"write," n. = "something intended to be read; a writing."

Fri Sep 22 21:59:59 UTC 2006

On Sep 22, 2006, at 1:43 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:

> "Indis[cr]iminantly" isn't in OED at all.  Or anywhere so far as I
> can tell.

somewhere i have a collection of -ate/-ant exchanges.  they're
encouraged by spontaneous nasalization in -ate and by low levels of
nasalization in unaccented -ant.

>   And the OED cites (from 1825) seem generally to confirm my
> impression.  Early exx. treat it as something you "have" or "take,"
> and OED defines this as "an act of perusal; a spell of
> reading" (like "a good sleep" = a spell of sleeping).  Modern usage
> (cited from 1958, app. in Britain), applies it to the thing read:
> "That's a good/bad/etc. read."
>
>   I suggest the two nuances be separated in the next revision.

i was going to suggest that myself.

arnold

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