"defecting"

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:31 PM -0400 10/20/09, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>What Alison says is certainly plausible, but "defect" sounds odd to me in
>this context because in my idiot-lect one can only "defect" to the enemy.
>
>The usual phrase, at least in my circle, was simply "go to [or "head for"]
>Canada."
>JL

I suspect irony may have been involved in this word choice.  They're
"the enemy" (in the eyes of those whose opinions are not respected by
the speaker) because they have socialized medicine, same-sex
marriage, bilingualism, generous support for the arts, etc. etc.
Along the same lines, someone might be said to have "defected to
France".  But not to England.  Just my intuition on "left-liberal"
irony, FWIW.

LH

>On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 7:23 PM, Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at att.net> wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
>>  Subject:      Re: "defecting"
>>
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  On Oct 20, 2009, at 2:29 PM, James A. Landau wrote:
>>
>>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  > -----------------------
>>  > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  > Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
>>  >              <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
>>  > Subject:      "defecting"
>>  >
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > I heard a woman, discussing a hippie she had known in the 1980's,
>>  > refer to "defecting to Canada".
>>  >
>>  > I've never heard "defecting" in this context.  Also, considering
>>  > that the man lived in Princeton NJ circa 1980, is it even correct?
>>  >
>>  Where were you during the VietNam war?  One might give  up on another
>>  US cause (health care, anyone?) & defect to Canada even in the 80s.
>>  AM
>>
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