"Commercial" words (WAS: plural people)

[Baker, John]

        Yes, laundering money is something that I literally talk about
daily.  (My clients are required to have anti-money laundering
policies.)  Laundering clothes, not so much.

        And, since we've picked it up in this thread:  I'm not so sure
that I'm disturbed by The New Yorker's translation of "dentifrice" as
"toothpaste."  The writer was, after all, translating a French word,
albeit one whose meaning in English is approximately the same as that of
the English word with the same spelling.  Since the pharmacist responded
to the request for a dentifrice by providing a sort of do-it-yourself
absinthe kit, it seems reasonable for the writer to clarify that he was,
nominally, asking for toothpaste.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of sagehen
Sent: Thursday, April 20, 2006 11:36 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Commercial" words (WAS: plural people)

  And, like
>Victoria, vide infra, I also have the impression that "launder" is a
>word extinct in the wild.
>
>-Wilson
>
>
>Like the verb 'launder'?
>>
>> Victoria
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Depends what you consider "wild."  There was an item on this morning's
news regarding some scam or other that served "to launder money."
Acc. OED, it's been around since late 16th Cent., possibly a back
formation from "laundry," which had been around from early 15th.
AM

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