protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention to'

[Joel S. Berson]

Jon,

Are you sure they're not "rally[ing] for climate change" back to a
colder world?  :-)

Joel

At 4/25/2010 08:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Why become an advocate for migraines or protest the need for jobs when you
>can rally for global warming instead?
>
>CNN reports James Cameron's involvement in a public demonstration
>today(called the "Climate Rally")  in which "thousands will rally for
>climate change."  That means they're against it.
>
>Meanwhile the bottom-of-the-screen note says "Call For Climate Change."
>
>
>JL
>
>On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 1:01 PM, Jonathan Lighter
><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention to'
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > When my generation protested the need for jobs, we were talking about a
> > very
> > different issue.
> >
> > I'm with Joel. To be a "telescoping" of "protest about the need,"
> > intrans._protest_ has to mean "take part in a public demonstration" (the
> > NPR
> > ex. was of course trans.)
> >
> > Somewhere there may be someone who uses the word that way, but for everyone
> > else a sentence like the following would still be logically impossible:
> >
> > *OK, young Democrats, I want to see at least fifty of you protesting in
> > honor of President Obama's arrival tomorrow.  (Meaning "*demonstrating
> > enthusiastically.")
> >
> > In terms of semantics, "protesting the need for jobs" is like "has become
> > an
> > advocate for" in that the once-apparent plain sense of the utterance is
> > more
> > or less reversed, owing to a combination of changes in the semantic
> > associations of both "advocate" and "protest" along with complete
> > inattention to the form of what one is saying or writing.
> >
> > Several factors are undoubtedly involved. But the switcheroo in these cases
> > is startling.
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> >
> > JL
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 10:09 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >
> >  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > Subject:      Re: protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention to'
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > At 4/2/2010 10:57 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > > >On Apr 2, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:
> > > >
> > > >>_All Things Considered_ reported this evening on about 36 teenagers
> > > >>who were
> > > >>chanting "We need jobs!" outside a municipal agency.
> > > >>
> > > >>According to the highly paid journalist-narrator, they were
> > > >>"protesting the
> > > >>need for jobs."
> > > >
> > > >this appears to be "protest" 'protest about' -- yet anoth
> > > >transitivizing P-drop, in addition to "protest" 'protest against'.
> > >
> > > Still, I wouldn't protest about the need for jobs.  (I don't think
> > > I'd even protest against the need for jobs.)  I'd protest about the
> > > lack of jobs.
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> >
> >  ------------------------------------------------------------
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> >
>
>
>
>--
>"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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