LSSU Banished Words list, 2008

[Laurence Horn]

At 10:50 PM -0500 1/2/08, James Harbeck wrote:
>>Also, during my short and sadly unglorious time as an English teacher in
>>France I was criticised by the senior colleague who was supposed to be
>>mentoring me for including "adore" in the list of ways to express one's
>>like/dislike (classical beginners' lesson topic.... like/love/be keen
>>on/not mind/dislike/hate/etc. + V-ING, usually). (Well, it *was* in the
>>textbook, along with all the others.) But she tersely reminded me of
>>it's primary religious meaning "worship".
>
>I'm put in mind of hte retired English teacher I know who was set off
>by my use of "icon" in an explanation of Peircean semiotics. He felt
>that it was grossly improper to take a word away from its original
>use in this manner -- said original use being, of course, as a term
>for Russian Orthodox religious images.
>
>James Harbeck.
>
Wonder how he referred to the indicators on his (I assume) analog
watch, which obviously couldn't be said to have hands or a face.
"The big extended thingie is on the 3 and the little extended thingie
is on the 6", perhaps.  Or maybe it's just religious terms that don't
allow metaphor extension or generalization for these folks?

LH

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