"detectorist" / "detectionist"

[George Thompson]

Well, I had read this at first wondering "what the hell is a planting tree"?  The commas just siggest the pauses and changes in pitch that would make this unambiguous if a spoken statement.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition, though.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 2:21 pm
Subject: Re: "detectorist" / "detectionist"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> Some of us don't love commas and hyphens as much as George does.  (I
> know that's true because "some" means "one or more" ... and I'm one
> of us.)  Perhaps if I had made known the antecedent for "his" by
> inserting after it "[marriage band (aka wedding ring)]"?
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/20/2011 12:27 PM, George Thompson wrote:
> >JSB: From an email message today:  "My husband lost his planting
> >trees about fifteen years ago and a metal detectorist failed to find
> it."
> >
> >I suppose this is to be punctuated as
> >"My husband lost his, planting trees, about fifteen years ago, and a
> >metal detectorist failed to find it."
> >
> >and not "My husband lost his planting-trees about fifteen years ago,
> >and a metal detectorist failed to find it."
> >
> >Thus punctuated by those of us who love commas and hyphens, that is.
> >
> >GAT
> >
> >George A. Thompson
> >Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre",
> >Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a
> >new edition, though.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >Date: Wednesday, April 20, 2011 11:25 am
> >Subject: "detectorist" / "detectionist"
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
> > >  From an email message today:  "My husband lost his planting trees
> > > about fifteen years ago and a metal detectorist failed to find it."
> > >
> > > "Detectorist" is in the OED, as "A person who engages in
> > > metal-detecting. Cf. metal detectorist n."
> > >
> > > However, my weak eyes and easily deceived brain led me to look for
> > > "detectionist", which is not in the OED -- but is apparently
> > > sanctioned in Galveston:
> > >
> > > The only result that a search of his name turned up was a description
> > > of the Galveston Metal Detectionist League's September 2000 meeting,
> > > at which Redman had been a guest speaker on the topic of "US
> > > government regulations concerning abandoned property vs.
> > concealed property."
> > >
> > > In Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction
> > > - Page 97, by Jake Silverstein - 2010.
> > >
> > > Whether this is fact or fiction, whether there is or is not a
> > > "Galveston Metal Detectionist League," I do not know.
> > >
> > > Google Books gives me about 89 hits for "detectionist", some
> > > indicating that there is a "detectionist thesis" -- and of course
> > > therefore an "anti-detectionist explanation".  One uses
> > > "detectionist" as "detective".
> > >
> > > Joel
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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