the list

[Dennis R. Preston]

>Why worry whether or not you should have posted an etymnology (a
>very interesting field, etymology, by the way) to the American
>Dialect Society list. Our principal concern is not etymology.


dInIs



>In a message dated 8/14/02 3:44:43 PM Eastern Daylight Time, dave at WILTON.NET
>writes:
>
>>  questions prompt members to
>>   post their most recent findings. Some, like Fred Shapiro and Barry Popik,
>>   dutifully send in regular updates on their research, but many others only
>do
>>   so when prompted with a question.
>
>Most of the etymology I have perpetrated has been in mathematics and the
>physical sciences.  Should I have posted my findings on "acetous acid"?
>
>Not that this kind of etymology does not have its moments that even laypeople
>would appreciate.  For example, shudder if you ever see anything circa 1840
>attributed to "Sir William Hamilton."   It happens that there were two men by
>that name, both active at the same time: Sir William R. Hamilton of Ireland
>and Sir William Hamilton bart of Scotland.  I had to go through some material
>by both of them in tracking down the word "commutative".
>
>       - Jim Landau
>         systems engineer
>         FAA Technical Center (ACB-510/BCI)
>         Atlantic City Int'l Airport NJ 08405 USA
>
>P.S. Just to liven up the list a little:  what well-known airplane at one
>time received the nickname of "The Flying Whore"?

--
Dennis R. Preston
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics and Languages
740 Wells Hall A
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office - (517) 353-0740
Fax - (517) 432-2736