[Ads-l] "ultracrepidate" and "anti-ultracrepidationism" & the OED

[Wilson Gray]

Why has _ultra_ replaced _supra_?

On Sat, Feb 28, 2015 at 9:55 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "ultracrepidate" and "anti-ultracrepidationism" & the OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > On Feb 28, 2015, at 3:18 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> =
> wrote:
> >=20
> > I wonder ... Did Mary Norris reinvent "ultracrepidate" and the =
> associated
> > noun form? There was no Latin word "crepidare". The more common =
> adjectival
> > form is "ultracrepidarian". It comes from the saying ne supra crepidam
> > sutor judicare =E2=80=98let the cobbler not judge above the sandal=E2=80=
> =99, or in
> > Brooklynese, mind your own business.
>
> An early version of recusing yourself from whatever you deem to be above =
> your pay grade? (And those sandals are nice and low.)
>
> LH
>
> >=20
> > This is the second question I have about this fabulous piece of =
> writing.
> > On Feb 28, 2015 2:40 PM, "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at att.net> wrote:
> >=20
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> >> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> >> Subject:      "ultracrepidate" and "anti-ultracrepidationism" & the =
> OED
> >>=20
> >> =
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >>=20
> >> There is a fancy word for "going beyond your province":
> >> "ultracrepidate." So much of copy editing is about not going beyond
> >> your province. Anti-ultracrepidationism. Writers might think we're
> >> applying rules and sticking it to their prose in order to make it fit
> >> some standard, but just as often we're backing off, making
> >> exceptions, or at least trying to find a balance between doing too
> >> much and doing too little.
> >>=20
> >> 2015 Mary Norris in The New Yorker Feb 23; see
> >> =
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.newyorker.com_ma=
> gazine_2015_02_23_holy-2Dwrit&d=3DAwIFaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwF=
> p3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DjEQ2hc1UwEMwKP_xAlIl7wKi7hIY=
> ravOTwV4EwNdTHg&s=3DGoJZHGugVt-ddwqF2JXveMimYptl57OhL4Ix5yuUVtM&e=3D=20
> >>=20
> >> "ultracrepidate" postdates OED2  --1882.
> >> "anti-ultracrepidationism" not in OED3
> >>=20
> >> Joel
> >>=20
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> >>=20
> >=20
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-- 
-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

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