to leave = 'to leave a bequest to'

[victor steinbok]

I'll just repeat what I said earlier: Without further context, it's hard to
tell. What I meant is that *I* can't tell. I'll take your word for it.

But I was not suggesting that he was going to leave them *out* at any point.
What I was saying is that he meant to put SA in the will, not that he was
going to leave his possessions to SA. The result may be the same, but not
the statement. But, again, I'll take your word for it.

VS-)

On Sun, May 1, 2011 at 12:46 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

>
> One unused to linguistic ineptitude might think so, but the entire
> available
> context strongly suggests otherwise. Short for "leaving them something."
>
> No competent TV commercial would dare leave in the slightest perceivable
> criticism of the "product."  A speaker who seemed to suggest to the ad's
> editors that he'd even once considered leaving the SA out of his will would
> never have gotten on the air.
>
> JL

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