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

[sagehen]

on 4/12/08 8:21 PM, Laurence Horn at laurence.horn at YALE.EDU wrote:

> At 7:54 PM -0400 4/12/08, Mark Mandel wrote:
>> On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 6:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
>> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> 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."
>>
>> Oh sh.t, Safire at least knows better than THAT!
>>
> In the same column, Safire also writes "The primary meaning of the
> noun, pronounced PERfect, is "complete, whole, finished," and the
> verb taking that action, pronounced perFECT, means "to complete, make
> whole, finish".
>
> Maybe two nouns make an adjective?
>
> LH
 ~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah, well, what do you expect of a guy who not only invents  the singularly
silly "nattering nabobs of negativism" for the crook, Agnew's use, but brags
about it?!?
AM

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