Facebook has redefined via (?)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Sounds as though Barbara's misunderstanding (which I would have shared) is a
good candidate for future Inglish (cf. the present-day confusion, already
discussed, between "substitute" and "replace").

JL

On Fri, Feb 12, 2010 at 11:22 AM, Barbara Need <bhneed at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Facebook has redefined via (?)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Except that you have to intuit [got this]--and I don't. I intuit [sent
> this].
>
> Barbara
>
> On 11 Feb 2010, at 4:23 PM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
> > It's not obvious from FB PR, but this is a recent addition. This only
> > happens when X clicks on "share this" on something that has been
> > posted
> > by Y. Normally, I would have expected [From] Y * via X, but the full
> > FB
> > syntax appears to be X [got this] * via Y. If you interpret it this
> > way,
> > there is nothing new to "via". I've been using it on FB for a long
> > time,
> > e.g., when posting the original links I got from other people or from
> > blogs. But the new part is the FB now does this automatically when you
> > click on "Share this" link.
> >
> > Nothing to see here... there is no man behind the curtain...
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > On 2/11/2010 4:10 PM, Towse wrote:
> >> That's exactly it, Lisa. When I post a FB msg that includes something
> >> I got from someone else, I usually add a (via xyz) sort of tag to it
> >> so that others will know where I got the information -- a FB hattip
> >> [blogspeak], as it were.  If I start the msg out with via xyz, what
> >> shows up on FB is Sal via xyz yadda yadda.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Sal
> >>
> >> Ye olde swarm of links: thousands of links for writers, researchers
> >> and the terminally curious<http://writers.internet-resources.com>
> >>
> >> On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 12:51 PM, Lisa
> >> Galvin<lisagal23 at hotmail.com>  wrote:
> >>
> >>> Perhaps the "via" refers to John's source of the message, rather
> >>> than yours? That is, John received it via Mary from a third
> >>> source, and then John posted it to you?
> >>>
> >>>> From: bhneed at GMAIL.COM
> >>>>
> >>>> I am getting FB updates labeled X via Y where message is posted
> >>>> by X
> >>>> who got it from Y. (So if a link is put up marked John via Mary
> >>>> then
> >>>> John is a person you know and is the immediate source of the
> >>>> link; you
> >>>> may or may not know Mary and she is John's source). I can't get
> >>>> that
> >>>> and the OED definition does not seem to work either. I would have
> >>>> to
> >>>> say either John from Mary or Mary via John.
>
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