commenter vs. commentator

[Wilson Gray]

Daughter potato of wealth & privilege:

"Father! I'm getting married. Edward has finally proposed!"

Father potato of wealth & privilegrbackground:

"To which Edward do you refer?"

Daughter potato:

"You know who he is, father! Edward R. Murrow!"

Father:

"Absolutely *not*!"

Daughter:

"But, father! Why not?!"

Father:

"He's a commentator."


Considered very funny when I was a teen-ager, in the 'Fifties.

-Wilson


On Tue, Jun 22, 2010 at 8:29 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject:      Re: commenter vs. commentator
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 6/22/10 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>> Date:    Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:15:04 +0100
>> From:    Judy Prince<jbalizsprince at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject: Re: commenter vs. commentator
>>
>> Hi, Amy, thank you for raising this up-to-the-second discussion.
>>
>> Help me understand your distinction between the two word uses:  " . .
>> . the author and editors probably chose to use "commenter" because of the
>> difference between posting discrete comments to a number of stories as
>> opposed to creating a unified commentary."
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Judy
>
> What I have in mind is a series of individual comments on separate news
> stories as opposed to a longer unified prose piece commenting on an
> event, policy, etc. in order to explain, interpret, etc.
>
> One of the peevers who didn't like "commentator" said it was because she
> was older than the term. Well, no, I pointed out to her: the 14th. c.
> early uses, and even the modern sense pre-dates her (she was born well
> after 1928).
>
> --
> ---Amy West
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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