Yusuke
Is there any difference between "have the luxury of 〜ing" and "have the bandwidth to do 〜". They sound quite similar to me. If I had to say one thing, 'have the bandwidth" is mostly used in a negative way, while the other one is not neutral. What is your take on that? Thank you in advance?
Dec 25, 2023 5:16 PM
Answers · 6
2
Only people who are fairly tech savvy will understand your use of "bandwidth". I would interpret it as a synonym for "scope" or "freedom".
December 26, 2023
2
'Bandwidth' is like having enough free mental energy/time to attend to something-- it's adopted from the technological term 'Bandwidth' with respect to internet speeds, routers, etc. So, to not have the bandwidth, would mean you would like to do something, but you don't have the capacity, mental energy, time, etc to do so. It has a very neutral connotation. Whereas, 'I don't have the luxury to do something' has a more negative connotation--it sounds less objective, more judgmental, and possibly accusatory. It applies more of a value judgment to whatever is in question-- not always, but I would say 'bandwidth' is more neutral, generally.
December 25, 2023
1
"Luxury" is standard English, and has been for hundreds of years. Literally, a "luxury" is something expensive that only rich people can afford, or something that's reserved for people of high social rank. "A private jet is a luxury." More generally, it refers to comfort, leisure, and abundance. For a very busy person, having enough time to do things is a luxury. "I don't have the luxury of/for/to..." is often used as an explanation for being stingy. A boss might say "I'm sorry your computer is slow, but you can't get a new one. We don't have the luxury to upgrade everybody's machine every two years." It's always negative in tone because it is always talking about a lack of capability. "Bandwidth" is recent jargon. It's used informally by techies. It literally means signal channel capacity--more broadly, speed. For example, the speed of a computer is limited by the bandwidth of the connection between CPU and RAM. The ability to support 8K UHD streaming video depends on the bandwidth of the Internet connection. That meaning is in every dictionary. It also has a slang meaning, referring to some kind of brain capacity, often intelligence. "Low bandwidth" is sometimes used mockingly to refer to intelligence. "So-and-so doesn't have much bandwidth" means they are like a slow computer... i.e. not very intelligent. It can also mean refer to other kinds of mental energy. These slang meanings are not in every English dictionary, and you probably shouldn't use them yourself in ordinary English writing.
December 26, 2023
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