disappearing prepositions

[Baker, John]

        Oh, "absent" does mean the same as "in the absence of."  It just takes three less words to say it.

        It isn't the same as "without," of course.  That would be like comparing tangerines and mandarin oranges.

John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Robert Wachal
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2004 9:48 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: disappearing prepositions


If 'absent' offers something more than 'without' or 'in the absence of',
how did we get along without it so damned long in non-legal discourse.