Timeline for What is 'provocateur'? Is it idiomatic?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 8, 2020 at 20:31 | vote | accept | Sergey Zolotarev | ||
| Sep 7, 2020 at 3:00 | history | tweeted | twitter.com/StackEnglishLL/status/1302803826882359297 | ||
| Sep 3, 2020 at 6:21 | comment | added | Sergey Zolotarev | @Acccumulation You can support in different ways, including financially. Longman says "employed" | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 22:00 | comment | added | Acccumulation | "I doubt that in the US, the government can pay people to provoke its opponents into committing illegal acts" It may not be legal, but people in the government certainly can do it. Something being illegal would hardly stop people from accusing Trump of doing it. Also, Wheeler said "supported and energized", not "paid". | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 21:02 | comment | added | Lambie | How about we translate it? It means: agitators or troublemakers, but sounds so much more important as a French borrowing. [I wonder if the dumbass US president knows it. He seems to only know the word thug. The journalist is, in effect, making fun of the president's lingo and avoiding the term thug. It's also truer. The white guys causing trouble are provocateurs. | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 15:18 | answer | added | RBarryYoung | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 14:40 | answer | added | Fattie | timeline score: 1 | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 14:33 | comment | added | Fattie | Sergey (1) it's a totally normal word that every English speaker knows. It sounds "a bit French", like say "croissant". (2) It's really weird it's not in Lexico, which is usually quite good. But it's a totally completely normal word that every English speaker knows. (3) "agent provocateur" is totally unrelated and it's just confusing that you mention it at all; I suggest deleting that passage from your question. | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 14:30 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Sep 2, 2020 at 15:43 | |||||
| Sep 2, 2020 at 12:38 | answer | added | Russell McMahon | timeline score: 7 | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 12:17 | comment | added | Flater | "one could suppose that 'provocateur' is just the phrase's clipping" It's not. The "agent" part implies that the provocation is Machiavellian in nature, i.e. that there's an ulterior motive behind it. Provocation can be done for ulterior reasons (e.g. delegitimizing the person you provoked into action), but it can also just be provocation for provocation's sake (e.g. picking a fight with someone because you want to fight them). | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 9:56 | comment | added | Strawberry | It's fair to say that it's a word in its own right, and not simply an adjunct to 'agent'. It's become much more popular than its anglicised equivalent 'provocator' bit.ly/3jB56Qw I think this might be related to the sound of the two words; the English word places the stress on a different syllable from the French one - but this is pure speculation. | |
| Sep 2, 2020 at 2:17 | comment | added | IMil | "I doubt that in the US, the government can pay people to provoke its opponents into committing illegal acts" - this article seems to imply not monetary incentives, but moral support. Anyway, just recall Watergate for examples of what US presidents believed they could get away with. | |
| Sep 1, 2020 at 18:03 | comment | added | dave_thompson_085 | 'employ' simply means 'use for a purpose', it doesn't require payment, although the noun 'employment' is mostly used for paying people to work. I am employing my computer to post this comment. Not everything a President, or other office-holder, does is a government act -- although law-enforcement officers at all levels of US government incuding Federal do sometimes encourage people who (they believe) are 'predisposed' to crime to do so in a way that can be prosecuted; if the person would not have committed the crime on their own, this is en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrapment | |
| Sep 1, 2020 at 14:47 | history | became hot network question | |||
| Sep 1, 2020 at 8:02 | review | Close votes | |||
| Sep 4, 2020 at 5:31 | |||||
| Sep 1, 2020 at 7:04 | answer | added | rjpond | timeline score: 25 | |
| Sep 1, 2020 at 6:59 | answer | added | mjjf | timeline score: 8 | |
| Sep 1, 2020 at 6:45 | history | asked | Sergey Zolotarev | CC BY-SA 4.0 |