"To take possession violently" is a special sense of the verb "to seize" ; the basic meaning is simply to "take hold of," and would be hard to better for translating carpe diem .
One reading the article might come away with the impression that Chi Luu thinks "seize the day" ("Hollywood phrasing," she calls it) had its origin in a couple of Robin Williams movies some thirty years ago. I hope the JSTOR pitfall, I mean blog, is too obscure to be much visited by the eager and unwary.
"To take possession violently" is a special sense of the verb "to seize" ; the basic meaning is simply to "take hold of," and would be hard to better for translating carpe diem .
ReplyDeleteOne reading the article might come away with the impression that Chi Luu thinks "seize the day" ("Hollywood phrasing," she calls it) had its origin in a couple of Robin Williams movies some thirty years ago. I hope the JSTOR pitfall, I mean blog, is too obscure to be much visited by the eager and unwary.
Yes, the provincial time frame of the article is worrisome. And your point about "seize" is well taken.
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