5 ms·

Stylistic note: "knell" is a word for a sound, like the ringing of a solemn type of bell. So something can't be said to "spell a death knell".

codetrotter 2y ago
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/death-knell#google_vignette https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/death-kn... This page has a couple examples that use the phrasing “spelling” a death knell: > If it does, it almost spells the death knell of a great number of football clubs throught the country. > Indeed, it may spell the death knell of the other place. If it sounds strange in US English, could it be a way of wording that’s more common in UK English?
lgas 2y ago
"X spells Y" means "X results in Y". It was used correctly.
dahart 2y ago
Please don’t forget about 2nd definitions of words, and idioms. The stylistic note here is to be really careful when language policing. From what I’ve seen, it’s almost always wrong and backfires looking bad on you to claim other people’s word choices are incorrect. I know this from plenty of experience being knocked off the high horse. ;) But language is broader and more fluid than we imagine, and it’s quite fun to be a student of the way language works and changes over time. In English it gets even more fun when tracing etymologies through the other languages where our words came from and see the weird subtle ways the meanings change. knell (noun) 2: “an indication of the end or the failure of something” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knell https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knell spell (verb) 2: “to add up to / MEAN”, 3: “come to understand” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spell https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spell Examples of the idiom ‘spell a death knell’: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/862658646/the-latest-u-s-blow-to-chinas-huawei-could-knock-out-its-global-5g-plans https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/862658646/the-latest-u-s-blow... https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone/spell-a-death-knell-worry-over-groups-300000-event/news-story/15792bc7ea8f1ba176bfabf01428f17a https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone/spe... https://www.mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Machine-Learning.pdf https://www.mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Machine-Learn... https://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/international/to-shield-taxpayers-from-luxury-trips-and-corporate-scams-defund-the-u-n/ https://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/international/to-shield-...
prewett 2y ago
I believe that back when the church was the center of English village life, they would ring the low bell when someone died. Being a village, you'd know when someone was ill. The bell was audible throughout the village, and probably to most of the surrounding fields, so having seen them struggle through their sickness, you'd know who had just died. Anything, words included, that could metaphorically convey that the death-struggle was now finished. (Ironically, though, the death knell of things like companies is usually sounded before they are actually dead, and rather when the company is ill but the writer thinks that death is inevitable.) Although I don't like "spell a death knell" because the rhyme has an awkward rhythm, and it would be better to "sound" the knell.

codetrotter 2y ago

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/death-knell#google_vignette https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/death-kn... This page has a couple examples that use the phrasing “spelling” a death knell: > If it does, it almost spells the death knell of a great number of football clubs throught the country. > Indeed, it may spell the death knell of the other place. If it sounds strange in US English, could it be a way of wording that’s more common in UK English?

lgas 2y ago

"X spells Y" means "X results in Y". It was used correctly.

dahart 2y ago

Please don’t forget about 2nd definitions of words, and idioms. The stylistic note here is to be really careful when language policing. From what I’ve seen, it’s almost always wrong and backfires looking bad on you to claim other people’s word choices are incorrect. I know this from plenty of experience being knocked off the high horse. ;) But language is broader and more fluid than we imagine, and it’s quite fun to be a student of the way language works and changes over time. In English it gets even more fun when tracing etymologies through the other languages where our words came from and see the weird subtle ways the meanings change. knell (noun) 2: “an indication of the end or the failure of something” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knell https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/knell spell (verb) 2: “to add up to / MEAN”, 3: “come to understand” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spell https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spell Examples of the idiom ‘spell a death knell’: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/862658646/the-latest-u-s-blow-to-chinas-huawei-could-knock-out-its-global-5g-plans https://www.npr.org/2020/05/28/862658646/the-latest-u-s-blow... https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone/spell-a-death-knell-worry-over-groups-300000-event/news-story/15792bc7ea8f1ba176bfabf01428f17a https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/gladstone/spe... https://www.mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Machine-Learning.pdf https://www.mca-marines.org/wp-content/uploads/Machine-Learn... https://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/international/to-shield-taxpayers-from-luxury-trips-and-corporate-scams-defund-the-u-n/ https://www.protectingtaxpayers.org/international/to-shield-...

prewett 2y ago

I believe that back when the church was the center of English village life, they would ring the low bell when someone died. Being a village, you'd know when someone was ill. The bell was audible throughout the village, and probably to most of the surrounding fields, so having seen them struggle through their sickness, you'd know who had just died. Anything, words included, that could metaphorically convey that the death-struggle was now finished. (Ironically, though, the death knell of things like companies is usually sounded before they are actually dead, and rather when the company is ill but the writer thinks that death is inevitable.) Although I don't like "spell a death knell" because the rhyme has an awkward rhythm, and it would be better to "sound" the knell.