LL-L "Etymology" 2003.04.06 (01) [E]

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From: kcaldwell31 at comcast.net <kcaldwell31 at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Etymology" 2003.04.04 (01) [E]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Etymology
>
> Thanks, Allison and William!
>
> Allison, I appreciate the interesting information and clarifications you
> have been contributing to our discussions.
>
> I knew that "naught" in the sense of "zero" is at least still understood
> all
> over the United States and certainly in Canada, though I hear it used very
> rarely.  However, it was news to me that "aught" is still used in remote
> regions of the US Southeast.

"Aught" can also mean "zero," as in the gun caliber "thirty-aught-six"
(30.06), or in referring to a year such as 1908 as "aught-eight."  The
latter is certainly old-fashioned - I associate it with elderly people
remembering something that happened a long time ago, "back in
aught-eight..."  I have started using it for humorous effect to refer to
years in the current decade, this year being "aught-three."

And I imagine one reason for the preservation of "aught" or "ought" with the
meaning "anything" or "something" in American speech, particularly in the
South (and not necessarily in remote areas), is its occurrence in the King
James Bible, as in Matthew 5:23, "...and there rememberest that thy brother
hath ought against thee..."

Kevin Caldwell (kcaldwell31 at comcast.net)

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