[Ads-l] Slang a la the NYT

[Jonathan Lighter]

The *real* diehards call it "The War of the Rebellion."

Which used to be the official USG designation.

JL

On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 3:20 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Slang a la the NYT
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Nov 11, 2014, at 2:55 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> > Prescriptivists now prefer "Mexican-American War."
> >=20
> > Because the old version *could be interpreted,* by those inclined to =
> do so,
> > to mean that Mexico started it. Or could suggest that to innocent =
> minds.
> >=20
> > Cf. the diehard insistence on "The War Between the States."
> >=20
> > Which isn't accurate anyway because separate states weren't at war in =
> a
> > free-for-all:
>
> well, more accurate than "The War Among the States", which really would =
> have been a free-for-all.
>
> >  two nations were at war, one internationally recognized and
> > established, the other unrecognized but de facto.
> >=20
> > The diehards reject "Civil War" because, see, a "civil war" takes =
> place
> > *within* a nation.
>
> And because it wasn't all that civil.
>
> But don't the *real* diehards call it "The War of Northern Aggression"?
>
> LH
> >=20
> > There's may be no limit to semantic paranoia.
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> >=20
> > On Tue, Nov 11, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Mark Mandel <thnidu at gmail.com> =
> wrote:
> >=20
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> >> -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Mark Mandel <thnidu at GMAIL.COM>
> >> Subject:      Re: Slang a la the NYT
> >>=20
> >> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >>=20
> >> At least your nitpick is substantive.
> >>=20
> >> On Mon, Oct 6, 2014 at 9:33 AM, Amy West <medievalist at w-sts.com> =
> wrote:
> >> ...
> >>=20
> >>> Kory is a bright light from what I have seen and heard of her work =
> at
> >>> M-W (for whom I still freelance).
> >>>=20
> >>> I would not dismiss her or her work based on this common use.
> >>>=20
> >>> Dave Wilton is spot on re: the editorial review: It was my senior =
> editor
> >>> at M-W who reviewed my letters to correspondents, pointed out my =
> uses of
> >>> things like "lay" for "lie" and "hopefully" that would set off
> >>> prescriptivists, and recommended that I should avoid them lest they =
> have
> >>> the reaction that y'all are demonstrating here.
> >>>=20
> >>> Yep, the lay/lie distinction is fading in the dialect. Deal with it.
> >>>=20
> >>> (And I just yesterday gave a local organization grief for a "during =
> the
> >>> Mexican War in 1945" typo on a poster. [Twice on the same poster, =
> 1945
> >>> for 1845.] So I can be just as nitpicky as another.)
> >>>=20
> >>> ---Amy West
> >>>=20
> >>=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
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>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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