Reader question:
What is stopgap, as in "a stopgap measure"?
My comments:
A look up any dictionary will yield you something, but let me find a way for you to remember it.
There's a leak in the pipe in the garden. Instead of replacing the pipe with a new one, you fetch some tape to paper over the crack. The crack in the pipe is a "gap", make the tape a "stop" and you have a stopgap – something to "stop" a "gap".
Taping over the leak may work for now but you know it's still a leaking pipe. Some time in future, perhaps soon, it'll start leaking water again. So therefore, the tape is a stopgap measure, a measure that is temporary, expedient and very probably not the best solution, or substitute to be exact.
Stopgap reminds me of makeshift, a word obviously formed from "make" and "shift". Shift means change. Makeshift hence means to make a change and make it work.
It may not work the best but it will do under the circumstances, for lack of a better alternative if you will. Think of the term "make do". It means to make do – make something work, manage with what's available right now. Same thing: it probably won't work (that well), but you make it work nevertheless.
In short, both stopgap and makeshift means a substitute you make do with on a temporary basis (to be replaced if and when a better alternative is found).
And according to my research, stopgap has been in the English language since 1684, makeshift since 1683.
Make do? This is "attested from 1899", according to Online Etymology Dictionary, but I suspect the idea has been there for ever.
Anyways, here are examples of "stopgap" and "makeshift" in the news.
Stopgap example 1:
Once dismissed asa stopgap figure, al-Maliki has developed into a national leader, threatening the Supreme Council's ambition to win the top job after next year's elections.
Example 2:
It is almost as if Paulson and Bernanke have created a plan that will see them through the next few months without concern for the long-term effects of their actions. "I regard this as nothing more than a stopgap measure to get us through the election," says S&P's Wyss.
Makeshift example 1:
"It was apparent that the murder suspect, alone in his cell, had used a piece of his shirt as a makeshift ligature around his neck," Charlie Beck, chief of detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department, told a news conference at police headquarters Saturday.
Example 2:
Monday was International Car Free Day. Many cities in China called residents to choose public transportation means instead of driving their own cars. Beijing was no exemption. It just stopped banning vehicles with odd and even-numbered license plates on alternate days from Sunday, but discussion aroused by the ban is not over. Was it the only way to ease Beijing's traffic jam or only a makeshift solution which will make things worse?
上一篇: 漫步太空 学习英语
校园的一个角落
国际英语资讯:Chinas help in COVID-19 fight boosts intl cooperation: Ethiopian scholar
妈妈我想对你说
妈妈我想对你说
国际英语资讯:Trump, Putin speak over phone on COVID-19, global energy market
说说我的心里话
国际英语资讯:WHO warns against lifting restrictions too soon amid signs of slowing in COVID-19 infections
小树,我想对你说
向爸爸妈妈说说心里话
国际英语资讯:Singapores COVID-19 cases surpass 2,000, seventh death reported
妈妈我想对你说(2)
泰国新年临近 曼谷实施10天禁酒令
自然美景之桃花
自然美景之可爱的月季花
国内英语资讯:Chinese vice premier talks with British finance minister on bilateral cooperation
国内英语资讯:Chinese mainland reports 42 new confirmed COVID-19 cases
国际英语资讯:Putin, Trump, King Salman agree to coordinate moves on stabilizing oil markets -- Kremlin
妈妈,我想对你说
体坛英语资讯:Kenyan Chumba eyes Tokyo marathon title
爸爸妈妈我想对你说
这十种方法让自己的大脑变得更聪明
爸爸妈妈我想对您说(1)
体坛英语资讯:VAR headlined again in Premier League
国际英语资讯:UK PM moved out of intensive care
花的奥秘
国内英语资讯:China has never exported Chinese model to anyone: FM spokesperson
My Family 我的家庭
动物带给我们的启示
国际英语资讯:COVID-19 deaths in U.S. to be substantially below 100,000, says Trump
体坛英语资讯:Tsitsipas wraps back-to-back victory in Marseille