"deserted island"

[Joel S. Berson]

But going to a deserted island, knowing that people have left it,
does sound like a good idea to avoid being sneezed on ... by humans.

Joel

At 10/16/2005 06:22 PM, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>Subject:      "deserted island"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Current promos for Florida orange juice, paid for by the Florida
>Department of Citrus, suggest that if you don't want to drink OJ to
>ward off the flu, your next best bet is to "move to a deserted
>island" and not go near anyone for six months. (The poor boob in the
>ad who tries this gets sneezed on by a chimp anyway.)
>
>My students have been using "deserted island" for decades because
>they think a "desert island" has to have a desert on it. Now Google
>turns up well over half a million hits for "deserted island."
>
>Do I hear a whippersnapper asking, "Desert shmesert, what's the diff
>?"  The diff, whippersnappers, is that a "deserted" island used to
>have folks on it, but a "desert island" is so godawful that
>presumably it never has.
>
>English had better maintain this distinction if it intends to remain
>a world-class tongue.  Otherwise, the fate of Old Church Slavonic awaits.
>
>JL
>
>
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