I'm just as pleased as I can be to point out that you just made a mistake. You said "just deserts," and just completely forgot about jungles and plains.
> An English learner can be forgiven for not grasping that “just now” means “a little while ago” and not “exactly now” while “just west of here” means “directly west” and not “a little bit west.”
Whoa! I think this must be a regional difference, or something, because I definitely take "just west of here" and "a little bit west of here" to be synonymous — both meaning "west of here, and very close". To me "directly west" means "due west"; are you saying that's what "just west" usually means?
I thought for a moment that maybe I've just always misused this expression — after all, we're all English learners, really — but on reflection, it definitely can't be just me. When I was growing up in Kalamazoo (Michigan) in the 90s, I remember frequent radio ads for a Go-Kart place or something that was "on the Red Arrow Highway, just west of Paw Paw". The Red Arrow Highway passes through Paw Paw, and is roughly east–west, so I don't think it would make sense to specify that something is on the Red Arrow Highway due west of Paw Paw; rather, the ads meant that it was very near Paw Paw, as opposed to, like, a twenty mile drive away.
I tried to Google for those ads just now, and couldn't find them; but I found various property listings for places "just west of Paw Paw", and their goal likewise seems to be to emphasize the convenience of the location.
I wrote this paragraph for another purpose some years ago
Use of 'so', 'but' and 'just'
Everyone has their own verbal habits in speech or writing. When I read my own writing (for self-editing or just because I have come back to it), I realise that I use 'so' and 'but' a lot. Perhaps the 'so' is trying to show the development of my thinking or the justification for an action, or perhaps 'so' is showing how I think things are linked. Use of 'but' might be indicative of my ability to see multiple points of view, or perhaps it shows that I can’t be definitive. Another word I feel I use often is 'just', with multiple meanings. Am I being too tentative by using 'just'? Perhaps all these reasons are relevant, or there may be other reasons, one of which is that my writing is too simple or not imaginative enough. But mostly I just naturally assume that my choice of words is the simplest, clearest way to write, and so it usually doesn’t worry me.
David Letterman did a bit (1982) which I think is still hilarious. He did a remote tour of a NYC shopping district. 2 stores are featured: "Just Bulbs" and "Just Shades."
When my kids were in pre-school, one of the other parents ran a non-profit (?) called Just Economics, aimed at small scale nonprofit organizations with little or no economic or business sense, but a lot of heart.
I'm just as pleased as I can be to point out that you just made a mistake. You said "just deserts," and just completely forgot about jungles and plains.
Hah! https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/just-deserts-or-just-desserts
Oh Hell.
In the Buddhist guided meditation traditions, "just this moment," or "just this breath."
And there was I, monocular as ever, thinking this was a piece about Joe Friday.
> An English learner can be forgiven for not grasping that “just now” means “a little while ago” and not “exactly now” while “just west of here” means “directly west” and not “a little bit west.”
Whoa! I think this must be a regional difference, or something, because I definitely take "just west of here" and "a little bit west of here" to be synonymous — both meaning "west of here, and very close". To me "directly west" means "due west"; are you saying that's what "just west" usually means?
I thought for a moment that maybe I've just always misused this expression — after all, we're all English learners, really — but on reflection, it definitely can't be just me. When I was growing up in Kalamazoo (Michigan) in the 90s, I remember frequent radio ads for a Go-Kart place or something that was "on the Red Arrow Highway, just west of Paw Paw". The Red Arrow Highway passes through Paw Paw, and is roughly east–west, so I don't think it would make sense to specify that something is on the Red Arrow Highway due west of Paw Paw; rather, the ads meant that it was very near Paw Paw, as opposed to, like, a twenty mile drive away.
I tried to Google for those ads just now, and couldn't find them; but I found various property listings for places "just west of Paw Paw", and their goal likewise seems to be to emphasize the convenience of the location.
I wrote this paragraph for another purpose some years ago
Use of 'so', 'but' and 'just'
Everyone has their own verbal habits in speech or writing. When I read my own writing (for self-editing or just because I have come back to it), I realise that I use 'so' and 'but' a lot. Perhaps the 'so' is trying to show the development of my thinking or the justification for an action, or perhaps 'so' is showing how I think things are linked. Use of 'but' might be indicative of my ability to see multiple points of view, or perhaps it shows that I can’t be definitive. Another word I feel I use often is 'just', with multiple meanings. Am I being too tentative by using 'just'? Perhaps all these reasons are relevant, or there may be other reasons, one of which is that my writing is too simple or not imaginative enough. But mostly I just naturally assume that my choice of words is the simplest, clearest way to write, and so it usually doesn’t worry me.
David Letterman did a bit (1982) which I think is still hilarious. He did a remote tour of a NYC shopping district. 2 stores are featured: "Just Bulbs" and "Just Shades."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-DakHvUBM
(Dog bless the internet)
When my kids were in pre-school, one of the other parents ran a non-profit (?) called Just Economics, aimed at small scale nonprofit organizations with little or no economic or business sense, but a lot of heart.