FW: Same sound, opposite meaning

Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU
Fri May 10 01:23:36 UTC 2002


> >  I don't agree. "Verbal" in the strict and original sense and my usage
> >  includes written and oral language; in sloppyXXXXXX common present use
> >  it refers to oral language only, explicitly opposed to written.

"Verbal" meaning "oral" goes back to 1591 and was used in this sense by
Pepys, Swift, Hume, Scott, and Lincoln.  Not exactly a sloppy recent
usage.

Fred


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