BrE/AmE "go missing"

[Wilson Gray]

OTOH, for me, "go missing" is so British that I, possibly alone in the
U.S., somewhat pretentiously refuse to use it and "correct" those who
do. Once upon a time - ca.1950 - only Americans who were seriously
Anglophilic in some aspect of their lives were at all familiar with
this phrase.

-Wilson

On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Tony Au <todeau at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tony Au <todeau at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: BrE/AmE "go missing"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Is "go missing" a relatively recent import? I didn't even know it was
> British. It seems totally unremarkable to me.
>
> Tony
>
>
> On Sun, Dec 20, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Robin Hamilton <
> robin.hamilton2 at btinternet.com> wrote:
>
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Robin Hamilton <robin.hamilton2 at BTINTERNET.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: BrE/AmE "go missing"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> > It happens around here all the tine.
>> >
>> > JL
>>
>> In my version of (British) English, when inanimate objects go missing, they
>> are commonly said to have gone walkabout.
>>
>> 154,000 google hits for the phrase, "It has gone walkabout."
>>
>> Robin
>>
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--
-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.
–Mark Twain

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