From Slashdot

[Dennis Preston]

But Wilson, don't you really mean when you say "But I pretty much
assume that the person is just using words he doesn't understand,
which gives me a negative impression of him" that you mean he or she
is using words whose "new" sense you disapprove of. They understand
the meanings of these words precisely (but they sure ain't your
meanings).

dInIs (just takin a little crap where you eat)

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      From Slashdot
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>
>Q. If the rest of the world decided to start calling apples "oranges"
>tomorrow and [someone] decided to go about correcting them, who, in
>fact, would be more[?!] wrong?
>
>A. What if 49% of the people started calling apples "oranges"? What if
>10% did? What is the cut-off where something that started out as a
>misunderstanding becomes the new understanding? These days, if you can
>find a few other people who share your misapprehension, you can
>declare it "the new usage."
>
>When I hear someone trot out the "modern, popular usage" of "beg the
>question" or, say, "enormity" or "irregardless," well, I know that
>those things are sanctioned by more-populist dictionaries. But I
>pretty much assume that the person is just using words he doesn't
>understand, which gives me a negative impression of him. And, when
>people defend those usages, I think, "Here is someone who can't stand
>to find out that he was wrong about something."
>
>I say, "Well, you never know." In the '50's, IIRC, "FOR-midable"
>became "for-MIDable." Now, the word seems to have returned to
>"FOR-midable." OTOH, the shift of "EX-quisite" to "ex-QUIsite," which
>may have occurred around the same time - memory fails - appears to be
><sob!> permanent.
>
>-Wilson
>--
>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
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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