autumn vs. fall

[Jonathan Lighter]

In a vacuum, "autumn" is better. Its associations are far more concentrated
than those of "fall."

JL

On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 3:21 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: autumn vs. fall
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11/9/2010 01:38 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >And not just over the past 5 years.  Compare this eloquent plaint
> >from over a decade ago:
> >=================
> >... "Since the autumn of the Berlin Wall a decade ago, rightist
> >violence has become a fact of German life" (IHT, August 2 [2000], p.
> >5). This makes me think that a New York Times slot man or drudge
> >makes it his business to replace the word fall with the posher but in
> >my opinion uglier word autumn.
> >
> >More likely some stylistic rule that makes the change. Reminds me of
> >that list of songs printed somewhere, that included "African-American
> >is the Color of My True Love's Hair."
> >
> >RIma [McKinzey]
> >=================
>
> I assume the writer didn't want to say "Since the fall of the Berlin
> Wall a decade ago ...", which might be taken as referring to the
> actual falling, but rather to suggest the fading of autumn?
>
> >For British English, though, a distinction is sometimes made between
> >the three-month season and the actual leaf-dropping, as witness the
> >minimal pair in this observation:
> >
> >The fall had come late this year, and after one of the most beautiful
> >autumns she could remember.
> >
> >--P. D. James (2004), The Murder Room
>
> Elegantly put.
>
> Joel
>
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