We say fizzle out Where do not last long ? To use these expressions nowadays is to play with fire. Moreover, they are found in most of the works devoted to the difficulties and pitfalls of language.
We tend to think that one means the opposite of the other, but this is not necessarily the case, as we will see.
“Long fire” was said of a cartridge whose primer burns too slowly, so that the shot misses its mark, we read in the Little Robert full. The fire here is that of a gun (as in “shot”, for example). Figuratively, it is a synonym ofto fail, of to fail. This business has fizzled out (it did not succeed), we also read in the dictionary of the French Academy. Moreover, the expression can also mean “dragging out”. His story fizzles out.
The expression “do not last long”, the one we see most frequently, is used in the sense of “not last long” (always according to the Robert). Like a flash of straw that goes out very quickly – the word fire here has the meaning of flame. Their association did not last long. Purists criticize this confusing meaning, underlines the Dictionary of expressions and phrases (Robert).
This is because we could write, with a little bad faith: Their association did not last long, it did not last. Either: their association did not last long, it was a failure.
As the correctors of Monde.fr write, it is a “beautiful case of enantiosemia (two opposite or contradictory meanings for the same word)! “. What exactly do we mean when we use one of these expressions? We really risk not being understood. So what ?
Patient
“Twice this week I have encountered the word patient in novels. Is this new? ”
Reply
Word patient entered the Robert in 2013 (which does not mean that he was not employed before). It is formed on the model of the name customer base and is used to designate all the patients of a health professional or a hospital establishment. It also appears in the Larousse.
In the Robert, the name bears the mention DIDACT., for didactic: “word or use which exists only in the learned language (educational works, etc.) and not in the ordinary spoken language”.
We still find the term in the media, more often in the French press than in the Quebec press, but it is also used here. The patient base of a doctor, a speech therapist. The number of doctors no longer makes it possible to meet the needs and offer the appropriate services to the patient population.