"defecting"

[Laurence Horn]

At 5:05 PM -0700 10/20/09, Dave Wilton wrote:
>My guess would be that "defecting" was used in jest.

Ah, beaten to the punch.

LH

>-----Original Message-----
>From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
>Jonathan Lighter
>Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2009 4:32 PM
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: "defecting"
>
>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
>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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