"due"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nor do I think that def. 10 covers my other exx.  Another on similar lines:
"I think you're due for a change of scenery," i.e., you ought to have one
and should already have had one.

Cf. related uses of "overdue."

JL

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 9:58 PM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "due"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > If one were to overhear at random the remark "and when are you due?"
> > addressed directly to a woman, I believe the most likely interpretation
> > nowadays, without further context, would be that the addressee is
> pregnant,
> > not that she herself is expected to arrive somewhere (though of course
> > that's entirely possible).
>
> I agree with you, Jon, I think, that the OED entry for "due" is
> incomplete. I highlighted definition 10 in the OED because it appeared
> to be the closest to the sense that is needed though it requires
> extension. As a layperson I think that a new sense should be added.
>
> Here is the way I would awkwardly try to force an interpretation that
> fits under 10.
>
> When is the baby due?
> When is the baby reckoned upon as arriving?
>
> When is the mother due?
> When is the mother under engagement (because of pregnancy) to be ready
> for the birth event?
>
> OED due A. adj.
> 10. Under engagement or contract to be ready, be present, or arrive
> (at a defined time); reckoned upon as arriving; as the train is
> already due = ought, according to the time-tables, to be already here
> (or at such a place).
>
> 1833    T. Moore Mem. (1854) VI. 336   Bills coming in at Christmas,
> and my History due at the same time.
> 1864    Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. vi. 49   Williams, Bob
> Glamour, and Jonathan, you are all due.
> a1872    B. Harte Lost Galleon i,   Due she was, and over due—Galleon,
> merchandise, and crew.
> 1896    Times 13 Jan. 7/1   She is due at Ascension on February 11,
> and is to leave for England again on February 21‥being due at
> Sheerness on March 19.
> 1897    N.E.D. at Due,   Mod. The train is due in London at 5 a.m. He
> is due at his office next Monday. I must go; I am due at Mr. B.'s at
> seven o'clock.
>
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