Usage of 'Nexis' is Baffling

[Scot LaFaive]

In response to your question about "nexis" being a word, I looked it up in
the OED and found that alas, it is not there. "Nexus" is there though. I've
always spelled it as the former, and after a Google search, I see that many
others do the same. Perhaps the OED (and most other dictionaries) needs a
variant spelling in there now.

Scot LaFaive


>From: Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Usage of 'Nexis' is Baffling
>Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2007 10:50:12 -0400
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>Subject:      Usage of 'Nexis' is Baffling
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Does anyone understand what the author of this letter, published in today
>Sacramento Bee, meant in her use of the word 'nexis'? Come to that, is
>nexis
>a word? Unfortunately, I don't have access to some of the reference sources
>some of you do, and I've been unable to find any reference that begins to
>shed a light on this. The reference is in the second paragraph. I've
>omitted
>the remainder of the letter is irrelevant.
>(the other) doug
>
>
>Get the drunks off the roads
>
>Re "Driver in crash appears in court," April 4: Victims of drunken drivers
>are dying at an alarming rate. It doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize
>current anti drunken-driving laws have little or no deterrent value. And
>while hardly a week goes by that we don't see the victim's families crying,
>holding each other and wondering out loud why the driver was driving while
>drunk, Californians should not expect the Legislature to enact
>anti-drunken-driving laws with significant deterrent value.
>
>What's fascinating to me on this issue and so many others involving the
>safety and security of California families is that there doesn't appear to
>be any nexis between these tragic deaths and families destroyed and the
>voting patterns in every election.
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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