<3 is in the air--or in NYT presses

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Not so much a new meaning for the word "heart" as a failure to punctuate. The word "heart" is used to indicate the symbol of a heart, which in turn is a well-known sign used to convey the meaning of the verb "love".

I don't think we'll ever get "I spade my dog" to indicate the use of the sign.

Sent from my iPad

On Jan 10, 2011, at 3:03 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> The story was also picked up by Editor&Publisher.
>
> http://goo.gl/Tq22u
> New York Times Uses Heart in Headline, Does Not Break The Presses. By
> Kat Stoeffel
> January 7, 2011 | 7:01 p.m
>> Today brings another groundbreaking development: a heart. (♥) Although
>> our money was on the Style section, the heart made its appearance in
>> Education Life, in the headline "A L♥ng-Distance Affair."
>
> This has greater implications about typography than about language. But
> it is interesting /where/ the heart character occurred. The story is here
>
> http://goo.gl/lAHmf
>
> The use of "heart" in text has been discussed on ADS-L in my memory, so
> that was less than 2 years ago. But the connection was "I <3 NY" and
> similar expressions, not "L♥ng-Distance Affair" or even "L♥ve". I meant
> to post an observation on this earlier, but was hesitant because the
> topic /had/ come up before. One interesting thing about it is that "I ♥
> NY" (and similar expressions) has evolved into not just txt "I <3 NY",
> but into "I [heart] NY", and, finally, into "I heart NY", dropping the
> symbol-signifying brackets.
>
> Although "heart" as a verb is long attested, it never--in its past
> incarnation--meant "love". Nor was there any hidden semiotics behind it.
> OED obviously does not have this new meaning of "heart" yet.
>
> Here's just one example--Wiki has an entry "I Heart Huckabees":
>
>> /I ♥ Huckabees/ (known usually as /I Heart Huckabees/ but also as /I
>> Love Huckabees/) is a 2004 philosophical comedy film from Fox Searchlight.
>
> Note that both versions of the title are referenced in Wiki (from film
> reviews).
>
> VS-)
>
> VS-)
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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