the meaning of REDACTED

David Bowie db.list at PMPKN.NET
Sat Sep 15 13:17:01 UTC 2007


From:    Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> At 7:28 AM -0400 9/14/07, David Bowie wrote:

>> More vague musing than a serious proposal, but there might could be
>> something to it: Could "redact" specializing into "*removal* through
>> editing" be the result of a sort of what might be called an "eggcorn
>> effect" (i.e., "redact" sounds sorta like "reduct", so they must be
>> related)?

> Or, as someone else may have once said,

> From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>

> In context, of course, redaction could involve deletion or
> elimination, but that doesn't (or at least didn't use(d) to) follow
> from the meaning of the lexical item.  I wonder if the tendency to
> restrict "redaction" to contexts of abridgment or elimination is
> influenced by the resemblance to "reduction".

Ah, the perils of receiving ADS-L in digest form! :-/

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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