Chimney (and "nation" and "community")

Arnold M. Zwicky zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU
Wed Jan 24 19:56:17 UTC 2007


On Jan 24, 2007, at 10:35 AM, Charlie Doyle wrote:

> Doug's phrasing--"the real-estate selling community, such as it
> is"--made me think:
>
> Somewhat analogous to the use of "nation" in its expanded sense
> (though without the frequent--and saving--lightheartedness) is the
> rampant current use of "community."  I wonder what kinds or degrees
> of commonality qualify a number of persons to be called a community?

Steven Poole's recent book Unspeak has an excellent rant about
"community" in it.

arnold

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