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left/departed

99bottles

Senior Member
Greek
Is departed too formal in this context?

Context: Two kids at camp consider buying something. One of them says the words below.

I can't afford it. My parents gave me only a minimal amount of money before I left home/departed from home.
I suppose any child who is formal enough to say “a minimal amount” might also say “departed.” Otherwise, it’s pretty unlikely.

[Cross-posted]
Yes, it's far too formal for a child. (So is "minimal", by the way.)
Is left home good? My biggest concern is that it sounds as if the child says he left home forever.
That doesn't worry me, but if it worries you you could always say "before I let the house". Then there is no ambiguity.
That generates a new ambiguity, though. By calling his home a house, it sounds as if it weren't his permanent residence. 😅
Is departed too formal in this context?

Context: Two kids at camp consider buying something. One of them says the words below.

I can't afford it. My parents gave me only a minimal amount of money before I left home/departed from home.
I'd expect something like "That costs too much. My mom and dad didn't give me much money." Context indicates to the listener that the speaker means 'didn't give me much money before I came to camp.'
or
"Nah. My stupid parents think I'm gonna buy weed or somethin' from Bob* so they gave me like zero money.'

*The head counselor. He wears a man bun and his favorite T-shirt lists the itinerary of an Old Crow Medicine Show tour in 2018.
*The head counselor. He wears a man bun and his favorite T-shirt lists the itinerary of an Old Crow Medicine Show tour in 2018.
Wait, what?
I made up what I thought was a realistic context for the two kids. The speaker is being (immaturely) cool about how Bob the head counselor could sell him marijuana and that's why his parents didn't give him much money. He's covering up the fact that his parents don't have enough money to give him a lot of cash to fritter away. Old Crow Medicine Show is a string band that's popular among a certain crowd in the US. A man bun is a male hairstyle involving a topknot. I see by the internet that it's still in style.
The point being made is that the English learnt by most students in (say) Greece isn't the real idiom spoken by young people in (say) Carmel-by-the-Sea Ca or Yadkinville NC. That's understood: beginners learn a simplified and "correct" version of English.

We don't really expect people on this website to rise to Roxxxannne's heights of imagination, but we can point out that in everyday speech "mom and dad" is more likely than "parents" and that words like "minimal" and "departed" are virtually unknown. In Greek terms they are katheravousa rather than demotic.
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You don't really need to say "before I left home", do you?

My folks didn't give me much spending money.
The point being made is that the English learnt by most students in (say) Greece isn't the real idiom spoken by young people in (say) Carmel-by-the-Sea Ca or Yadkinville NC. That's understood: beginners learn a simplified and "correct" version of English.

We don't really expect people on this website to rise to Roxxxannne's heights of imagination, but we can point out that in everyday speech "mom and dad" is more likely than "parents" and that words like "minimal" and "departed" are virtually unknown. In Greek terms they are katheravousa rather than demotic.
In my mother tongue, I also tend to unnecessarily use formal words, so maybe it is partly just me. 😅

You don't really need to say "before I left home", do you?

My folks didn't give me much spending money.
Doesn't that render the meaning vague? When and why did your parents give you that money? Was it right before you entered the bus so that you had some money during vacation? Was it weeks or months before your vacation, for another purpose, and you just decided or happened to save it for vacation?
Doesn't that render the meaning vague? When and why did your parents give you that money? Was it right before you entered the bus so that you had some money during vacation? Was it weeks or months before your vacation, for another purpose, and you just decided or happened to save it for vacation?
The sentence velisarius has provided would readily be understood to mean that the parents had provided only a small amount of spending money for this particular vacation. If it is important to your story that they handed the speaker the money just as he or she boarded the bus, as opposed to (say) the day before, then you would have to explain that, but in any case the reader would not imagine that it had been provided weeks or months before, for another purpose.
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