ToTN

[Wilson Gray]

Have you had to deal with "conversate," yet, Jon? When i first heard
it, I thought that it was hip, jokey, pswaydo-learned slang. But, now,
I've heard it from people of every race, etc., who clearly believe
that "conversate" is neither new nor a joke. It's simply the verb from
which "conversation" is derived, if they think about it at all.

-Wilson

On 7/1/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ToTN
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I don't get "orientate."  Brits do, though.
>
>    JL
>
> sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
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> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: sagehen
> Subject: Re: ToTN
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >> >not exactly out of nowhere, since purists have been alternately
> >>>complaining for centuries (documented in Dennis Baron's book, if
> >>>memory serves) about lazy speakers who persist in lopping the
> >>>beginnings and ends of helpless words (like Wilson's people,
> >>>complaining about "till" or "bus") or about idle speakers who add
> >>>unnecessary, redundant, and superfluous syllables to perfectly good
> >>>words (the ones who complain about "unto" and "until"). Of course,
> >>>both sects have typically have operated in blithe ignorance of the
> >>>actual histories of the words involved.
> >>>
> >>>LH
> >>~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >>Um. Does this mean I *shouldn't* write to my local npr station to ask their
> >>announcers/news reporters to notice that "preventive" does not have four
> >>syllables?
> >>AM
> >>
> >Well, they'd probably note (at least I would if I were they) that
> >while "preventive" does indeed have just three syllables,
> >"preventative" has four.
> >
> >LH
> ~~~~~~~~~~~
> Yeah, sure. But why? Preventate ??! Preventation?!? I see that OED
> (against my expectation) has an entry for "preventative," but I don't get
> it.
> AM
>
>
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