# ON/OFF - etc. : concepts



## ThomasK

I have had extremely interesting exchanges here, and I am grateful for that. 

My main focus though is strictly beyond synonyms, I am looking for how one formulates, puts into words, a concept. Like ON/OFF: something is on/off - AND how can you express the concept of 'turning on/off' in the broadest sense. Even starting (up) and ending/ breaking (up) ccould fit into such a list. 

But then: the AL and other forums are too narrow for that (I understand), but our Café is not language-based. It might be interesting to have a subforum per language for such adventures as mine. Just an idea...


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## Paulfromitaly

Please take a look at this sticky at the top of the forum

*FAQ: How New Forums are Created*


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## mkellogg

Hi Thomas,

Are you recommending a Café for a specific language?  I'm not promising anything...


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## ThomasK

Strictly speaking it need not be a specific Café, but it would be interesting at least to clearly mark in the heading that something is in for example Dutch/ Nederlands. That way it would be easy to find it back... That is the main thing...


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## Suehil

Our cafe is not language-based, but it welcomes language-based topics.  You can always put "Dutch" in the title.


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## ThomasK

It is, I know. A separate subdepartment would be more interesting, so I had thought at first, but then I thought of that simpler way of doing things, though a 'subcafé' would make things easier. I might just try...


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## cherine

There are threads about language in the Café, so you don't need to worry about the "right" place for your threads that you think won't fit in AL.
This being said, I think your topic would be fine in AL.


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## ThomasK

Really? I 'd love to have the thread in AL, but I think that the thread at the Café is already complex, and I see no reactions so far. I ought to prune it perhaps, when publishing it at AL, but I won't prune the Café thread and just hope someone will reply in the end.  ;-)


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## Peterdg

What is AL?


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## ThomasK

All Languages... (Feel free to react to my café thread though, in whatever way)


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## cherine

ThomasK said:


> Really? I 'd love to have the thread in AL, but I think that the thread at the Café is already complex, and I see no reactions so far. I ought to prune it perhaps, when publishing it at AL, but I won't prune the Café thread and just hope someone will reply in the end. ;-)


I couldn't understand the question/topic in CC, so maybe others faced the same problem and this is why you didn't receive replies.
You may need to express your ideas in a clearer way, and focus on as small a point as possible.


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## ThomasK

You might be so right, but I think the concept is new, and therefore  I cannot be clearer than I now am because I am not sure about the words I can use (e.g., concepts/ ideas/ hypernyms)... That is the whole issue with me: I have hunches, maybe ill-founded, and try to find people who recognize some of the drive. I might try though to focus on one aspect. Thanks for the hint.


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## ThomasK

I had it again: I had been wondering about how I translate 'making sense'/ 'meaningful' into Italian. However, I was told to limit my question to one word and even one context... 

I quite understand that we ought not to complicate things too much. Yet, the exploration of the [translation of] one word in different contexts is what allows us as non-native speakers to find out how we can precisely express an idea, I think. That is why I advocate allowing for concepts (broader than a word), like 'meaningful' and 'making sense'... 

I do realize that it must remain practical, to a large extent at least. But...


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