bailout/bale out; or: planes, boats, and MW

[Joel S. Berson]

I was listening to the host of NPR's "Fresh Air" this afternoon at
about 12:45 EST talking to Peter Sokolowski, described by her as the
Editor at Large of the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, about (I
think) its 10 words-of-the-year.  They were just speaking of
"bailout", as in "rescue package for bankers, etc.", and he noted the
origin in "bail out of an airplane".  She then commented that of
course there is also "bail out a boat" (of course I didn't know how
she was spelling either).

Mr. Sokolowski did not then discuss the complexities of the two,
"bale" vs. "bail".  (Which I believe were previously discussed here.)

Joel

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org