Why the *s

[Bill Palmer]

A technical question from a Johnny-come-lately to the list:

I see many posts on this list with words that are bracketed by asterisks.  I
know that an asterisk prior to a word denotes an unattested form, but I
don't know what two of them mean.  Is it just a stray mark introduced by
cyberspace or the peculiarities of the list software, e.g. =20.  Or does it
have a particular meaning in linguistics, or possibly to list subscribers?



Bill Palmer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Mandel" <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Wednesday, March 04, 2009 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: distract/detract


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: distract/detract
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *Is* that a malapropism, or an intransitivization/object-drop?
>
> Mark Mandel
>
> On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
>> /The Nation./ editorial this week, after the neat exhortation ("Lyndon
>> Johnson's War on Poverty was lost in the jungles of Vietnam. Â We must
>> work to ensure that Obama's investment in America's future isn't
>> squandered in the mountains of Afghanistan"), rather spoils the effect
>> by going on, "But these questions should not _distract_ from what was
>> an eloquent call to mobilize.....&c."
>> AM
>
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