Word/typo of the year!

[Laurence Urdang]

JL
  Different contra, of course.  But still, no prizes.
  LU

Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Jonathan Lighter
Subject: Re: Word/typo of the year!
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_Contraduct_ v., To funnel to a rebel group, especially without knowledge of Congress: Oliver North _contraducted_ arms-sale money to Nicaragua.

JL

Laurence Urdang wrote: ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Laurence Urdang
Subject: Word/typo of the year!
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"And of course from course to course the professors contraduct each other."
I think that if contraduct is unattested elsewhere in the language, it should be nominated "Word of the Year," with full credit to James Harbeck!
Laurence Urdang

James Harbeck wrote:
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Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: James Harbeck
Subject: Re: Pronunciation question (from L. Urdang)
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>As an undergrad way back in 1971 I was taught to use the schwa + n
>in transcribing "didn't," etc. In grad school I learned about the
>syllabic "dotted n," which makes far more sense.

I've found it interesting, in my linguistics coursework, how at one
level you will be taught one thing, and at the next level you will be
taught that it's wrong -- not just incomplete, but wrong... but if
you put what's right at the next level for an answer at the first
level, you get marked wrong. And of course from course to course the
professors contraduct each other. Here and I had this idea that
somehow there was some great agreed-on consistency... don't know why
I would have thought that, given the nature of the subject.

> I can't recall hearing anyone actually saying "didunt." Sounds
>weird. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure I've heard "didint" used
>for strong emphasis: "No [Mommy] ! I DIDINT do it!"

I've heard "dId at nt" maybe once or twice, maybe. "dIdInt" in emphatic
use seems normal enough to me. The most interesting version was a
BE-styled emphatic from a character in an episode of _Law & Order_:
"dI'Int" (apostrophe for glottal stop). Is this being heard much by
those who listen in those circles? It's foreign to me.

James Harbeck.

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