Re: [ADS-L] lexical query

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Mon Sep 3 17:28:10 UTC 2007


On Sep 3, 2007, at 7:42 AM, Ron Butters wrote:

> Well, once again, why doesn't "luck" fit the bill? If I ask, "What
> kind of
> luck did you have at the slot machines last night?" am I not using
> "luck" in a
> way that allows for both 'blessing' and curse'?

allows, but doesn't require.  some instances of luck are blessings
(good luck), some are curses (bad luck), and a few might be both,
though most are either one or the other.  so this is an example of a
word referring to something that can be either a blessing OR a curse,
not of a word referring to something that is at once both a blessing
AND a curse.

larry horn: can you explain why i keep getting suggestions using OR,
when i asked about AND?

arnold

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