"terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily

[Tom Zurinskas]

Like the comedian said: "You can't fix stupid."

Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
see truespel.com



> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Geoffrey Nathan
> Subject: Re: "terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> While I am relying solely on my intuitions on the subject (something no responsible linguist would do :-) ), I agree with Victor that I find no sense of death involved with phrases such as 'terminally stupid', 'terminally weird' etc. Just a sense of being 'beyond help', 'irretrievably', and so on.
>
> Geoff
>
> Geoffrey S. Nathan
> Faculty Liaison, C&IT
> and Associate Professor, Linguistics Program
> +1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT)
> +1 (313) 577-8621 (English/Linguistics)
>
> ----- "Victor" wrote:
>
>> From: "Victor"
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 10:52:11 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
>> Subject: Re: "terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: Victor
>> Subject: Re: "terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> I find it interesting that people are running with the narrow meaning
>> of
>> "terminally" as "leading to death", when there is a perfectly good
>> meaning of "terminal" as "at the end" or "at the limit" (e.g.,
>> "terminal
>> velocity" obviously has nothing to do with death). Also, the meaning
>> of
>> the "train terminal" has evolved to mean something more than just
>> "end
>> station" and now means pretty much ANY station, but the original
>> meaning
>> also implies "at the end" (although, in this case, for a noun). So I
>> am
>> puzzled why people are stuck on the death-related definitions when
>> perfectly reasonable alternatives for reanalysis are already
>> available
>> and have been available long before "terminally ill" became a
>> euphemism
>> for "dying".
>>
>> But even if we take up the medical sense of "terminally" (as in
>> "terminally ill"), there is yet another alternative reanalysis. It's
>> not
>> just that someone's terminal condition results in death, but s/he is
>> also "beyond help". In this sense, all the "terminally X" conditions
>> are
>> "beyond help". Someone who is "terminally stupid" cannot be helped
>> and/or cured of being stupid--I suppose, s/he will also take the
>> condition to his grave, but there is NO implication that the
>> condition
>> will CAUSE his death.
>>
>> There seems to be a recency effect problem here--and it's not just
>> people are trying to make death-related jokes on the subject.
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> Amy West wrote:
>>> This puts me in mind of the "terminally stupid" phrase that I hear
>>> sometimes. There the use of "terminally" makes sense to me as the
>>> implication is that the person/act is so stupid that it will cause
>>> terminaton of the person's life.
>>>
>>> ---Amy West
>>>
>>>
>>>> Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:51:34 -0400
>>>> From: Jonathan Lighter
>>>> Subject: "terminally" = utterly; extraordinarily
>>>>
>>>> Not in OED but common in humorous and semi-humorous speech for a
>> long time
>>>> (30 years?).
>>>>
>>>> The first time I've encountered it used with a straight face:
>>>>
>>>> 2008 Brian Hanley _Planning for Conflict in the Twenty-First
>> Century_
>>>> (Greenwood) 126: Another illustration of the terminally insidious
>> impact on
>>>> French society of the Great War.
>>>>
>>>> Professor Hanley, who holds an M. Litt. from Oxford University,
>> teaches at
>>>> the U.S. Air Force Academy.
>>>>
>>>> JL
>>
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>
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