on verbing "extinct"

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Nov 23, 2008, at 6:37 AM, Larry Horn wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      on verbing "extinct"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> from Gail Collins's column in yesterday's NYT urging President Bush
> to resign his office forthwith.  Note the parenthetical:
> ====================

> ... (So many national
> parks to despoil, so many endangered species to exterminate ...)
> ====================

very nice.  of course, she *meant* "exterminate" 'destroy completely',
not merely 'make ... extinct'.

arnold

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