"forgettable"

[Laurence Horn]

On Jul 25, 2011, at 3:35 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> Victor is undoubtedly right. As for its meaning, "deserving of being
> forgotten; impossible to forget because so embarrassing," I've been hearing
> this on TV news for years.
>
> I'm almost ready to say "many years."
>
> The usual idiom is "one of his/her/its most forgettable moments."
>
> JL

All we need now is a magazine feature "The most forgettable person I ever knew".

LH

>
> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Re: "forgettable"
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Victor
>>
>> I would never have explained it the way you did, but I agree with your
>> analysis.
>>
>> DanG
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 12:23 AM, 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: "forgettable"
>>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> I'm not convinced. I see is more like "we wish it could have been
>>> forgotten". (The reply is both to RB and LH)
>>>
>>> Consider this chain. "Unforgettable" means two different thing--someone
>> one
>>> cannot forget and something that is particularly noteworthy. The second
>> one
>>> has nothing to do with forgetting--it's more of an intrinsic property of
>> th=
>>> e
>>> moment.
>>>
>>> The antonym to the first one is "forgettable". The second one--not so
>> much.
>>> But it is precisely this combination that spawns this particular instance
>> o=
>>> f
>>> "forgettable"=3D=3Dnotorious. So it's actually an UNforgettable moment,
>> but=
>>> for
>>> the reason that is OPPOSITE of the ordinary UNforgettable moment. Hence
>> it'=
>>> s
>>> the forgettable moment! It's like a cancellation of two un- prefixes.
>>>
>>> VS-)
>>>
>>> On Sun, Jul 24, 2011 at 9:03 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu
>>> wrot=
>>> e:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Jul 24, 2011, at 6:59 PM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=3Dap-halloffameinductions
>>>>> "The switch-hitting Alomar won a record 10 Gold Gloves at second base,
>>>>> was a 12-time All-Star and a career .300 hitter. Full of baseball
>>>>> smarts and grace, he=92s also linked with one of the game=92s most
>>>>> forgettable moments -- he spit on umpire John Hirschbeck during an
>>>>> argument in 1996."
>>>>>
>>>>> So forgettable that it's still being talked about 15 years later?
>>>>>
>>>>> =97bgz
>>>>>
>>>> Hmmm.  "forgettable" =3D 'worthy of being forgotten'?  The negative
>>>> counterpart of "memorable"?
>>>>
>>>> LH
>>>
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>>
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>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>
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