"As far as . . ."

[Jonathan Lighter]

IIRC - less and less likely these days - someone found an example in one of the Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960.

  Also IIRC I saw one in print that was somewhat older, say 1950's, but didn't make a note of it.  (I can't be everywhere !)

  By the time I first noticed it in use - ca 1975 - it was endemic.  The many natural disasters since then suggest the Universe is exacting its condign vengeance on our miserable, terraqueous globe.

  JL

Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Charles Doyle
Subject: "As far as . . ."
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Have we (i.e. on this list) discussed the use of unresolved "as far as"--such as exemplified by Larry's sentence quoted below? That is, introductory "as far as" without "is concerned" or "goes" or the like occurring later in the phrasing? Is the construction somewhat new (like a couple decades)? Does that use of "as far as" derive, historically, from a confusion with "as for"? I hear and read the construction all the time, and I no longer find it objectionable--but I DO still notice it!

--Charlie
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>>As far as the unstressed "ex", that also comes up in the variation between "EXquisite" and "exQUISite"; even AHD4, which only gives the antepenult variant for "expletive", gives both for "exquisite", although it "favors" the antepenult version (which I'd wager is considerably the rarer of the two in actual usage).
>>
>>LH

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