pre-purchased

[Lynne Murphy]

--On Wednesday, June 12, 2002 1:55 pm -0700 FRITZ JUENGLING
<juengling_fritz at SALKEIZ.K12.OR.US> wrote:

>> Pre-purchased because you're not actually in possession of the thing you
>> purchased yet--ownership of the yearbook is still vague (the payer 'owns'
>> it without having it).
>
> Yes, the meaning is clear, but when you order something thru the mail and
> send along payment, but have not received the item, would you say that
> you have "pre-purchased" it until it shows up? Fritz

You'd usually say you'd 'ordered' it, because in the mail-order context,
the fact that you've paid when ordering is usually understood.  But outside
that context, 'order' doesn't work--when I order a sandwich, I don't pay
for it until it's arrived.  So you need something different to say in a
situation like buying yearbooks or girl scout cookies in anticipation of
receiving them much later.

As usual, my examples have made me hungry.

Lynne


Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA in Applied Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320