"select" = certain (of many)

[Jonathan Lighter]

In my day (i.e., up till this afternoon) adjectival "select" meant "carefully selected for excellence or fitness; picked." (I paraphrase OED).
 
So there's this helpful notice at the local Office Depot store advising that "Select television receivers will no longer be operative after February 19, 2009. On that date [etc., etc.]."
 
Observe how not a single element of the usual definition remains - except for a vague sense of "E pluribus nonnullum." The receivers affected are mostly old and clunky, and certainly undistinguished.
 
JL 




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