name of the quake = Nisqually

[Alice Faber]

Well, I thought David was pointing out the "official" name of the
earthquake (as opposed to things like Seattle Rattler and the like that
were bandied about here earlier in the week). But, now that you mention it,
"looks to be" seems totally unexceptionable to me. (Maybe it's a New York
thang.) It's subtly different from "seems to be", but I'm not sure exactly
how, perhaps stylistically; it might be a bit "folksier".

As to Tom's question, the "head-scratcher" is, I would imagine,
seismological rather than geographic or linguistic.

Beverly Flanigan said:
>I assume the point is the verb "looks to be"--a variant of the "looking to"
>usage we've been talking about recently.  But it's different in that, like
>"seems," it reflects speaker/writer perception rather than outward-directed
>action by the nominal subject (planning to, intending to).  Neither usage
>is common to me (or to Dave, I suspect), but both seem (look) to be
>spreading generally today though they may originally have been regionally
>restricted.  What do others think?
>
>At 09:52 AM 3/3/01 -0500, you wrote:
>>What's the point? The Nisqually River flows through the Nisqually Indian
>>Reservation near Olympia.
>>--
>>Tom Fenton ( tom_fenton at attglobal.net )
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: David Bergdahl <einstein at FROGNET.NET>
>>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2001 9:32 AM
>>Subject: name of the quake = Nisqually
>>
>>
>>> "They say this latest earthquake, which is being called the Nisqually,
>>> for the river delta near its epicenter, looks to be something of a
>>> scientific head-scratcher."
>>> -- Sat NY Times online
>>> ___________________________________________________________
>>> David Bergdahl   einstein at frognet.net   tel: (740) 592-1617
>>>         home page:      http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~bergdahl
>>

--
Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
Haskins Laboratories                              fax  (203) 865-8963
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