Erin's Wonderful Word--admit

[Jonathan Lighter]

If the purpose of this thread is to encourage lexicographical tact, well and good.  But I doubt that the degree of personal bias suggested by Erin's words, written for a daily pop feature, demands this level of attention.  Is something else going on here ?

JL

Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Stephen Goranson
Subject: Re: Erin's Wonderful Word--admit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quoting Laurence Horn :

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Laurence Horn
> Subject: Re: Erin's Wonderful Word--admit
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > >Did anyone else find the use of the verb "admit" in this definition just
> a
> >>little bit, well, presuppositional (which is not the same thing as
> >>pre-suppository)?
> >>
> >> Erin's Weird and Wonderful Word of the Day:
> >>
> >> dysteleology
> >> [dis-tell-ee-AH-luh-djee]
> >> the study of the organs of plants and animals without admitting that
> there
> >>is any purpose to their design. The antonym is teleology, studying
> >>things with
> >>the idea that there is a purpose for everything in nature. Someone who is
> >>unwilling to admit the existence of design in nature has teleophobia.
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >How about "posit"?
> >A. Murie
>
> or "grant", or probably a lot of other presupposition-free options,
> although the "unwilling" itself introduces a bit of bias. What
> about a nice neutral phrasing, like "Someone who is capable of
> recognizing the absence of design..."?
>
> L
>

Could be neutraler. "recogniging the absence of design" resembles "recognizing
the truth." "Grant" is a good option, I think. Aren't both views suppositions?
How about "One who holds that..." or "The view held by those who hold that..."?

Stephen Goranson

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com