A Couple of Folk

[Laurence Horn]

Re:

At 2:36 PM -0400 9/28/00, Sallie Lemons wrote:
>Well, I guess we all botched that one...something I do regularly.
>But what do I know. I live in NY and I am not a linguist.
>
>Allison Hall wrote:
>
>>I found it very curious that no one on this list has heard of the word
>>"botch," for I use it all the time.  I can't offer any information on the
>>origin of the word, but I and everyone I've heard use the word have used it
>>to mean "to foul up," "to screw up," or "to make a really big mistake."  In
>>gymnastics, I used it quite often if I completely did a routine incorrectly:
>>   Wow, did I just botch that one!
>>_________________________________________________________________________

Excuse me--did anyone (much less everyone) on the list claim that
they were unfamiliar with the verb "botch"?  I must have missed those
postings.  I believe it was the origin of the word that was in doubt,
not its existence or meaning.

larry
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/attachments/20000928/f97fa695/attachment.htm>