Has it truly come to this?

[Wilson Gray]

Your examples are ab fab, Jon. :-) Didn't know that there's a word for
"slanty letters"?! I don't know what to think of "overrided." I considered
that perhaps the speaker had said "overwrited," but "overwrite" is no
improvement over "override" in the context. And, of course, how would the
non-use of "overrode" / "overwrote" be explained? Perhaps someone will
suggest to Dubyah a prrogram to ensure that no adult be left behind.

-Wilson


On 4/13/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Has it truly come to this?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Yes.  (I believe I mentioned last year the experienced M.D. of my
> acquaintance who was unfamiliar with the word "italics."  He called them
> "slanty letters" and was impressed that I had a big word for them.)
>
>   In a similar vein, a Discovery Channel show the other night had a bit
> about somebody's orders being "overrided" by Hitler.
>
>   JL
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Wilson Gray
> Subject: Has it truly come to this?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> From a letter published in the April 17, 2006, issue of
> The New Yorker:
>
> "... _dentifrice_ (toothpaste) ..."
>
> in which the writer assumes that _dentifrice_ is a foreign - in
> this case, French - term that needs to be translated for the
> average TNY reader.
>
> WTF! According to the OED Online, "dentifrice" has been used in
> English since at least the 16th century. I learned the term in
> the '40's from hearing it used in toothpaste commercials on the
> radio, before I learned to read. "Dental cream" was another
> fancy term for "toothpaste" used in those days.
>
> Can it truly be the case that people who read TNY have lexicons
> so restricted that ordinary English words are foreign to them?
>
> -Wilson Gray
>
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