"obtain" 'suffer/incur'

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:20 PM -0200 5/5/06, Charles Doyle wrote:
>I would interpret that "obtain" as a medicalese substitution
>for plain old Anglo-Saxon "get."
>
>--Charlie

Yes, it has the ring of a mental (if not digital) search-and-replace
upgrade of the sort responsible for the semi-apocryphal "The budget
is back in the African-American".

LH

>_______________________________
>
>---- Original message ----
>>Date: Fri, 5 May 2006 09:52:51 -0400
>>From: "Mark A. Mandel" <mamandel at LDC.UPENN.EDU>
>>Subject: "obtain" 'suffer/incur'
>-------------------------------------------------------------
>
>>(written by a nursing professional):
>>
>>         she is at high risk to fall, she is very
>compromised due to the osteoporosis and could easily obtain
>a fracture if she fell
>>
>>m a m
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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