semantic drif t: "scream"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 14, 2007, at 1:15 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> So "Scream, Blacula, Scream" implies no more horror than "Speak,
> Blacula, Speak"?
>   I stand corrected, but you guys must find poetry to be unusually
> challenging

nobody is saying that.  as i said before, the older uses of "scream"
are still available.  just because a new use becomes available
doesn't mean that the old ones have been supplanted,

and the context makes it perfectly clear when literal screaming is
intended and when the screaming is figurative.

arnold

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