"Slights of hand"

[Wilson Gray]

"I always thought it was "sleight".

I, too. "_Sleights_ of hand" seems okay, though.

-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





On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 9:24 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: Â  Â  Â  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Â  Â  Â  "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Â  Â  Â "Slights of hand"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In this week's on-line report from an investment advisory newsletter
> I subscribe to:
>
> Magic Tricks
> Slights of hand, misdirection, pulling sound bites out of hats ...
>
> I always thought it was "sleight". Â But the OED has 15 quotations
> with "slight" (37 with "sleight"). Â Most (I guess 10) are from the
> pre-standardized-spelling early 18th century -- but the most-recent
> is 1857--1892.
>
> Joel
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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