[Ads-l] "I'm simply time-wasting."

[Laurence Horn]

I'd have said "time-wasting" sounds more like an occupation while "wasting time" is just…something to do.  Although the "simply" may throw a monkey wrench into my compelling analysis.

Of course elsewhere similar distinctions have more heft, e.g. "he's a time-server" vs. "he's serving time".

LH


On Nov 26, 2014, at 4:02 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:

> Say what, now? Is there a semantic distinction between this and
> 
> "I'm simply wasting time"?
> 
> http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/apr/21/brain-training-online-neuroscience-elizabeth-day
> 
> -- 
> -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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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org