"contemptuous" = "contemptible"

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED has this from 1549 to 1796, but marks it as "_Obs_."  Would that it were true:

  2005 _New Yorker_ (Aug. 8) 65: You contemptuous pup!

  These words are spoken by a crazed killer in Matthew Sweeney's poem, "Naked."  I see no indication in the poem that the victim is literally "contemptuous."

  Those requiring more evidence may Google up "contemptuous little" and similar phrases and decide for themselves how to interpret them.  Many are indeterminate, of course.

  Am sure I've encountered this usage a number of times over the years, but am not sure that I've ever seen a warning against it.  AHD online, s.v. contemptuous, offers none.

  JL


---------------------------------
Get your own web address for just $1.99/1st yr. We'll help. Yahoo! Small Business.

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