The new (old?) "specialize

[Jonathan Lighter]

Agreed, but our joint point is that "specialize in X" theoretically implies
(to you and me at least) that one deals in or with X exclusively (or very
nearly so).

JL



On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 8:46 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: The new (old?) "specialize
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 4/21/2011 05:40 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Joel must be another great mind, because I was thinking much the same
> thing
> >earlier this week.
>
> Of course.
>
> >A local merchant (or perhaps a professional, I can't recall) boasted on
> >TV that he "specialized" in X, even though it was perfectly apparent that
> >his business or office did a whole lot of Y, Z, and A as well.
> >
> >I agree that this use of nonexclusive _specialize_ ('to deal in') has been
> >around for many years, but I can't say just when I began to notice it.
> >
> >An older example. My optometrist also owns an opticians' office. Since I
> >began visiting him about 1995, his stationery has read "Specialists in
> >Contact Lenses."  Yet the office also offers a wide assortment of eyeglass
> >frames (complete with prescription lenses, of course).
>
> These two examples seem less ... what? oxymoronic? ... because there
> are other subclasses that the "specialist" does *not* claim to
> specialize in --  for example, the specialist in contact lenses
> didn't say he was a specialist also in eyeglasses and their lenses.
>
> Joel
>
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