Conference thebay::joyoflex

    >What is "to leverage" supposed to mean, anyway ?
    
    To borrow money so that you can lose 10 times as much as your
    original investment.

	
	I used to shudder at what I thought was "DECspeak" such as 
	"functionality" and "leverage", etc.  I also have a personal
	objection to using nouns as verbs but this is such a common
	practice today that it demands acceptance as a recognition
	of English as a living language.

	wrt to "leverage" in the context .0 mentions, I challenge
	any JOYOFLEX reader to come up with a more effective replacement.
	For me, the word is a succinct way of saying ;

	    "to increase the (business) return (of an existing investment)"

	where the (business) and the (existing investment) are generally
	well understood implicitly from the context.

	As this sentiment is a particularly attractive argument to use
	in a sales situation, I find myself saying "leverage" quite frequently
	now (and even translating it into French!).

	I do however think the word is vastly overused (and hence de-valued)
	within Digital.

           I'm curious:  What's the French translation of "leverage?"

	Dan,
		What are you doing up so late (early?)

	The French would have a huge problem with the "verbing" of
	a noun, assuming that they had a noun for "leverage", which to be
	strictly correct, they don't.  So with respect to
	to leveraging your French sales pitch you have two options ;

	i) the clumsy one : e.g. "obtenir un effet de levier" - which
	   actually works better as a slick sales argument than the
	   grammatically correct English equivalent.

	ii) the smooth one : e.g "valoriser".  In a sales argument this
	    summons up all of the sentiments of the Anglo/American
	    verb "to leverage".  Its strict translation would be "to 
	    increase the standing of.." or something like that.

/Chris.

P.S.	As always, I'm open to constuctive criticism - Denis : is there a 
	better way of conveying this idea in French (or English for that matter)?

    Hey Chris, Tnx for the interesting traductions.  As for insomnia,
    yes... but I'm deep into creating a prototype HTML simulation of a
    gateway to the web for my daughter's ConText product.  And as always,
    when I'm deep into something cool & complex it's easier to hack than to
    toss & turn while trying to figure things out without a computer... :-) 
    Sleep will come later...  This gateway is really going to be
    revolutionary!
    

    re: .4
    	If I actually had to pronounce it, it would probably come out more
    like "obtenir un effet de levrier", which might give the wrong
    impression. I have learnt to limit my French vocabulary to the words I
    can pronounce without risk of ambiguity.

    Re .4: Chris, your two ways of conveying the idea are quite good in
    fact, and I don't see any better just on the spot. Some remarks,
    though: "obtenir un effet de levier" is not actually clumsy in French,
    it is a well known expression that has been in wide use for a very long
    time. The drawback is that its original and main meaning is purely
    mechanical; using it as an economical or business metaphore implies
    that the context allows no mistake on what you're using it about.
    "Valoriser" is (I think, but am not sure) newer (I should check in a
    dictionary when it came in use), and conveys quite well the meaning
    you're looking for. The range of meaning of "valoriser" is actually
    quite large, though: if there is a risk of mistake in the context, you
    might want to be more precise by saying "mieux valoriser un
    investissement". As you remarked, the meaning of the word can be quite
    broad.
    Re .6: Dave, you might not be very far off there, it all depends on how
    you interpret "obtenir un effet de levrier". If you interpret it in a
    hunting context, you may even have an interesting double meaning. From
    the viewpoint of the hunter, it might convey the idea Chris is looking
    for while, from the viewpoint of the game, it might bring the image of
    the trumpets of doom, which, in the case of some sales I could cite,
    would very well convey the customer's mood after he had actually tried
    to use what was sold to him... ;^) In a race context, however, I'm not
    sure what idea this might bring to mind.
    		Denis.

    re. .2
    
	wrt to "leverage" in the context .0 mentions, I challenge
	any JOYOFLEX reader to come up with a more effective replacement.
    
    to lever (v.t. to move with a lever).
    
    Jon

    Obtenir un effet de levrier = to whippet into shape        ;-)