[Ads-l] by-passer

Joel Berson berson at ATT.NET
Wed Apr 29 16:46:32 UTC 2015


bystand -- stand by idly.
bypass - pass by idly (and not take pictures).
stand by -- be ready to assist.  (As Neal implies below, for when "idly" is omitted.)

pass by -- go by near (and be able to assist -- and photograph).
Joel
     From: Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
 To: Joel Berson <berson at att.net> 
 Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:27 PM
 Subject: Re: by-passer
   
  I saw a student-made anti-bullying poster in a middle school recently. It said "Don't bystand, speak up!" Aside from its being one more backformed compound verb, the meaning would definitely have been different if the poster maker had written "Don't stand by." For that to get the meaning associated with "bystander," they'd have had to insert an "idly": "Don't stand idly by!"
 
 Neal
 
 
 On 4/29/2015 10:58 AM, Joel Berson wrote:
  
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Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET>
Subject:      Re: by-passer
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Could one distinguish the following?

"Passer-by" -- someone who sees or hears an incident.=C2=A0 Thus is close e=
nough to photograph it.

"By-passer" -- someone who avoids an incident -- bypasses it.=C2=A0 Thus do=
es not see and cannot photograph it.=C2=A0 From "by-pass", v.2., sense 1.b =
(To take an indirect route around, to avoid (a locality, military position,=
 [or riot,] etc.).)
For the -er form ("by-passer"), the OED does not distinguish from "passer-b=
y".

Joel
________________________________


From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=20
Sent: Wednesday, April 29, 2015 8:27 AM
Subject: [ADS-L] by-passer


CNN "Both incidents were caught on camera by a by-passer."

JL

--=20
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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 -- 
Dr. Neal Whitman
Lecturer, ESL Composition
School of Teaching and Learning
College of Education and Human Ecology
Arps Hall
1945 North High Street
whitman.11 at osu.edu
(614) 260-1622 


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