A Couple of Folk

[Mike Salovesh]

Allison Hall wrote:
>
> I found it very curious that no one on this list has heard of the word
> "botch," for I use it all the time.  I can't offer any information on the
> origin of the word, but I and everyone I've heard use the word have used it
> to mean "to foul up," "to screw up," or "to make a really big mistake."  In
> gymnastics, I used it quite often if I completely did a routine incorrectly:
>   Wow, did I just botch that one!

"Botch", and such derivatives as "all botched up", are so common and
ordinary to my ear -- and so commonly used, or at least understood, in
my speech community -- that I didn't see much point in affirming its
existence. Allison's definition is exactly the sense the word conveys
when I hear it or use it.

Discovering that "botch" is a word in common use strikes me as
equivalent to discovering that I've been speaking prose all my life.

-- mike salovesh                    <salovesh at niu.edu>
PEACE !!!