"House design was his special gifting"; was Re: conduction

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

This may be a blend, even though the two blending elements (if we in fact do deal with a blend) are at best only partially synonymous: "House design was his calling" + "House design was his special gift [= talent]." The blending would have been aided by "gifting" already existing with the meaning Beverly presents below.

Gerald Cohen

________________________________

From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Beverly Flanigan
Sent: Thu 9/28/2006 6:16 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: conduction



Just read in a local obituary:  "House design . . . was his special
gifting."  I've seen this before in the sense of "giving presents," but
never in this sense of "talent."

At 06:57 PM 9/28/2006, you wrote:
>Just heard on WMRT-FM Marietta, Ohio: "under the conduction of Leonard
>Bernstein"!!!
>

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