on reversed "substitute" (intransitive version)

[Jonathan Lighter]

>  In fact I still have trouble figuring out what's being moved in and
what's being deleted in such cases.

Exactly! Shows what a PhD is worth these days.

I mean the degree.

JL

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 9:44 AM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: on reversed "substitute" (intransitive version)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 9:28 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> >
> > The objection (or, to put it more neutrally, the non-occurring example)
> for us
> > old-timers arises from the preposition governed by "substitute".  You can
> > replace butter with olive oil, or equivalently (as in your Mac dictionary
> > examples) substitute olive for butter, but you can't substitute butter
> with
> > olive oil or vice versa.  In fact I still have trouble figuring out
> what's
> > being moved in and what's being deleted in such cases, but as Wiktionary
> says
> > this use is increasing  despite the carping (or the non-comprehension)
> from
> > the old-timers.
> >
> > We've certainly discussed it to death here, and there are no doubt
> Language
> > Log or other blogs on the topic, as Ben will remind us.
>
> This is Arnold's bailiwick -- see, e.g., this post (w/ examples from
> previous
> ADS-L discussions):
>
> http://arnoldzwicky.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/two-remarks-on-reversals/
>
> --bgz
>
> --
> Ben Zimmer
> http://benzimmer.com/
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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