Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

as much about...as anything else

English answer:

no aspect of the jazz camp is more important or significant than professional global awareness

Added to glossary by Charles Davis
Jul 18, 2013 11:28
10 yrs ago
2 viewers *
English term

as much about...as anything else

Homework / test English Art/Literary Journalism
What is the exact meaning you would give this sentence? How can we say this in a different way?

This jazz camp is as much about professional global awareness as anything else.
Change log

Jul 29, 2013 21:07: Charles Davis Created KOG entry

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (2): Tony M, Cilian O'Tuama

When entering new questions, KudoZ askers are given an opportunity* to classify the difficulty of their questions as 'easy' or 'pro'. If you feel a question marked 'easy' should actually be marked 'pro', and if you have earned more than 20 KudoZ points, you can click the "Vote PRO" button to recommend that change.

How to tell the difference between "easy" and "pro" questions:

An easy question is one that any bilingual person would be able to answer correctly. (Or in the case of monolingual questions, an easy question is one that any native speaker of the language would be able to answer correctly.)

A pro question is anything else... in other words, any question that requires knowledge or skills that are specialized (even slightly).

Another way to think of the difficulty levels is this: an easy question is one that deals with everyday conversation. A pro question is anything else.

When deciding between easy and pro, err on the side of pro. Most questions will be pro.

* Note: non-member askers are not given the option of entering 'pro' questions; the only way for their questions to be classified as 'pro' is for a ProZ.com member or members to re-classify it.

Discussion

Charles Davis Jul 19, 2013:
@ crocox Thank you for these comments. Now that we know what the "jazz camp" refers to, things are much clearer!
crocox (asker) Jul 19, 2013:
Thank you, all, very much! I find your explanations really useful. It is indeed about the jazz community. The camp's original purpose was to train both students and teachers in jazz education practices. It was envisioned as a way of promoting artisan retention in awareness of those young musicians who migrate to other countries, making them learn to appreciate the opportunities they already have. So, it is about training, playing, and everything that goes with a musician's job, plus the professional global awareness. My feeling is that this was, in fact, the main idea of the camp. As I am reading the text again I understand it better and I realize that both Tony and Charles' explanations work very well together. Thank you too, Veronika!

Responses

+2
50 mins
Selected

No aspect of the jazz camp is more important or significant than professional global awareness

I basically agree with Tony, but it's not quite a matter of "as much about X as about Y"; it's "as much about X as about anything else", and "anything else" means any other aspect of the jazz camp. "Camp" implies those who are committed to and defend a cause, so the "jazz camp" could mean all those who are keen on jazz; but here, "professional awareness" implies that it probably refers to the community of jazz practitioners: jazz musicians.

"As much about X as anything else" is a common expression; in fact it's a set phrase. It means that nothing else, no other element or feature of the thing concerned, is more important than X. X is what mainly characterises it. Strictly speaking it is not saying that X is more important than any other aspect, since it leaves open the possibility that something else is equally important (it doesn't say "more about X than anything else"); however, that, in practice, is what one understands it to mean.

So interpreting it a little further, you might say that it means something like: "No quality (or accomplishment) is more important to a jazz musician than professional global awareness".

Professional global awareness could mean an awareness of what everyone else in the profession is doing, or a complete awareness of what a jazz professional does.

By the way, I quite agree with Tony and Terry that in this expression X is often something unexpected. You might expect that the most important thing would be musical skill rather than "global awareness", for example.

But one reason I wouldn't express it as "as much about X as about Y" is that there's no single Y; Y could be anything, any aspect of the jazz world. There's no opposition between "jazz" and "professional global awareness"; the latter is one of many aspects of jazz.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day21 hrs (2013-07-20 08:33:40 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Now that you have explained that this "jazz camp" is a kind of course of instruction, it probably means that as much time and attention are devoted to professional global awareness as to any other aspect of being a jazz musician (such as instrumental skill). There is no other aspect of being a jazz musician that receives more attention at the camp than this one.
Peer comment(s):

agree Jessica Guimaraes
1 hr
Thank you, Jessica!
agree Pavle Perencevic
1 day 19 hrs
Thank you, Pavle!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you very much!"
+4
6 mins

it is about X just as much as it is about Y

This suggest the writer is trying to say "although it is ostensibly about Y (here, jazz), in reality it is also very much about X (i.e. global awareness)

So even though X may not be obvious, explicit, or whatever, it is actually an element that is just as important / applicable.
Note from asker:
Thank you very much!
Peer comment(s):

agree Terry Richards : With at least a hint that X is somewhat unexpected.
34 mins
Thanks, Terry! Yes, indeed!
agree Ketty Federico
1 hr
Thanks, Ketty!
agree Diana Alsobrook
3 hrs
Thanks, Diana!
agree NancyLynn
1 day 4 hrs
Thanks, Nancy!
Something went wrong...
28 mins

The jazz camp does not simply try to evoke professional global awareness, but

...offers many other ideas as well.
Note from asker:
Thank you!
Peer comment(s):

neutral Tony M : Sorry, Veronika, but I think you have actually got those ideas the wrong way round :-(
7 mins
The songs raising global awareness?
Something went wrong...
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search