[Lexicog] Slots and slot fillers (nee "Nouns")

[David Tuggy]

"for" doesn't mean the same thing in those two constructions, either; 
"during the period of time named by (the object)" and "until the 
occurrence of a salient event involving (the object)". I'll bet that if 
the "period of time" sense of "ferry" becomes dominant for any group of 
speakers the meaning of "wait for a ferry" = "wait (out) a ferry" will 
become more possible.

I have some words/phrases that are sort of ambivalent, in my linguistic 
system. "Wait for a tide" is pretty much like "wait for a bus", but 
maybe has a bit of "wait out a tide", parallel to "wait (out) an hour". 
"Wait for three tides" is more balanced in the possibilities. (The old 
equivalence tide=time is somehow relevant here.) "Wait for three 
orbits/lunar cycles" I can construe pretty well either way.

--David Tuggy

Patrick Hanks wrote:
> <snip>
> SECOND THOUGHT: "We waited an hour" is synonymous with "We waited for an
> hour" -- but "we waited a ferry" is not synonymous with "we waited for a
> ferry".
>   


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