plaidoyer [WAS: dialectology in linguistics]

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 30 11:54:19 UTC 2010


Plaidoyer?  Impressive. (Research shows it's French for "plea.")

GB turns up no previous uses in English, though there are some recent ones
on line.

I suppose one could argue that "plea" sounds desperate and inferior while
"plaidoyer" (if you know what it means) sounds dignified, worldly-wise, and
confident.

Unless you're French.

(Another possibility - that it sounds pretentious and absurd and
intentionally mystifying - need not be discussed.)

(A computer glitch, i.e. human error, sent this formerly two-part messge to
Damien only.)

JL

--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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