Talk:seem like a good idea at the time

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Wiktionary:Requests for verification - kept[edit]

Kept. See archived discussion of November 2008. 07:01, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Wiktionary:Requests for deletion - kept[edit]

Kept. See archived discussion of January 2009. 20:47, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

This definition can't be right![edit]

To "seem like a good idea" is "to have made a foolish past action"? Huh? Equinox ◑ 18:15, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I think this ought not have been moved from "it seemed like a good idea at the time". Alternatively, a noun entry for "good idea at the time" might capture more of the forms in which the idea is expressed. It probably requires a flash of insight and/or more research. DCDuring TALK 19:36, 4 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've changed "have made" to "have been", but it's still wrong, because "to seem like a good idea at the time" is just literally that. IMO we could only usefully define "to have seemed like a good idea...". Is anyone able to improve it further? (I still wish it had been deleted.) Equinox ◑ 11:56, 21 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The usage note is an effort to clarify the rare usages that are the only pretext for this to not be limited to the form in which it was discussed at RfD. Semantically, there is necessarily a separation between the time of the expression of the thought (or rather the excuse) and the time of the "seeming". Grammatically, it can make sense is a frequentative ("seems") and in the emphatic past with the modal "do" (possibly even both at the same time). It is possible in the future perfect: "It will have seemed ...". All in all, forcing this into the lemma form makes for an impossible definition that is probably unintelligible to few except certain academics. I don't understand the motive for taking an idiomatic phrase (as in phrasebook entry) that has major gaps in its inflection and treating it as if it were a fully inflecting verb without notes. DCDuring TALK 15:24, 21 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But the lemma form seems necessary in order to take into account possible variants like "it might have seemed like a good idea...", "it would have seemed like a good idea..." Never mind, I think that's what you just said. Equinox ◑ 01:22, 4 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]
I just improved it... maybe. Equinox ◑ 16:47, 15 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

RFD discussion: September–November 2023[edit]

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for deletion (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

SOP. Survived RFD in 2009, when we most of us were less wise. Originally made by Wonderfool, who is still just as dumb as a bag of rocks. As for why WF created this entry, well, ... Jewle V (talk) 10:49, 10 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a past life too? Account created 20 August 2023, but obviously not a newbie. DonnanZ (talk) 17:49, 10 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
It's obviously Wonderfool. The giveaway is his making fun of WF and speculating about WF's motivations, which is primarily something WF himself does. Andrew Sheedy (talk) 05:08, 13 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm. Some edits by this user may need reverting. DonnanZ (talk) 08:46, 13 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
All edits, I'd say. Jewle V (talk) 18:24, 14 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Move to a good idea at the time. That something "sounded like a good idea at the time" or "seemed to be a good idea at the time" are also attested. I think the core phrase here is "a good idea at the time" to mean "a bad idea", in retrospect. bd2412 T 18:27, 10 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I'm not convinced by "good idea at the time" (it shouldn't have "a" anyway since you can say multiple ideas were good ideas at the time). It's a strong collocation, but other stuff like good plan at the time, good strategy at the time, good policy at the time, good explanation at the time, is all easy to attest too. A better solution might just be a usage note at the existing at the time entry saying that it usually implies a contrast with the present. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 21:04, 10 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I don't think any of those import the unique sense of something having gone wrong. For example, if I say that when I was in college, I had to stretch my resources, so I "ate a lot of ramen noodles at the time", this has a very different set of implications from saying that I "ate a lot of ramen noodles, which I thought was a good idea at the time". The latter raises the presumption that it was, in fact, not a good idea for reasons later revealed. bd2412 T 12:47, 11 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    But "I ate a lot of ramen noodles at the time" does generally imply that you don't eat them a lot any more, in the same way that "a good idea at the time" typically implies that it wasn't a good idea in retrospect. However, it's not as strict as you're making out: "good idea at the time" can be and often is used without irony too. As a random example, see this Hansard extract: "I took to legal practice because it seemed a good idea at the time and it has seemed a good idea over the following 30 years" (there's no subsequent implication it turned out to be a bad one). The same applies for the other collocations above, which also typically but not always imply it turned out to be otherwise. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 12:58, 11 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    I would read "it seemed a good idea at the time and it has seemed a good idea over the following 30 years" as an ironic juxtaposition, because the first part creates the expectation that something bad will have come of it, and the second part subverts the expectation. bd2412 T 02:22, 12 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
    If you aren't convinced by that one you can also find plenty of examples where "seemed like a good idea at the time" is used simply to mean that there isn't any particular explanation and not that the idea turned out to be a bad one, like [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. The idea that it means the idea was bad in retrospect by definition is wrong, it's just a soft implication from "at the time". —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 23:18, 12 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Delete, SOP. Do not redirect. PUC – 08:57, 11 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
No one has proposed to redirect this title anywhere. bd2412 T 12:43, 11 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Delete without move per my comments above. —Al-Muqanna المقنع (talk) 12:49, 11 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]
Delete. Not a very helpful entry. Equinox ◑ 12:24, 14 September 2023 (UTC)[reply]


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