Captured Same

[Rick Barr]

Sorry about the broken link earlier. Even though I still haven't signed up
for bit.ly or other URL shorteners, the MWDEU entry seemed pertinent.

To add just another item to the mix, here is American Heritage's usage note
(it pretty much rephrases what has been said before, but still):

"The expressions same and the same are sometimes used in place of pronouns
such as it or one, as in When you have filled out the form, please remit
same to this office. As this example suggests, the usage is associated
chiefly with business and legal language, and some critics have suggested
that it should be reserved for such contexts. But though the usage often
does sound stilted, it occurs with some frequency in informal writing,
particularly in the phrase lack of same, as in It is a question of money, or
lack of same."

I do agree that a distinction should be made between "same" with article and
without, but in some contexts they appear to be used interchangeably.

-- Rick


On Mon, May 17, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Captured Same
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Below is a shortened link that points to the entry on "The use of same
> as a pronoun" in Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. It may
> be useful for readers who wish to see the Shakespeare example and the
> other 10 examples.  Hope it works for you:
>
> http://bit.ly/cml5qd
> Garson
>

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