gain = 'develop'

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not much better, as I see it, though "acquire" does sound more
appropriately neutral.

My impression is that addictions are idiomatically more often "developed"
rather than "acquired." But maybe that's just me.

On the one hand, Wiki's "gain" could just be the groping of a writer who
hasn't read or absorbed enough about the subject.

Or it could be a SOTA.

JL

On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:27 AM, Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Charles C Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: gain = 'develop'
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Perhaps, more specifically (in a semantic sense), "gain" < "acquire" or
> the like?
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of
> Jonathan Lighter [wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2012 5:43 PM
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Cites from Wikipedia reflect the true vox populi:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._John :  "He was introduced to marijuana
> at
> a young age, among other drugs, ultimately gaining an addiction to heroin
> in his teen years."
>
> JL
>
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