FW: PERmitting

Frank Abate abatefr at EARTHLINK.NET
Sun Mar 23 10:34:42 UTC 2003


Mark M's comment below reminded me of a peculiar (to me) pron I hear here in
New England -- the word is permittee, which is used on signs on bars and
restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages, at least in CT (perhaps Mass.
too).  Apparently it is a legal requirement (they all seem to have it posted
at the door) that the name of the person who actually has been issued the
permit to serve booze be displayed.

The pron that I would have expected would have final stress, on the "-ee".
But in fact, I have heard stress on the 2nd syllable, the "-mit-".

Is this word used in other states in a similar context (signs on bars)?  If
so, how is it pronounced?

Frank Abate

*********************


"Atritted" reminded me of a usage I noted from my wife and wanted to
mention here. She is involved in our town government, and last night,
telling me of some current events, she talked about "the permitting
process", with initial stress on "permitting". This, of course, means
not 'the process of giving permission', but 'the process of (applying
for, discussing, and denying or) granting a permit'.

The verb is derived from the noun "permit", whose initial stress it
retains, distinguishing it from the origial verb.  She used the verb
form "permit" or "permits" as well, with stressed "per".

-- Mark A. Mandel



More information about the Ads-l mailing list