how to say this?

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:21 PM -0400 8/8/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>The youthful hosts/hostesses I interact with often ask, "And how many at
>your table this evening?" or "How many will be dining with you/us this
>evening?" Etc. They also call for "Table for one/ two/ five," more often (I
>tend to believe) than "Party of...." That's not say that "party" is on the
>way out, but it might be interesting to look into this possible dissonance
>as a contributor to incipient usage change.  If I could afford to eat out
>more, I might have a better sense of what's what.
>
Sounds to me like the foundation for a grant proposal.

LH

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