Another one bites the dust?

[Wilson Gray]

Well, you'd think that, if a random graduate of an academic backwater
- as it was once described by a UC Berkeley alumna with whom I
foolishly tried to commiserate after she whined, as so many bleepheads
do, "Well, that's not the way they do it where I come from!" - like UC
Davis can learn the distinctions, you'd think that any random Harvard
grad could also learn them, motivated by nothing more than idle
curiosity.

-Wilson

On 9/6/07, Baker, John <JMB at stradley.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Baker, John" <JMB at STRADLEY.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Another one bites the dust?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>         I think the avoidance of the masc./fem./plural issue is quite
> conscious.  I recall that at my own alma mater there was a certain
> amount of chagrin that the respective Latin and English pronunciations
> of alumni and alumnae are homophones, as are their respective English
> and Latin pronunciations.  It sounds confusing even to describe the
> problem.
>
>
> John Baker
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
> Of Beverly Flanigan
> Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 1:12 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Another one bites the dust?
>
> The growing favorite seems to be "alum," with the plural "alums."  This
> avoids the masc./fem./plural issue, though probably not consciously.
>
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All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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