barefoot-run

hw gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed Nov 6 18:51:09 UTC 2013


On Wed, Nov 6, 2013 at 10:42 AM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> CNN says the NJ mall gunman "random-fired six shots."
>
> This kind of thing is a syntactical innovation rather than a series of
> neologisms. So I'm sure that Arnold has already addressed it.
>
> FWIW, the first such construction I ever noticed was ca1976 when a clerk in
> the campus bookstore said she'd have to "special-order" something for me.
> It really sounded strange.
>

Somehow, "special-order" sounds completely fine, but the others are really
*strange*, especially "barefoot-run"! It should be "barefootED-run." ;-)

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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