In defense of etymological speculation

[Michael Quinion]

> I somehow first sent this response just to Frank when I meant to
> send it to the list; *why* doesn't the LISTSERV software use a
> proper Reply-To?!?

Actually, the LISTSERV specification for this group contains a line
which does explicitly set that address correctly. All my incoming
messages contain the line:

> Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

How your mailing software deals with that is a matter for you to set
for yourself. Mine for example (Pegasus) offers me several options,
of which one is to respond to the "From:" field and another is to use
the "Reply-to:" field. Of course, you can use both if you like (as I
have just done), and so generate a personal copy.


--
Michael Quinion
Editor, World Wide Words
E-mail: <TheEditor at worldwidewords.org>
Web: <http://www.worldwidewords.org/>