James (Jim) Davis Aug 23, 2015:

An afterthought For the most part, English verbs have no conjugation. I went, you went, he went, we went, you went they went: so the conjugation (as I used to teach it many years ago to make the point about the absence of conjugatons) is "went, went, went, went, went, went". Perhaps the author is also being ironic. They didn't mess around with stupid formalities.

James (Jim) Davis Aug 23, 2015:

@Judy We seem to be talking the same language and saying the same thing without understanding each other:
"... since the objects themselves spoke an international language that was understood by everyone. The idea is more like bare essentials / back to basics / no frills..." This I can agree with, they didn't beat around the bush trying to conjugate verbs in a foreign language, they, they just concentrated on the bare essentials without any frills. However, if you translated literally in English noboby would understand, while it is pretty clear in the Italian. And obviously it has to be a metaphor, since this is about manufacturing not grammar.

manducci (asker) Aug 22, 2015:

@judy. Thanks for your suggestion but, no: it has nothing to do with chair design or with the exhibition UDESIGN. The protagonists of the piece are Edison and Malignani who met in New York in the late 19th century. What the writer is trying to stress here is that while neither spoke the other's language, they nevertheless understood each other - both were scientists, both were excited about the scientific and technological progress the modern age offered. This formed the basis of the understanding between them - they didn't need complicated language (verb structures) to communicate... in reality of course they almost certainly employed the services of an interpreter... but that's another (less 'romantic') version of the story!!

JudyC Aug 22, 2015:

@Jim Sorry, but not convinced at all !

As a metaphor, it means nothing to an Italian and can only be explained by pointing to some shared reference, which I think could well be UDESIGN (also considering where manducci is working from).
The point, I think, is that we're talking about the craft (as opposed to the "art") of making furniture, before it became a fancy "design" thing, when you didn't need English as an international language, since the objects themselves spoke an international language that was understood by everyone. The idea is more like bare essentials / back to basics / no frills

...but only manducci can tell, perhaps after asking the client

James (Jim) Davis Aug 22, 2015:

@Judy The metaphor here, is that they did not conjugate the verb looking at all the different persons singular and plural and all the different tenses. They just looked at verb (presumably the infinitive" and its meaning, or in the context "l'oggetto e la funzione dell'oggetto". Of course broader interpretations of "verbo" (idea, discourse) and of "declinazione" (analysis) can be used, but the result here is the same.

JudyC Aug 21, 2015:

could it have anything to do with this ? UDESIGN, la mappa dell’Industria di Design in Friuli Si scrive UDESIGN, si legge YOU DESIGN. Il titolo dell’iniziativa gioca su un doppio significato: da una parte lo stemma della città di Udine utilizzato nel logotipo della mostra indica il territorio del capoluogo friulano come area privilegiata di un’inedita indagine sull’industria; dall’altra la declinazione del verbo inglese suona simultaneamente come affermazione e incoraggiamento.


It's not a fixed expression in Italian and English verb conjugations are very simple compared to Italian or French (Present 3rd pers. "s"; Past no change, etc, Fut., no change; Conditional, no change). So it don't think it's about not being able to find the right words/fumbling for words/beating about the bush.

Inter-Tra Aug 19, 2015:

I reiterate I really do not think refers to the Verbo. I thank you for your efforts in explaining the origin of the Verbum. But for those who at Liceo CLASSICO translated such texts: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος,
καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν,
καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος.
It is really pointless.

James (Jim) Davis Aug 19, 2015:

@fbbest No I don't believe that the word here refers to the scriptures. I just quoted perhaps the most famous use of the term "Verbo" where it is translated into English with the term "word" and not "verb".

Inter-Tra Aug 18, 2015:

Davis Yes, I agree and my solution suggests exactly what you have said 'no redundant, extra details added'. I do not believe that 'word' here refers to the Scriptures, otherwise it would be probably written in capital letters (as you wrote it). Then of course we have no context at all, but in my opinion somehow the literal register clashes with idiom, 'this form of hunting'..

James (Jim) Davis Aug 18, 2015:

@fbbest In principio era il Verbo (Logos), il Verbo era presso Dio e il Verbo era Dio. In Italian the word verbo can also mean word, or opinion, or school of thought. Similarly "declinazione" is also used figurativel in the sense of examination or analysis. Consequently this is just a way of saying there is no unnecessary examination of irrelevant details.

James (Jim) Davis Aug 18, 2015:

"no beating about the bush" I would go for this. People normally use asterisks to demarcate (underline) the term posted and "X" for unknowns.

manducci (asker) Aug 16, 2015:

To Phil and Jim: Arturo Malignani and Thomas Edison. Jim: the XXX is to mark/isolate the key phrase - I'll leave it out next time if it confuses the issue;-)

Inter-Tra Aug 16, 2015:

Scusami dopo è "chiamandole in un "mondo" diverso o in un "modo" diverso? Interessante che si faccia riferimento alla 'declinazione' (solo NOMI) e non alla 'coniugazione' tipica dei VERBI.. Quindi è una trovata con 'licenza letteraria'. In più il riferimento è al ME e/o EModE.

James (Jim) Davis Aug 16, 2015:

I was about to post "no beating about the bush" but saw just in time that it was your initial suggestion. I would go with that.

James (Jim) Davis Aug 16, 2015:

With Phil we really do need to know who these people are, we don't need to know the name of the book or the author, just the historical figures.

Also what is the XXX here?

philgoddard Aug 16, 2015:

What product are we talking about? And who are the people referred to?