status quo = 'situation'

[Jonathan Lighter]

Try this.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports that people are waiting to see "where the status
quo emerges" in Libya.

In other words, a (relatively) stable situation.

Not "an existing state of affairs."

JL

On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 7:22 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: status quo = 'situation'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> One-off or not, things like this just leap out at me.
>
> It could be the start of something big.
>
> JL
>
> On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 7:17 PM, victor steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
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> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: status quo = 'situation'
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I'd be the last person to complain about someone seeing idiosyncrasies
> > where others may not--I post this kind of stuff all the time (and get
> > berated by Ron Butters). I won't dispute that there is a difference
> > between the cited use and the classic definition--I just don't believe
> > that the difference is quite as vast as you suggested. Basically, in
> > the Reuters example--as in the example you give below (below in this
> > message--above metaphorically)--"quo" is superfluous. But it's not
> > particularly destructive and the intended meaning is clearly related
> > to the dictionary one, even if it's not identical. It may be a drift
> > or it may be one-off.
> >
> > And I would not want to substitute my judgement for yours.
> > Disagreement is not necessarily criticism--descriptivism demands
> > stochastic evaluations, not static ones. (I am sure someone will
> > object to my use of "stochastic" and "static".)
> >
> > VS-)
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 18, 2011 at 5:26 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > You may be right, Victor. But surely my sense that there's something
> very
> > > odd about the usage isn't entirely idiosyncratic?
> > >
> > > Ideally a dictionary definition should be completely substitutable for
> > the
> > > word defined.  "The possibility of an entrenched existing situation"?
>  I
> > > don't think so. "Status" would  work - but would be just as peculiar.
> > >
> > > To me, "What's the status quo?" is almost ungrammatical. "What was the
> > > status quo?" is fine.
> > >
> > > The "status quo" seems usually to be something you either want to get
> > back
> > > to or get away from, not something that merely exists. In my Western
> > Front
> > > example, "status quo" makes sense not because it means the "existing
> > > situation," period; it implies that the situation is the same as it was
> > > *before,* in this case for the past three years.  "An entrenched status
> > > quo," at least in the context of the quotation, refers to a future
> > > possibility rather than anything in the past (from the perspective of
> > now,
> > > of course).
> > >
> > > Whether or not I've identified the specific problem correctly, I still
> > > believe that the exampled usage is semantically odd, and that the OED
> > > definition is overly broad. (Cf., perhaps, the subtleties of
> "anymore.")
> > >
> > > JL
> >
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>
>
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