prescriptivism, conventions, irony, and could(n't) care less

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:02 PM -0500 1/31/01, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>Has anyone else noticed
>the (seemingly) increasing use of "whom" generally in the media?  Even our
>student newspaper is using it more, and it invariably sounds stilted.

and not infrequently "wrong", i.e. hypercorrectly used for the
subject (the candidate whom I think is going to win...)

>
>On p.t. of 'spit':  My dictionary (an old Webster's New World) lists both
>'spat' and 'spit' (in that order).  I still hear, and use, 'spat', but it
>will go when it goes.
>
I'm still holding out for a revival of 'spitten' as the past participle.

larry