[Ads-l] foment

[Jonathan Lighter]

Well, def. 1 is out because "ties" aren't "material or physical."

And the note that 2 is often used "in a bad way" seems to indicate that
positive exx. are now quite rare - as Dan suggests.

Which means that even if "fomenting" positive relations isn't brand-new,
it's still pretty weird outside of tomorrow's Inglish.

JL

On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 11:38 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: foment
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A quick Google search shows a handful of recent uses not related to the
> Royal Navy visit, but all from Asian sources.
>
> DanG
>
> On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 11:12 AM, 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: foment
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Well, OED foment, v. 4a is
> >
> > 'To promote the growth, development, effect, or spread of (something =
> > material or physical)'
> >
> > and 4b is=20
> >
> > 'To cherish, cultivate, foster; to stimulate, encourage, instigate (a =
> > sentiment, belief, pursuit, course of conduct, etc.). esp. in a bad =
> > sense'
> >
> > neither of which is marked as obsolete/archaic.  So the standard current
> =
> > ('esp. in a bad sense') use is a narrowing/pejoration, and Yahoo! News =
> > is just keeping the earlier broader practice of Milton, Pope, Swift, et =
> > al. alive.
> >
> > LH=20
> >
> > P.S.  Then there's the now archaic reflexive use, as in...
> > 1680 T. Otway. Orphan.  To think Of woman were enough to taint my =
> > Brains, Till they foment to madness!
> >
> > On Dec 1, 2014, at 10:29 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> > > Surely not "cement"?
> > >=20
> > > JL
> > >=20
> > > On Mon, Dec 1, 2014 at 10:24 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> =
> > wrote:
> > >=20
> > >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >> -----------------------
> > >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > >> Subject:      Re: foment
> > >>=20
> > >> =
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> > -----
> > >>=20
> > >> At 11/30/2014 08:01 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> > >>=20
> > >>> Like, you know, 'encourage in a good way'?
> > >>>=20
> > >>> Yahoo! News:
> > >>>=20
> > >>> "Cuba, UK seek to foment ties with visit of British Royal Navy =
> > ship."
> > >>=20
> > >> Perhaps an error for "ferment"?  A plan to bring back grog to the
> > >> Royal Navy, and in a gesture of comradeship introduce it to the Cuban
> > >> seamen?
> > >>=20
> > >> Joel
> > >>=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
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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