Guinness isn't good for me (off topic)

[Lynne Murphy]

>Interesting that she used "enquiry," instead of "inquiry."  I tend to
>associate "enquire" with an "e" with the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.  Don't those
>spell it that way?
>
>bob
>
>>  From: Bapopik at AOL.COM
>>  Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 13:03:22 EDT
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  Subject: Guinness isn't good for me (off topic)
>>
>>  We are sorry that we cannot be more positive but we thank you again for your
>>  enquiry and your interest in Guinness World Records and hope that you are
>  > not too disappointed.


To quote Fowler's (3rd ed.):

enquire, enquiry, in-
"...At present, the _in-_ forms are dominant for all senses in AmE,
whereas in BrE the _en-_ forms now tend to be restricted to the
general sense 'ask a question' (_to enquire after her health_) and
_inquire_, and esp. the noun _inquiry_ are used in contexts of formal
investigations (_an inquiry agent, a police inquiry...)..."

Lynne
--
Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH UK
phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax    +44-(0)1273-671320