More PREP-Loss?

Andrea Morrow aandrea1234 at GMAIL.COM
Tue Mar 11 21:54:29 UTC 2008


Maybe the intended meaning isn't like "believe in." Maybe it's
transitive, like "believe + noun" - as in, I believe the theory of
evolution, I believe Hillary, I believe my local newspaper, etc.  It sounds
OK to me to say, "I believe modern physics," which is similar to saying, "I
believe astrology," in form if not in content.  Maybe I'm just weird.

Andrea

On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 5:28 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      More PREP-Loss?
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> Fom Slashdot Headlines:
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> "Should Scientists Date People Who Believe Astrology?"
>
> -Wilson
> --
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
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>                                              -Sam'l Clemens
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