"change out a window", "paint out a shelf"

[Jonathan Lighter]

OK, so I'm in Alaska now and the thirtyish rental car lady asks if I'd like to "exchange out" a sedan for an SUV.

  JL

Brenda Lester <alphatwin2002 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Brenda Lester
Subject: Re: "change out a window", "paint out a shelf"
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I say yes.
The same construction (no pun) is used in the south and is not unique to contractors.
I haven't read other postings, so forgive me if this is redundant.
My pet peeve is "delete out."
I hear "switch out" in retail stores when I return an item, "We'll just switch it out."

Evan Morris wrote:
Cohen, Gerald Leonard wrote:
> A house painter today asked me about the addition of "out" to verbs that don't seem to need it.
> Sample:
> "Do you want these windows painted?"
> "No, we're gonna change out these windows."
> And:
> "We're gonna paint out that shelf."
>
> He tells me that he's heard these sentences from contractors and adds "I find that kinda annoying."
>
> Is this use of "change out" and "paint out" more than a localism?
>
> Gerald Cohen
> (in south central Missouri)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


"Change out" and "swap out" are staples of (and have probably been
spread by) home-renovation shows on HGTV and the like (which I watch
only under duress ("Come look at how simple it is to replace
screens!")). (It ain't simple, BTW.)

"Paint out" sounds like an overenthusiastic extension of the idiom.


--
Evan Morris
words1 at word-detective.com
www.word-detective.com

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