Re: Re: On 'versus' as a Verb (another cross-post from Linguist List)

[Steve Boatti]

In a message dated 12/22/04 1:14:34 PM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> Is that really the same reanalysis, though?  He wouldn't have said
> "It's the Yankees play the Red Sox"; the form above seems more like a
> clipping but not an actual back-formed verb as in the more recently
> attested cases.  Could he have said "It's the Yankees versing the Red
> Sox"?
> 

He may not have said "It's" -- he has certainly said, "The Yankees verse the 
Red Sox tomorrow."
OTOH, he has never said, to my recollection, "versing", in any context. So I 
don't know if it's the same.



Steve Boatti
sjb72 at columbia.edu