the replacement of "replace" and substitution of "substitute"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Mar 16, 2006, at 9:23 PM, Mark A. Mandel wrote:

>> From today's... well, the March 16... letter column of the NY Times:
>
>>>>
>
> To the Editor:
>
> "Drop Out of the College" [an editorial proposing scrapping the
> Electoral
> College -- MAM] proposes that the nation substitute the time-proven
> judgment
> of James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the other founding fathers
> for the
> views of your editorial board.
>
> With all due respect, I will stick with the founding fathers.
>
> John Enerson
> Houston, March 14, 2006
>
> <<<
>
> The world has ended. No news at 8.

yeah.  this is a full reversal -- not just the "substitute OLD with/
by NEW" variety, but "substitute OLD for NEW".

arnold, who's sent this on to david denision, the reversed-substitute
maven

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org