Heard on The Doctors: "lease _of_ life"; "anorectic" v. "anorexic"

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Fri Sep 21 22:08:43 UTC 2012


The former was spoken by a forty-ish black man in the UCLA Med Ctr

Noticed this for the time today. But, 10,300,000 hits. A movie
entitled "Lease _of_ Life" was released in 1954, the year that I
graduated from high school. Who knew? I didn't.

Back in '01, a poster noted:

" 'A new lease _on_ life' seems to make perfect sense, suggesting that
life is once again yours to occupy, like a property. Why, then. is it
always quoted as, 'a new lease _of_ life'?"

IMO? Because "the world is full of assholes," to use the catch-phrase
of an Army buddy.

But, seriously, folks. There just isn't anything to be done to prevent
language-change.

Besides, "lease of life" may go the way of "irregardless" and become
quite rare. Or it may go the way of "snuck" and become usual, if not
standard.

Youneverknow.


The latter two were spoken by a twenty-ish white woman in the UNC Med
Ctr who used "anorectic" and a forty-ish white doctor who replied
using "anorexic."

Nothing to see here, folks, beyond the fact that a person with
preconceived notions might have expected the variants used to be
reversed.

--
-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

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



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