table

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Thu Feb 09, 2006 5:59 am

The following is my understanding:

"The bill [proposal] was put on the table. / The bill was tabled.

= [US] It was decided that the bill [proposal] would not be discussed until a future date.

= [UK] It was decided that the bill should be discussed.

I wonder what would be the expressions that avoid any misunderstanding.

Thank you.

tigertiger · Post by **tigertiger** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 4:20 am

Itasan wrote:The following is my understanding:

"The bill [proposal] was put on the table. / The bill was tabled.

= [US] It was decided that the bill [proposal] would not be discussed until a future date.

= [UK] It was decided that the bill should be discussed.

I wonder what would be the expressions that avoid any misunderstanding.

Thank you.

To table is to 'put something forward for discussion' at a meeting/assembly. It means more than just discuss, it has a level of officialdom associated.

Addtional note.
UK
a 'Bill' is a peice of legislation or proposed legislation in this sense.

As for your US-UK comparisons, I don't see the difference. Both worjk in BrE.
Reality would be that unless it was going to be discussed the Bill would not be drafted. so the UK example above is an unreal situation.

Itasan, please rephrase the exact point you are trying to make. It is unclear to me.

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:13 am

In the U.S. if you are having a discussion following Roberts Rules of Order, and someone moves to table, that means they want to put off dealing with the resolution. They can table it to a time certain, or they can table it indefinitely. I think his point is that in the U.K. , from what he said, the meaning is different. In the U.S. if you table something at a meeting you don't officially discuss it again until it is untabled.

Itasan · Post by **Itasan** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:27 am

>>In the U.S. if you table something at a meeting you don't officially discuss it again until it is untabled.<<
Thank you very much for the excellent explanation. 'Untable' seems to become another topic.
1. table - (US) not bring up for discussion (for some time); (UK) bring up for discussion
2. untable - (US) bring up for discussion what was tabled; (UK) stop discussing what was tabled???
I might be wrong, but would you help me?

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 3:29 am

Hmm, this is rather interesting. I looked "untable" up in the dictionary, but it isn't there. However, when I googled "untable" and "motion" together, there were a lot of examples of minutes from meetings where people made a motion to untable something. So maybe it's a word that most people would understand, but the dictionary hasn't decided is a word yet.

tigertiger · Post by **tigertiger** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:56 am

Itasan wrote:>>In the U.S. if you table something at a meeting you don't officially discuss it again until it is untabled.<<
Thank you very much for the excellent explanation. 'Untable' seems to become another topic.
1. table - (US) not bring up for discussion (for some time); (UK) bring up for discussion
2. untable - (US) bring up for discussion what was tabled; (UK) stop discussing what was tabled???
I might be wrong, but would you help me?

UK I have never heard of 'untable'.
You might 'remove it from the agenda', 'take it off the agenda'.
You might 'shelve it', 'postpone it indefinatley', or 'delay it'.

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