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    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #21

    Jan 28, 2018, 03:36 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Allen Farber View Post
    So nuance just means any opinion that's explained?
    Noooooooooooo!!!

    A fine shade of meaning: “I liked the film, but I know I missed some of its nuances.” What does that mean? "I missed some of its subtleties."
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #22

    Jan 28, 2018, 03:53 PM
    All right, maybe I'm just getting ahead of myself. Maybe I don't understand the root word "nuance" on which the verb and adjective "nuanced" are based. So from my understanding, nuance means a subtle difference or distinction. Like there's a nuance/subtle difference between red and scarlet and there's a nuance/subtle difference between a neutral face and a slightly frowning face. Are we in agreeance on that? Or is there another meaning of "nuance" I and the dictionary are not aware of?

    I don't know what a fine shade of meaning, a subtle shade of meaning, etc. even means. I keep hearing it used yet it makes no sense to me. I ask what nuance means and they say "subtle shade of meaning" and ask what subtle shade of meaning is and they say "nuance". This is really driving me nuts
    Alty's Avatar
    Alty Posts: 28,317, Reputation: 5972
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    #23

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:14 PM
    Allen, I looked back at your previous questions, and this is not the first time you've asked someone to describe what the word nuance and nuanced means. Many people tried to explain and you just couldn't get it, which is what's also happening on this thread. Joy, Tal and WG have given great examples, and they've done a very good job explaining the meaning of nuance and nuanced, but to no avail. I really think that this is one word you're just never going to understand, because you can't seem to grasp the explanations given. Not your fault, it's just the way your brain works, but I really think that at this point everyone is beating a dead horse, and you're not the only one that it's driving nuts.
    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #24

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:23 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by Allen Farber View Post
    Like there's a nuance/subtle difference between red and scarlet and there's a nuance/subtle difference between a neutral face and a slightly frowning face. Are we in agreeance on that?
    Yes. Purple and lilac. Water and vodka. Tylenol and aspirin. My mother's pie crust and my MIL's pie crust. The way I wash dishes and the way my husband washes dishes.
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #25

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:29 PM
    All right, so when when you use nuance like a verb as in "the effect of the music was nuanced by the social situation of the listener" what does that mean? The definition says "give nuances to" or "give subtle differences to" but I don't understand how you can give subtle differences to something

    I'm sorry but I'll die before I accept defeat. Trying to figure this out has kept me up and awake, wandering around my dorm like an idiot. It would be ashame if I did all that worrying for nothing
    talaniman's Avatar
    talaniman Posts: 54,327, Reputation: 10855
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    #26

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:31 PM
    Maybe it's time you give us your own idea of nuance and subtle, like you would on a test for a teacher. Leave out what you don't understand, or any questions. Go for it. Learning is not an absolute one day event. It's a process and more will be revealed later. Heck guy half the people don't know and couldn't exactly explain nuance and subtle either, but they don't get stuck trying.
    joypulv's Avatar
    joypulv Posts: 21,591, Reputation: 2941
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    #27

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:33 PM
    OK, sorry for being sort of flippant.
    No, nuance doesn't just mean any opinion that's explained.
    It really really does mean shades of meaning. Why you feel a need to nit pick over whether those shades are 'different' or not is beyond me. How can a shade not be different? Yes, 'slight difference,'' but see, you just had to throw a wrench in that works by using an infinite spectrum, and I just had to joke about how many 'slight shades' there could be on an infinite spectrum.

    SIGH... maybe I'm just not meant for this. It's fun for a while. But if you are going to get by in the world, I'd suggest that you settle on a meaning that sounds good to you and accept it at that. Unless you want to join the big leagues.... I know someone who is a famous, well paid translator from French to English. Easy? No, he might spend a month on a phrase such as whether or not we say the 'sun sets over the hill' vs the 'sun sets behind the hill.

    And you have to expect that you will hear responses here that contradict each other, or throw you off. Who says we are all right? Or any one of us? I could be three 10 year old girls in Patagonia for all you know. Make up YOUR mind, with what feels right to YOU.

    “I liked the film, but I know I missed some of its nuances.” That's using it as a noun.
    ''I liked the film, but parts of it were heavily nuanced, and I probably missed them.'' That's as an adjective.
    Alty's Avatar
    Alty Posts: 28,317, Reputation: 5972
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    #28

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:35 PM
    Allen, no two people see or hear things the same. If I post a song on this thread and both you and I listen to it, we'll both react to it differently. It could be that one of us loves the song, the other doesn't. You may hear the instruments playing and be able to pinpoint exactly what instruments are being used, where I may connect more to the lyrics or the sound of the singers voice. We're each listening to the same song, but we'll hear different things because we are two different people. So having said that, now read that sentence again and tell me what you think it means.
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #29

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:40 PM
    I only know it as a noun and I use it interchangeably with "difference" when the difference between two things I'm trying to point out is barely noticeable. I couldn't even begin to comprehend the other ways people use it
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #30

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:47 PM
    I'm still perplexed by what a shade of meaning is. That's never been explained and if it has, it used the word nuance which is the word I'm trying to figure out. As for the sentences you provided, still doesn't make any sense. "I liked the film, but I missed the subtle differences" the subtle differences from what? All these sentences are like incomplete sounding to me.

    I mean like all the explanations are circular. I can't help but feel this is all part of a conspiracy to drive me insane

    I would never know this is what sentence meant if you hadn't said so. But I'm not always going to have a translator to paraphrase things for me and I need to be able to know what a word means in any context when I read it
    joypulv's Avatar
    joypulv Posts: 21,591, Reputation: 2941
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    #31

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:50 PM
    You would have to stubbornly stay with the original usage, which I claim is awkward use of nuance as a verb.

    '' It says "to give subtle differences to" yet it makes no sense when plugged into the sentence "the effect of the music is nuanced by the social situation of the listener" I don't understand how you can give something subtle differences.''

    I'll try again: YOU aren't giving something subtle differences. Where does it say that? It says that the social situation of the listener is. The nuances might even affect you differently from the person next to you. So if you are a New Yorker in Zimbabwe listening to drums, you might think the music is for a wedding and start laughing and clapping, when it's really to honor a famous king of 300 years ago. That's a stupid example, but I'm exhausted.

    PS - I was thinking that perhaps you are trying to drive me insane.
    Alty's Avatar
    Alty Posts: 28,317, Reputation: 5972
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    #32

    Jan 28, 2018, 04:59 PM
    Have you ever watched a movie with someone and discussed it with them afterwards and they pointed out things in the movie that you didn't notice? Have you ever watched a TV show and when you discussed it with someone else you both had very different reactions to the show, you both felt differently about it?
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #33

    Jan 28, 2018, 05:02 PM
    "It really really does mean shades of meaning. Why you feel a need to nit pick over whether those shades are 'different' or not is beyond me. How can a shade not be different? Yes, 'slight difference,'' but see, you just had to throw a wrench in that works by using an infinite spectrum, and I just had to joke about how many 'slight shades' there could be on an infinite spectrum."

    I promise I'll just go away on this site after this. But I mean I have no idea what the complaint is... that is if it's even a complaint at all. I don't get what shades of meaning means. And if you want to explain it, don't use the words "nuance" or "nuanced". And I know you were being sarcastic but that's a valid question... why wouldn't a shade be different from another shade? Then there wouldn't be shades of anything if it was all the same. And that was exactly my point about the infinite spectrum. It has many shades of color, meaning, belief, etc. just like in real life
    Athos's Avatar
    Athos Posts: 1,108, Reputation: 55
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    #34

    Jan 28, 2018, 05:19 PM
    You're right. The sentence/statement is not nuanced and never will be nor can it be. It means what it means and only that.

    "The sky is blue". This sentence means that the sky is blue. That's all it can ever mean. It cannot mean the sky is a shade of blue. It cannot mean the sky has a deep blue color, or the sky looks like Navy blue, or royal blue, or any other kind of blue - or any color, or anything that is descriptive - the sky is blue is the sum total of what that statement can ever mean.

    Some observers come along. Observer A reads the sentence and thinks of the sky as a shade of blue. B thinks of the sky as deep blue. C, Navy blue, D royal blue, and so on. E doesn't think of color at all - he thinks the sky is beautiful.

    These observations are what are referred to as nuances. The key lies in the fact that the nuance lies not in the thing itself, but in the thought/reaction of the observer.

    To make the point, I used a very simple example. In "real life", nuances rise from more complex statements, but the principle is the same.
    Alty's Avatar
    Alty Posts: 28,317, Reputation: 5972
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    #35

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:15 PM
    Athos just gave you a very well written explanation. Do you get it now or are you still confused?
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #36

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:31 PM
    I do get it but I got it in that context before, as a noun. I just don't get when nuanced is used as an adjective and it means "characterized by subtle shades of meaning" I don't get how something can have many shades of meaning. I've tried to make that clear but no one has answered that directly. And neither the question about what shades of meaning are
    ma0641's Avatar
    ma0641 Posts: 15,675, Reputation: 1012
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    #37

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:37 PM
    Nuance:
    ORIGIN

    late 18th cent.: from French, ‘shade, subtlety,’ from nuer ‘to shade,’ based on Latin nubes ‘cloud.’

    NOUN

    I don't get how something can have many shades of meaning:
    socialists (plural noun)


    Wondergirl's Avatar
    Wondergirl Posts: 39,354, Reputation: 5431
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    #38

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:42 PM
    nuanced

    nu·anced
    Use nuanced in a sentence

    adjective
    • The definition of nuanced is done with extreme care to appreciate fine-point distinctions that you have to be very detail-oriented to notice.
      An example of nuanced is a nuanced glance, when a person looks at a painting and understands the fine-point details about what makes it great.
    Alty's Avatar
    Alty Posts: 28,317, Reputation: 5972
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    #39

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:43 PM
    When something is nuanced it has different meanings for different people. That's what "shades of meaning" means. Like I tried to explain to you before, it's you and I listening to the same song, but hearing different things, or feeling different things, liking or hating the song.

    Sigh.
    Allen Farber's Avatar
    Allen Farber Posts: 191, Reputation: 1
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    #40

    Jan 28, 2018, 06:44 PM
    Y'know I think it may have clicked a bit. So I get the gist of it I guess but if you don't mind me asking, how would that definition apply to these sentences where it's used: "Lowe's work has gradually grown more nuanced" and "I liked the film, but parts of it were heavily nuanced, and I probably missed them"

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