Company's Coming
- s1m0n
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Company's Coming
Is this a phrase you use? Where are you from?
I'm asking because I realized that this (and similar expressions like "We have company") are phrases I feel ever-so-slightly self-conscious about using, presumably because this is one term which my 'active'* lexicon reflects my parent's british english rather than the canadian standard. I'd probably use "guests" instead of company.
So is this a canadian thing, or an North American thing? How would you descibe guests in your home?
*Linguists distinguish between active lexicon, which are all the words you yourself tend to say or use, and passive lexicon, which includes all the words you understand but don't use yourself.
For me, something like the british terms "loo" or "bog" are passive; I understand them just fine, but these aren't things I'd tend to say unless I was assuming another voice for some reason.
I'm asking because I realized that this (and similar expressions like "We have company") are phrases I feel ever-so-slightly self-conscious about using, presumably because this is one term which my 'active'* lexicon reflects my parent's british english rather than the canadian standard. I'd probably use "guests" instead of company.
So is this a canadian thing, or an North American thing? How would you descibe guests in your home?
*Linguists distinguish between active lexicon, which are all the words you yourself tend to say or use, and passive lexicon, which includes all the words you understand but don't use yourself.
For me, something like the british terms "loo" or "bog" are passive; I understand them just fine, but these aren't things I'd tend to say unless I was assuming another voice for some reason.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
Re: Company's Coming
I grew up in northeast Tennessee (USA), and we always used the term "company" to refer to guests in our home. Never really thought about it before...s1m0n wrote:So is this a canadian thing, or an North American thing? How would you descibe guests in your home?
Giles: "We few, we happy few."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
Spike: "We band of buggered."
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How does "company" mean that? To me it sounds like you're having an entire corporation ("my company is coming") over to dinner or something. But I've heard it before.
But...AR, TN, WV, and AL represent only a small portion of the whole USA, though...Dale wrote:That's used in the places I've lived: Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Alabama. I'm wondering if it's not common throughout the USA.
- Nanohedron
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General usage in my region for informal visits tends to be "company", whereas "guests" seems to suggest a higher tone, and is sometimes used with irony for that reason. Which is a bit funny, as "company" comes from the Latin, and "guests" is native English. Bit of a switch, there.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
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- Nanohedron
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It's expanded from the Latin cum panis, literally "with bread", which is also the source for the word "companion", the idea stemming from eating together in fellowship. The modern corporate meaning is a departure from the original. Not only in the sense of guests, but, also, any small-to-medium sized (whatever that means) group of people, especially a close-knit one of largely unrelated individuals, would have been called a company, and still is, although it's probably not as common as it might have been. It brings to mind the word "band" in that sense, but not "tribe", strictly speaking. Loosely speaking is another matter.Cranberry wrote:How does "company" mean that?
That's how you can say, "I enjoy his company", and not mean your stock options.
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
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Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
I usually do, myself: an anomaly in the land to which I was born. Dunno if it was a family thing; I never thought about that until you brought it up. Anyway, it just comes out that way. I had an ex that used to mock me for it, as if I were trying to put on airs. I wasn't.s1m0n wrote:I'd probably use "guests" instead of company.
I do use "company" more, now. Usually it's when only one or two are coming over for tunes or something easygoing. A bigger group, or someone that I think poses a greater host's responsibility to me, and it's "guest(s)".
"If you take music out of this world, you will have nothing but a ball of fire." - Balochi musician
- s1m0n
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I suspect there's a pronounciation distinction between company (guests) and (company) a business.
The former is almost always only two syllables, at least to my ears--cump-nee--whereas the latter might be three.
The former is almost always only two syllables, at least to my ears--cump-nee--whereas the latter might be three.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis
- chrisoff
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Re: Company's Coming
Hostagess1m0n wrote:How would you descibe guests in your home?
In all seriousness I never say "I'm having company over" or a variation thereof. But then I'm young and hip. Yo.
- amar
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and there I was thinking cum panis was the latin for male.Nanohedron wrote:It's expanded from the Latin cum panis, literally "with bread", which is also the source for the word "companion", the idea stemming from eating together in fellowship. The modern corporate meaning is a departure from the original. Not only in the sense of guests, but, also, any small-to-medium sized (whatever that means) group of people, especially a close-knit one of largely unrelated individuals, would have been called a company, and still is, although it's probably not as common as it might have been. It brings to mind the word "band" in that sense, but not "tribe", strictly speaking. Loosely speaking is another matter.Cranberry wrote:How does "company" mean that?
That's how you can say, "I enjoy his company", and not mean your stock options.
- dubhlinn
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Visitors.
Here we have visitors. Mrs.D, who is English, and I, who am not, have both been using this expression independently of each other for years.
I have heard "company" being used over here but never "guests".
Slan,
D.
Here we have visitors. Mrs.D, who is English, and I, who am not, have both been using this expression independently of each other for years.
I have heard "company" being used over here but never "guests".
Slan,
D.
And many a poor man that has roved,
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.
W.B.Yeats
Loved and thought himself beloved,
From a glad kindness cannot take his eyes.
W.B.Yeats
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