sponsor

[Jonathan Lighter]

Another atypical recent example that seems to illustrate OED 1.a., which, as
previously, noted is supported by just two cites, both from the 1880s. I
believe it needs to be divided further, since providing (actual financial)
surety for is a rather different concept from merely supporting strongly.

2008  Tony Hoagland _Real Sofistakashun_ (St. Paul. Minn.: Graywolf Press)
19: [The poet] considers the welfare of the culture as a whole, which
he...recognizes is...in need of preservation and sponsorship.

JL



On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 9:25 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> "Violence" can't "sponsor" anything, including "wars," in any ordinary
> sense of "sponsor."
>
> OED offers 3 defs.:
>
> "1. a. To be surety for, to favour or support strongly.
>
> b. To promote and support (a resolution, bill, etc.), esp. in a legislative
> assembly.
>
> "2. To pay, or contribute towards, the expenses of a radio or television
> programme, a performance or other event or work, *spec.* in return for
> advertising space or rights."
>
> None of these fit the present context.  "Intangibly" helps distinguish the
> writer's "sponsor" from what appears to be its inspiration, def. 2 above,
> which involves something quite tangible, i.e. money.
>
> Abstract ideas like "violence" can't "sponsor" anything or expect to derive
> any advantage from their "action."
>
> If "state-sponsored terrorism" is taken to mean the contribution of funds,
> materiel, etc., for an expected gain in local prestige, strategic advantage,
> etc., that's def. 2.   If all it means is the offering of guidance or
> approval (a possibility which has not occurred to me till now), that's def.
> 1a in its attenuated nuance (OED offers only two cites, both from the
> 1880s).
>
> Either way, the idea of something like "violence" "sponsoring" anything is
> quite unknown to the 1989 OED as well as to MW and to me.
>
> "Well," I hear someone snort, "the writer is merely speaking figuratively.
> So what?"
>
> Figuratively or not, this is an unrecorded sense of "sponsor."
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 5:06 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: sponsor
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Why "intangibly"? Don't we have "state sponsors of terrorism"? Why not
>> broaden to "sponsors of war"?
>>
>> VS-)
>>
>> On 7/22/10, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> > -----------------------
>> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>> > Subject:      sponsor
>> >
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> > App. it means "contribute intangibly to, as by providing impetus,
>> > justification, etc. ":
>> >
>> > 2010 Mary A. Favret _War at a Distance_ (Princeton: P.U.P.) 232: ...the
>> > attacks of Sepetember 11, 2001. Striving to find an adequate response to
>> > that violence and the wars it sponsored, Butler arrives at the thought
>> that
>> > her response must initiate [etc.]....
>> >
>> > The author is Associate Professor of English at Indiana University.
>> >
>> >
>> > JL
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
>> truth."
>> >
>> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> >
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
>  "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>



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

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