Heard on Tosh.0:

[Wilson Gray]

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:21 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> What is that opposed to?

"Nothing ever came of it," of course.

I had a feeling that there is no longer any non-trival distinction,
for speakers born after 1940, between

_come of_

and

_become of_,

any more that there is between

_loved_

and

_beloved_.

But, one had hoped.

Back in the '40's, _beloved_ was occasionally spelled _belov'ed_ with
a grave over the -e-, in a failed attempt to block "beluvd."

Don't people ever wonder, "Why does this word have two different
spellings and two different pronunciations, but only a single meaning,
the mirror-image of, say, _might_ and _mite_? Could it be that they
*don't* have a single meaning?! Because, if they *do* have a single
meaning, then the inotial _be_ is otiose! Yet, it's added, anyway! How
can this be?!!! Surely, this cannot stand!"

Apparently, they do not.

--
-Wilson
-----
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-Mark Twain

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