[Ads-l] Full-frontal

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Nov 16 20:26:24 UTC 2014


On Nov 16, 2014, at 3:12 PM, victor steinbok wrote:

> This is not likely to be new, but do add to the list
> 
> http://goo.gl/ZLKJ4O
> 
> This seems to be yet another case if specific >> general, displacing more
> appropriate terminology. In this case, the term is "full-frontal" for
> what's actually partial dorsal.
> 
>> In the most revealing photo (seen above, with black bars that didn't make
> their way to the magazine), a nude Kardashian goes full-frontal, wearing
> nothing but a pearl choker.
>> 
>> Not everyone was a fan of the now-famous booty shot
> 
> If it's a booty shot, it cannot be frontal. Never mind that "full-frontal
> [nudity]" usually implies head-to-toe naked. The reference to "nothing but
> a pearl choker" also seems to be a bit off. But, I suppose, one can still
> get a full-frontal shot with boots, gloves and hat on.
> 
> Years ago I commented (posted by AZ) about "quadriplegic" taking over
> "paralized" and "paraplegic". And there are plenty similar examples.
> 
Another classic instance of rounding upward is "penultimate" = 'last/most extreme' < 'last/most extreme but one'.  It's hard to track when these reanalyses were first attested, since the OED prefers not to include entries of this sort, however widespread.  Well, that's an exaggeration; they do have perfectly good entries for "decimate", "peruse", etc., but they must figure they have to draw the line somewhere...

LH

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