https://www.proz.com/kudoz/english/electronics-elect-eng/782489-alternate-display.html

alternate display

English translation: other display

15:58 Aug 9, 2004
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Tech/Engineering - Electronics / Elect Eng
English term or phrase: alternate display
compressor controls

Press the [STOP/RESET] key at any time to stop the compressor under normal conditions. If the compressor has been running, the reservoir will first be relieved of pressure before stopping the motor. The display will count down to zero during the normal stop

***If any alternate display is on***, press the operating mode key to return to the "normal" display. While operating and running, the unit may be manually unloaded by pressing and holding the operating mode key. This unloads a running compressor after several seconds, and will prevent loading while the key is held down. When the key is released, the control will resume its normal operation as required

can you confifrm that alternate display means any text which is displayed alternately with other text, and not "an alternative display intended as monitor)... or any I mistaken?
thanks!
Elena Ghetti
Italy
Local time: 08:38
Selected answer:other display
Explanation:
The source is very bad English. "Alternate" is inappropriate for a couple of reasons.

In careful usage at least, in both UK and US (although sadly less often in the latter), "alternate" means "every second", as in "write your answer on alternate lines", which means "write on every second line", i.e. leave one line blank after every line you write on. People are using "alternate" more and more where they mean "alternative" (i.e. some other, a different option).

Even "alternative" here, although not wrong, is less idiomatic and more pretentious than "other", which, from the context, appears to be what is meant.

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Note added at 2 hrs 19 mins (2004-08-09 18:18:21 GMT)
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PS re-reading your question, I note that you have a better grasp of the distinction between \"alternate\" and \"alternative\" than the author of your text. If \"alternate\" were actually meant, there could be only one \"alternate\" display, and so \"any\" would be in appropriate.
Selected response from:

Richard Benham
France
Local time: 08:38
Grading comment
thanks for the explanation and thanks everybody who answered!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
5 +4another text
Hervé du Verle
4 +3other display
Richard Benham
5other type of display
Clauwolf
5There is a single monitor (no alternate monitor), you can monitor different parameters on it......
Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
5If any alternate display method is on.. If any alternate display mode is selected
airmailrpl
4alternate mode of display
jlm
4alternate menu of the same display window
Roddy Stegemann


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
other type of display


Explanation:
:)

Clauwolf
Local time: 03:38
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 34
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +4
another text


Explanation:
Indeed, it means displaying any other information while in activity, press the key to return to "normal'

Hervé du Verle
Local time: 02:38
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
22 mins

agree  Jörgen Slet
6 hrs

agree  Rajan Chopra
16 hrs

agree  Ramesh Madhavan
19 hrs
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
alternate mode of display


Explanation:
It refers to an alternate mode of display, ie same monitor, different type of info...

jlm
Local time: 07:38
Native speaker of: Native in SpanishSpanish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Richard Benham: See my answer on the distinction between "alternate" and "alternative".
2 hrs
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
There is a single monitor (no alternate monitor), you can monitor different parameters on it......


Explanation:
There is a single monitor (no alternate monitor), you can monitor different parameters on it (you can change the display).

Saleh Chowdhury, Ph.D.
Bangladesh
Local time: 12:38
Native speaker of: Native in BengaliBengali
PRO pts in category: 6

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Richard Benham: See my answer on the distinction between "alternate" and "alternative".
2 hrs
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
other display


Explanation:
The source is very bad English. "Alternate" is inappropriate for a couple of reasons.

In careful usage at least, in both UK and US (although sadly less often in the latter), "alternate" means "every second", as in "write your answer on alternate lines", which means "write on every second line", i.e. leave one line blank after every line you write on. People are using "alternate" more and more where they mean "alternative" (i.e. some other, a different option).

Even "alternative" here, although not wrong, is less idiomatic and more pretentious than "other", which, from the context, appears to be what is meant.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 19 mins (2004-08-09 18:18:21 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

PS re-reading your question, I note that you have a better grasp of the distinction between \"alternate\" and \"alternative\" than the author of your text. If \"alternate\" were actually meant, there could be only one \"alternate\" display, and so \"any\" would be in appropriate.

Richard Benham
France
Local time: 08:38
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 16
Grading comment
thanks for the explanation and thanks everybody who answered!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Jörgen Slet
4 hrs
  -> Thanks.

agree  Tony M: Yes, spot on Richard! I guess it just means that the correct 'normal' window (or whatever...) needs to be visible...
13 hrs
  -> Thanks Dusty.

agree  verbis
19 hrs
  -> Thanks.
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3 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
If any alternate display method is on.. If any alternate display mode is selected


Explanation:
***If any alternate display is on***, press the operating mode key to return to the "normal" display

If any alternate display method is on.. If any alternate display mode is selected

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Note added at 17 days (2004-08-27 06:18:22 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

airmailrpl: pretended or unpretended => or pretentious?? [Edit / delete] 3 days 17 hrs 21 mins > I have always used the word pretentious to refer to a manner of behavior or the character of a person. In this instance I refer to the knowledge itself.

Definitions of pretend on the Web:

the enactment of a pretense; \"it was just pretend\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

make believe with the intent to deceive; \"He feigned that he was ill\"; \"He shammed a headache\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

behave unnaturally or affectedly; \"She\'s just acting\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

put forward a claim and assert right or possession of; \"pretend the title of King\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

put forward, of a guess, in spite of possible refutation; \"I am guessing that the price of real estate will rise again\"; \"I cannot pretend to say that you are wrong\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

represent fictitiously, as in a play, or pretend to be or act like; \"She makes like an actress\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

state insincerely; \"He professed innocence but later admitted his guilt\"; \"She pretended not to have known the suicide bomber\"; \"She pretends to be an expert on wine\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn

imagined as in a play; \"the make-believe world of theater\"; \"play money\"; \"dangling their legs in the water to catch pretend fish\"
www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn



airmailrpl
Brazil
Local time: 03:38
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in PortuguesePortuguese
PRO pts in category: 36

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Richard Benham: See my answer on the distinction between "alternate" and "alternative".
2 hrs
  -> -
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
alternate menu of the same display window


Explanation:
Think of the display as the machine's monitoring and command screen with more than one menu, but only one menu can be shown at a time. Depending on what you want the machine to do the proper menu must appear.

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Note added at 8 hrs 12 mins (2004-08-10 00:10:37 GMT)
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Richard Benham: Lacking your pretended or unpretended knowledge about who uses the terms alternate and alternative more appropriately -- the US or UK -- I will not enter into national debate on this issue. Please observe, however, that many monitoring and control screens automatically return to the main menu after some time has elapsed and are therefore both alternate (interval) and alternative (selection) in nature.

Moreover, since the menaing of these terms overlap I find your neutral comment as little more than a mark-up ploy to highlight your own answer and thus mislead the asker. Please change it to an agree or remove it.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 days (2004-08-27 15:14:15 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

airmailrpl: My original response to you obviously requires clarification. I apologize for the somewhat contradictory character of my statement, but please keep in mind the extreme space limitation of the box in which it was entered.

A single act is not a behavioral trait, rather the manifestation of conscious or unconscious intent for a given moment. It was not my goal to label Richard as a pretentious individual; rather to indicate the dubious nature of the information that he was supplying. Now you may argue that a pretentious act is indeed a pretended act, and I would not disagree. In contrast are all pretended acts pretentious in nature? It is here that we disagree.

Judging from Richard\'s post-entry behaviour -- namely, changing his neutral response to a disagree without further explanation -- one might very well conclude that his possibly pretended show of information was indeed pretentious. Fortunately, the ProZ.com bulletin boards are not the place to discuss the personality traits of other contributors, or as it were, noncontributors.

Thank you for providing me with an incentive to clarify my remark.

Roddy Stegemann
United States
Local time: 23:38
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Richard Benham: See my answer on the distinction between "alternate" and "alternative".
1 hr
  -> Truly there are alternative ways of calling an ass an ass, but this is not the place to discuss them.

agree  Ramesh Madhavan
18 hrs
  -> Thank you, Ramesh. At least now the only negative marker appears along with Richard Benham's name, rather than with the entire group.

neutral  airmailrpl: pretended or unpretended => or pretentious?? see additions on 'pretend' above
3 days 17 hrs
  -> I have always used the word pretentious to refer to a manner of behavior or the character of a person. In this instance I refer to the knowledge itself. In any case let us not wander from the issue of alternating display windows. // See note above.
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