"temporal"?

[James Smith]

In the context used in your example, it seems natural to me; I would read it as fixed or limited by time, able to neither overcome nor adapt to time or change, temporary, fleeting, transient.

James D. SMITH               |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com   |whether we act quickly and
                                    decisively
                             |or slowly and cautiously.


--- On Tue, 9/13/11, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU> wrote:

> From: Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> Subject: "temporal"?
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Date: Tuesday, September 13, 2011, 10:55 AM
> Alessandra Stanley on the tv series
> "Entourage", in the Arts section of the NYT on September
> 12:
>
>  Some fans complained that "Entourage" grew stale, but
> actually it's remarkable how fresh the series managed to
> stay given how temporal its setting.
>
> (this is from the hard copy; it's the same on-line, i now
> see.)
>
> is this a malaprop (of some kind) for "contemporary"?
> or is there a current sense of "temporal" here i'm not aware
> of?
>
> OED2 has
>
>   6. In general sense: Of, pertaining, or relating to
> time, the present time, or a particular time. [with the most
> recent cite in 1906]
>
> which would embrace (under "the present time") Stanley's
> use, but it still seems odd to me.
>
> arnold
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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