fraught

[Ann Burlingham]

On Fri, Jun 19, 2009 at 8:59 AM, Jonathan Lighter<wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      fraught
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>
> I can't find it in the Archives.  Short for "fraught with difficulties or
> complications." Here's an ex. from a learned colleague:
>
> 2009 Brian Boyd _On the Origin of Stories_ (Cambridge: Belknap) 56: If
> cooperation is is fairly easy to establish, yet already fraught, among close
> kin, how can it extend even among non-kin?
>
> No earlier instance of "fraught" in the book.  My impression is that it's
> becoming a bit faddish in the media.

"That seems a bit fraught" feels just fine to me.

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