Timeline for What does 'as you were' mean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 21, 2014 at 2:17 | comment | added | Tyler James Young | Maybe he's just saying that it's warm, so you can relax. | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 21:31 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @J.R. I think we agree that,on the one hand, it's completely clear what the author means (viz. "as you have been"), and on the other hand that is, both grammatically AND lexically, NOT what "as you were" means. | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 21:00 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | @StoneyB: Putting on my grammarian hat, I agree with you. Listening to that weather forecast, though, that's not how I'd interpret it – not as worded in the quote provided by the O.P. I think "as you were last week" means "as you have been over the past week." Good thing he's a forecaster, and not an English teacher. :^) P.S. You know what they say about the weatherman, right? So long as it keeps raining, it's a "low pressure" job... | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 19:57 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @J.R. Even without the military tradition, however, "as you were" is distinctly different from "as you have been". The past tense is perfective; the stative perfect construction is required for your sense. | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 18:15 | comment | added | J.R.♦ | I don't find it to be a misuse of the phrase, because I think the words mean something slightly different in the context of a weather forcast. It's not the military idiom; instead, it means, essentially, "the weather will continue to be the same as it was last week." In this case "It's as you were" is roughly equivalent to saying "You will be as you were" – i.e., very warm. It's not a reset, it's a continuation, thus, the definition at Collins doesn't apply. At least, that's how I read it. | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 0:52 | comment | added | Matt | @StoneyB: Part of the Republic of California, no less. Also Seattle considers anything that isn't raining to be part of a heat-wave :) | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 0:39 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @Matt San Francisco is, I believe, a Foreign Country. | |
| Jul 16, 2013 at 0:38 | comment | added | Matt | I've just been in San Francisco where the news was all ablaze with the term "heat-wave" to describe temperatures on the west-coast approaching 85F/30C. Whilst the British certainly don't understand Summer heat like someone from, say, Arizona might, there are many Americans who are equally capable of becoming confused and excited by temperatures anywhere above 70F/21C. | |
| Jul 15, 2013 at 16:35 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | I agree it's at least bordering on a "misuse". But the weatherman seems to be stumbling over his words anyway, and I suppose maybe we can also slightly excuse him because he imagines his audience are still totally committed to dealing with the current UK heatwave since his last broadcast (so he means "carry on dealing with it as you were yesterday"). It hit 94F in my back garden this afternoon, which is quite hot enough for me. | |
| Jul 15, 2013 at 10:59 | vote | accept | Listenever | ||
| Jul 15, 2013 at 10:33 | history | answered | StoneyB on hiatus | CC BY-SA 3.0 |