Soonest = as soon as

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Tue Aug 21 00:44:20 UTC 2007


I agree with A. I've long heard "'soonest" in the meaning, "as soon as
possible." I have the *very* vague impression that it started out as a
Briticism. That is to say, I don't think that I've ever heard it in
the wild, but I'm very familiar with it from TV and movies.

-Wilson

On 8/20/07, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Soonest = as soon as
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >Has anyone ever heard or seen "soonest" used to mean "as soon as?" I saw
> >it used a few times today by someone from California, possibly a second
> >language learner.
> >
> >Scot
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~
> As a synonym for asap, it's pretty common.  I don't think I've ever heard
> (or read) it used "as soon as..." anything other than "possible."
> It certainly isn't confined to ESL speakers.
> AM
>
>
> ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>   ~@:>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list