race vs contest

[Kenny同志]

I was watching a documentary on two Japanese war criminals who started two 杀人竞赛s during the 1930s and was curious to know its equivalent in English. I thought that “killing race” would be fine but doing a lookup in Google Books returned only one result, far fewer than the number of hits of “killing contest”.

So is “killing race” incorrect?

[anonymoose]

I think a race should have a well defined objective, and the competition is to see who can be first to reach that objective. In other words, the time is the variable.

A contest, on the other hand, sounds more like a competition to see who can get the highest achievement within a set time. In other words, the achievement (the score) is the variable.

That's what it seems like to me, anyway, just thinking about it cursorily.

[li3wei1]

I agree. An eating contest is to see who can eat the most in a given time. An eating race would be who could eat a given amount the fastest.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks, Anonymoose and Liwei. I am clear now.

[Outofin]

I am clear now.

Does it sound right to everyone? I prefer to use the word "clear" to the thing you talked about, not you the person.

[creamyhorror]

If I were using 'clear' on a person, I would say "I'm clear on the topic now."

[Kenny同志]

Thanks. I might be wrong.

[WestTexas]

I'm clear now = I understand... it's fine.

[Kenny同志]

Thanks for confirming this, WestTexas.

[OneEye]

Glad we're all clear on that.

[li3wei1]

It's important to be completely transparent on these matters.

[Kenny同志]

I don't think I understand what you mean. What matters?

[li3wei1]

It's a joke, Kenny. this thread has diverged from topic since post 5, on the matter of whether 'clear' refers to a person or something that the person is talking or thinking about, i.e. whether it's better to say "that's clear" or "I'm clear". There has been some disagreement, and I think both sides have given perfectly legitimate examples. 'Transparent' has the same literal meaning as 'clear', and a figurative meaning that is very similar (honest and open, rather than understandable). I was using it in a way that refers to the person, rather than the thing.

I hope I have made myself perfectly clear.

[Kenny同志]

I see. hehe. Thanks.