>Thanks, Rich. My colleague always use this expression "Apples and oranges". She also used word 'collaborate' (? if I picked it right) yesterday, when we removed functionality pieces by pieces. I'm not sure, what does this word mean.
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Collaborate typically means "work together" so that sounds about right.

A screw is a metallic object which is used to connect two other objects (usually made of wood). I don't imagine that is how your colleague is using the word, however. It is also a synonym for a four letter word (beginning with "F") describing the procreative act.

SET RANT ON

It is also one of those words which, over the past several years, has been used so frequently and in so many previously socially unacceptable situations, that it has changed from being a coarse vulgarity into being relatively commonly used. Getting "screwed" has a completely different connotation now than when I was growing up. The same, unfortunately, is true of the word "sucks" in its worst (well maybe not worst) context.

It's either(1) part of a conspiracy to lower the moral fiber of the country and make us vulnerable to ...yada yada yada or (2) the natural evolution of the language reflecting a change in moral values or (3) the natural evolution of the language.

I can get used to hearing "screwed" and "sucks" in normal conversation even when not intended as a curse or vulgarity. I get really upset, however, with the increasing use of "Ho."

SET RANT OFF

At any rate, the use of "screw" in casual conversation is becomming sort of acceptable, but I avoid it in any circumstance which would require "polite" or "refined" discourse.

Probably more than you wanted to read......but I feel better now.

..............Rich



>My manager uses word "screw", when something isn't working right. I'm not sure, is it a valid term and can I use it in conversations?
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>>>It's probably like apples and pears.
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>>This is completely off topic, but I've always been intrigued by the way non-native English speakers, even the most fluent ones, use idioms. Please bear in mind that I'm fluent in American, as opposed to English, and this particular phrase may be different in the two languages. In American, I've always heard it as comparing apples and oranges. I don't speak enough German to know the equivalent phrase in that language, but I wouldn't be surprised to find that yours is a literal translation.
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>>The main reason for writing (I hope it's obvious that it isn't to comment on your knowledge of English), is that the phrase somehow kicked off a memory of when (more years ago than I care to admit) I was stationed in Germany. I played with the local volleyball team and one day I was playing at tennis with a member of the team. He was virtually completely fluent in English. As he was beating me 1-0, 2-0,.....n-0 he was announcing the score as 1-Up, 2-Up,....n-Up. In American, this usually means 1-each, 2-each, etc. I asked him why he was using that phrase and his answer was that the one in the lead was "Up." That made more sense to me than using the expression to mean "each."
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>>So. Thanks for kicking off a pleasant three year long memory marred only by one day's poor tennis. That's the end of my trip down memory lane
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>>..........Rich