protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention to'

[Jonathan Lighter]

This evening CNN reported on a woman who "protested female membership in
the Augusta National."

That means she was for it.

Earlier this week, a gentleman explained that after fathering an autistic
child, he'd become "a big advocate for the disease."

That means he's against it.

JL

On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 9:38 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention to'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Jon,
>
> Are you sure they're not "rally[ing] for climate change" back to a
> colder world?  :-)
>
> Joel
>
> At 4/25/2010 08:51 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >Why become an advocate for migraines or protest the need for jobs when you
> >can rally for global warming instead?
> >
> >CNN reports James Cameron's involvement in a public demonstration
> >today(called the "Climate Rally")  in which "thousands will rally for
> >climate change."  That means they're against it.
> >
> >Meanwhile the bottom-of-the-screen note says "Call For Climate Change."
> >
> >
> >JL
> >
> >On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 1:01 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: protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention
> to'
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > When my generation protested the need for jobs, we were talking about a
> > > very
> > > different issue.
> > >
> > > I'm with Joel. To be a "telescoping" of "protest about the need,"
> > > intrans._protest_ has to mean "take part in a public demonstration"
> (the
> > > NPR
> > > ex. was of course trans.)
> > >
> > > Somewhere there may be someone who uses the word that way, but for
> everyone
> > > else a sentence like the following would still be logically impossible:
> > >
> > > *OK, young Democrats, I want to see at least fifty of you protesting in
> > > honor of President Obama's arrival tomorrow.  (Meaning "*demonstrating
> > > enthusiastically.")
> > >
> > > In terms of semantics, "protesting the need for jobs" is like "has
> become
> > > an
> > > advocate for" in that the once-apparent plain sense of the utterance is
> > > more
> > > or less reversed, owing to a combination of changes in the semantic
> > > associations of both "advocate" and "protest" along with complete
> > > inattention to the form of what one is saying or writing.
> > >
> > > Several factors are undoubtedly involved. But the switcheroo in these
> cases
> > > is startling.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > >
> > > On Sat, Apr 3, 2010 at 10:09 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> wrote:
> > >
> > >  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > > Subject:      Re: protest = 'demonstrate in public to draw attention
> to'
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > At 4/2/2010 10:57 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> > > > >On Apr 2, 2010, at 3:05 PM, Jon Lighter wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >>_All Things Considered_ reported this evening on about 36 teenagers
> > > > >>who were
> > > > >>chanting "We need jobs!" outside a municipal agency.
> > > > >>
> > > > >>According to the highly paid journalist-narrator, they were
> > > > >>"protesting the
> > > > >>need for jobs."
> > > > >
> > > > >this appears to be "protest" 'protest about' -- yet anoth
> > > > >transitivizing P-drop, in addition to "protest" 'protest against'.
> > > >
> > > > Still, I wouldn't protest about the need for jobs.  (I don't think
> > > > I'd even protest against the need for jobs.)  I'd protest about the
> > > > lack of jobs.
> > > >
> > > > Joel
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
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> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> truth."
> > >
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> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
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>
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>



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