decline

[Jonathan Lighter]

You mean, "Thanks anyway, deadbeat."

JL


On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 2:44 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: decline
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Aug 27, 2014, at 12:17 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Yes.
> >=20
> > But "declined" sounds so much more polite.
> >=20
> > Like when the machine "declines" your credit card.
> >=20
> > JL
>
> Exactly, with an implicit "Thanks anyway".
>
> LH
>
> >=20
> >=20
> > On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 11:01 AM, David Daniel =
> <david at coarsecourses.com>
> > wrote:
> >=20
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       David Daniel <david at COARSECOURSES.COM>
> >> Subject:      decline
> >>=20
> >> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >>=20
> >> =46rom CNN:
> >> "In the case of this week's United inflight battle, the flight =
> attendant
> >> reportedly told the man to remove the Knee Defender device, but he
> >> declined." Shouldn't that be "refused"?
> >> DAD
> >>=20
> >> ------------------------------------------------------------
> >> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >>=20
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --=20
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the =
> truth."
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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