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Comment by neilo40 | Hacker News Reader

Yes tabled means the opposite on either side of the Atlantic. Has caused me a lot of confusion over the years. Personally as a Brit I just can’t see the logic in the US meaning

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Table the motion. (discuss); Table the discussion. (postpone)

Continue the story. (keep reading); Continue the trial. (suspend)

Drop the album. (release); Drop the charges. (abandon)

Sanction an event. (approve); Sanction a country. (penalize)

Cleave to principles. (stick); Cleave wood. (split)

Clip keys to belt. (attach); Clip the hedges. (cut off)

Dust shelves. (remove); Dust pastries with sugar. (add)

Hold fast. (fixed in place); Walk fast. (moving quickly)

Make oversight. (omission); Provide oversight. (scrutiny)

Peruse the ancient manuscript. (read in detail); Peruse the magazine. (look through casually)

The alarm went off. (activated); Turn the alarm off. (deactivated)

Head to either side of the street. (one or the other); Plant trees on either side of the street. (both)

It's yet to be found. (not found); Yet it's found. (found)

They're all but forgotten. (nearly); They're known but to God. (only)

Does "all but" always mean "nearly"? I've been conversing in English for 20 years now but this one eluded me.

I guess I am just unable to parse the words to piece together such a meaning. In my mind, there are two ways to interpret it: "this subject may be all kinds of things, but one thing it is not" (all but = everything except), or the opposite "this subject may be all kinds of things, but one thing it is for sure". And neither of these means "nearly" :(

Yes. I think the idea is that on the path of events or actions between the starting point and the target, you have already completed every single one, and all that remains now is the final step before you can call it done.

You've walked all but the last step of the journey.

Thank you, that makes sense!

The outcome of the meeting was negative (bad); the outcome of the cancer screening was negative (good)

That one doesn’t belong - if the meeting was deciding the death sentence, negative could be good.

Mostly correct but peruse only means read in detail. Any other intended meaning is mistaken.

Both Merriam-Webster and Cambridge dictionaries disagree.

Funny, I noted that one but in the opposite direction. In North America I've never heard it used in anything but a casual sense. An unserious activity.

Agree with siblings. Living in NYC and born nearby, and I've always known peruse to mean casually browse. Flip through pages. NOT read in detail.

These are known as contronyms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contronym

As an American, I can't see the logic in having the relationship between a proposal (which is an idea that may be embodied in documentation) and a table (which is a thing that we rest our beer upon) as having any importance at all -- regardless of which way it goes.

It seems like plain speech could be used, but this profoundly-irrational jargon was selected instead.

I think in the UK sense 'tabled' is borne out of a pretty literal meaning - based on the proposal literally being brought to the table where the committee are meeting to assess (and potentially vote) on its viability.

Yeah, perhaps. But the table also has all kinds of other things on and around it. Random papers of varying importance, microphones, Representative Smith's porn phone with the privacy filter, and maybe a ham sandwich.

A table (if there even is one present at all) seems like about the least important part of a group discussion of an idea.

it's the item of furniture that everyone is sitting round. the fact that people might put other things on it is about as relevant as asking why one particular person is called the Chair when everyone is seated, or why it's a conference room when the cleaners happen to also do hoovering in there.

The US sense came about from the sense of "I'm setting this on the table while we discuss other things". The meaning then evolved a bit of sarcasm with "while we do other things", starting to mean "forever". I do agree that the UK meaning makes more sense though.

I guess US `tabled` means put in a writing table drawer, hidden and soon to forgotten.

I think it (The US version) means putting papers from my hands because I'm discussing them back down on the table surface where they will rest with my other notes.

In contrast to the UK meaning which seems to be to take the topic from a briefcase under the table and place it for discussion on the table in front of everyone.

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