gentile = ethnonymic (was: Heard on The Judges: crack)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 6:21 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
<zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
> On Apr 12, 2008, at 1:34 PM, Mark Mandel wrote:
>
> > On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 3:20 PM, Arnold M. Zwicky
> > <zwicky at csli.stanford.edu> wrote:
>
> >> for instance, what kind of proper noun is "Turkish" in "Turkish
> >> invasion" 'invasion by Turkey' -- and "Turkish" in "Turkish invasion"
> >> 'invasion by Turks'?
> >
> > Proper  *adjective*, of course.
>
> ack, yes, of course.

Speaking of adj > n confusion, here's a snippet from Safire's latest
"On Language" column:

---
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13wwln-safire-t.html
Most people take the noun _perfect_ to mean "flawless, faultless,
impeccable," as in the King James translation of God's description of
Job as "a perfect and an upright man."
---

--Ben Zimmer

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