save = prevent?

[Lynne Murphy]

>From an AP story today:

"That's what allowed the bus driver to get it over to the side of the
road," he said. "It may have saved a real tragedy here."
(available at: http://salon.com/news/wire/2001/10/18/bus/index.html)

The speaker is Doug McCleve, spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol.  The
only appropriate definition of this in AHD4 or NODE is the sports use, in
which to save a goal or a point would be to prevent someone from scoring.

Has this crossed into non-sport use, or is there something else going on
here?  It strikes me as a counterintuitive meaning, but I guess I'm used to
saving good things.

Lynne




M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
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