Grinch, killjoy, sync, synch, synchronization. Correlation is not causation. A writer wonders whether the wild things around her are out of sync with the season.

horrors of the war in Ukraine.

Stephan Alessi for The New York Times

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Kristian Thacker for The New York Times

What a Search for the Signs of Spring Reveals

A writer wonders whether the wild things around her are out of sync with the season.

Apple's iPhone Is Retail's Grinch -- Heard on the Street

"Poverty", wrote Aristotle, "is the parent of crime." But was he right? Certainly, poverty and crime are associated. And the idea that a lack of income might drive someone to misdeeds sounds plausible. But recently published research casts doubt on the chain of causationhttp://econ.st/1vmtxlY

Parliament Finally Sees Some Beauty
in Britain's Beast of Bolsover

Dennis Skinner has richly earned his reputation as Parliament's No. 1 killjoy. But these days, his reflexive need to vote against pay raises has put him in sync with the mood of the public and other politicians.

That Synching Feeling

Once, synching to a recorded track was the refuge of the mediocre and inept; now it's a practice taken up by even the best artists.

Correlation is not causation. Mass privatisation was not the most important or effective part of “shock therapy” and the rise in death rates is out of synch with efforts at economic reform.


The Latest Bad News For Your 401(k)?
As if your 401(k) hadn't been through enough. American workers, forced to look on helplessly as the value of their 401(k)s sink in sync with the Dow, now have something else to worry about. On Wednesday, General Motors told its nonunion employees that starting next month, it would stop matching t...
(By Annys Shin, The Washington Post)


Apple took its first steps to position its iPhone as a BlackBerry rival, announcing features that allow businesses to sync up with corporate email and calendars.

killjoy Show phonetics
noun [C] DISAPPROVING
a person who does not like other people enjoying themselves


sync, synch Show phonetics
noun [U]INFORMAL FOR synchronization, see at synchronize:
He's putting himself forward as a president whose ideas are in sync with (= are suited to and show an understanding of) a nation demanding change.

sync, synch

━━ v., n. 〔話〕 ＝synchronize; （テレビなどで）同調（信号） (in ～; out of ～).
sync bit　【コンピュータ】同期ビット.
sync character　【コンピュータ】同期文字.
sync pulse　【コンピュータ】同期パルス.

Grinch

Line breaks: Grinch

Pronunciation: /ɡrɪntʃ 

  

/

NOUN

North American INFORMAL

A spoilsport or killjoy:it’s hard not to feel like a bit of a Grinch criticizing the importance of 'zine culture

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Origin

1970s: the name of a character in the children's story How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957) by Dr Seuss.

cause (REASON)
noun
1 [C or U] the reason why something, especially something bad, happens:
The police are still trying to establish the cause of the fire.
She had died of natural causes.
I wouldn't tell you without (good) cause (= if there was not a (good) reason).
I believe we have/there is just cause (= a fair reason) for taking this action.

2 [U] a reason to feel something or to behave in a particular way:
He's never given me any cause for concern.

cause
verb [T]
to make something happen, especially something bad:
The difficult driving conditions caused several accidents.
[+ object + to infinitive] The bright light caused her to blink.
Most heart attacks are caused by blood clots.
[+ two objects] I hope the children haven't caused you too much trouble.

causal 
adjective FORMAL
causal relationship/link/etc. a relationship/link/etc. between two things in which one causes the other:
Is there a causal relationship between violence on television and violent behaviour?

causality
noun [U] FORMAL
the principle that there is a cause for everything that happens

causation 
noun [U] FORMAL
the process of causing something to happen or exist