Failed to understand "NPR-=sound-bite shape" - what does it mean?

Forums: English, Esl, Grammar, Not Closed Yet
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I will try to explain that I never said I think biology is a necessary condition for determining that a particular suffering is a disease. I will then try to explain that nonetheless the biology thing is the myth that gives us confidence in what doctors tell us, and that the DSM is an attempt to command confidence by suggesting that psychiatry knows more than it does. I will try to invoke history, the way that the DSM-III was a response to a crisis of confidence. I may even invoke David Brooks, who accused psychiatry of having Physics Envy. But I probably won’t get far, since this is a hard one to get into NPR-=sound-bite shape.
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http://www.garygreenbergonline.com/

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Type: Question • Score: 5 • Views: 1,020 • Replies: 13

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@oristarA,

Question solved.
Thread closed.

1 Reply

@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

Question solved.
Thread closed.

You cannot "close" a thread; you start it; others follow; it is closed when we say so. You have aroused our curiosity. What does "NPR-=sound-bite shape" mean?

2 Replies

@contrex,

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure NPR in National Public Radio.

1 Reply

@roger,

roger wrote:

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure NPR in National Public Radio.

Yes likewise. I just wondered about the reason for that particular text string appearing in the material that oristarA was looking at. He appears to have found out, but does not deign to tell us. Perhaps it is a link on a web page, perhaps to a short audio clip, that was swept up along with the neighbouring text during a copy-and-paste?

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@contrex,

contrex wrote:

oristarA wrote:

Question solved.
Thread closed.

You cannot "close" a thread; you start it; others follow; it is closed when we say so. You have aroused our curiosity. What does "NPR-=sound-bite shape" mean?

Basically "to get into NPR-=sound-bite shape" means "to make it a good short short story for National Public Radio to broadcast; NPR, an institution for intellectual geeks with liberal bent in US."

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I am specifically curious about the dash or minus sign followed by an equals sign in "NPR-=sound-bite shape". I did a Google search for the exact phrase and got 2 hits: 1. the original piece (at www.garygreenbergonline.com) that oristarA quoted from, and 2. this present thread. (I know what -= means in computer source code such as Java and C)

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@oristarA,

oristarA wrote:

NPR, an institution for intellectual geeks with liberal bent in US."

Just a note, when intellectual geeks with a liberal bent say this, it's mildly humorous, when someone else says it this way, this is insulting.

1 Reply

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

when someone else says it this way, this is insulting.

It's weird the way in the USA, "liberal" seems to mean "everyone who isn't a fascist". I guess that's because of the polarised and broken political system they have there. NPR seems, to these European eyes, to be solidly centrist and non partisan.

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@contrex,

Actually I meant the "intellectual geek" part.

1 Reply

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

Actually I meant the "intellectual geek" part.

I hate the word "geek".

0 Replies

Any ideas about the -= thing?

1 Reply

@contrex,

I just assumed the author was looking for some sort of punctuation to connect the two words. I didn't assign the "-=" any special meaning.

1 Reply

@engineer,

engineer wrote:

I just assumed the author was looking for some sort of punctuation to connect the two words. I didn't assign the "-=" any special meaning.

Well, as far as I can see it is meaningless "punctuation" that serves no discernible purpose. I am starting to wonder if it is a typing or formatting error.

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Failed to understand "NPR-=sound-bite shape" - what does it mean?

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