh ... my bad. Please accept my apologies ... still learning how to use the text editor and the rules.

 

[James Cheng]

I think these two suffixes have quite different meanings.

...

Thank you a billion, jutfrank.

It seems that I need to come up with a better description. :roll:

 

[emsr2d2]

Please don't use home-made emoticons to replace standard punctuation marks.

It seems that I need to come up with a better description :roll:

Wow, you forgot that request pretty fast!

 

[James Cheng]

I've added it back. :-D
Thank you for reminding me of that.

 

[Tdol]

How about private museum? This separates it from state-run institutions.

 

[James Cheng]

Thank you very very much for your response, Tdol.

The tricky thing (to me) is that the museum was a public museum built and temporarily run by the government before outsourcing its operation to a charitable organisation. So, by law that museum is still a public museum, but of course its managerial rationale is now much more akin to that of a corporate museum (the charity isn't so 'charitable' in many affairs, plus it has made changes to the original exhibitions so that it can promote itself).

This is why I hesitate to call that museum 'a private museum' and (originally) considered terms like quasi-corporate museum or corporate museum-esque (I know both sound weird). It is a public museum anyway, but it functions like a corporate museum for its tenant company! :-|

How about private museum? This separates it from state-run institutions.

 

[SoothingDave]

It sounds to me like it is privately run.

 

[James Cheng]

Hi SoothingDave, thank you very very much for your response! :-D
May I ask if it is feasible to use the term 'a privately-run public museum'? Is it appropriate and understandable in English?