[Ads-l] steal = borrow (intentionally or not)

Mon Mar 2 16:38:01 UTC 2015

My voice teacher, when having me do singing exercises on higher and higher notes says 'OK, this is the last one..', then when I've done that well enough, says 'I lied' and adds a half step up. 

Which always makes me lose my concentration and giggle. 

Geoffrey S. Nathan 
Faculty Liaison, C&IT 
and Professor, Linguistics Program 
http://blogs.wayne.edu/proftech/ 
+1 (313) 577-1259 (C&IT) 

Nobody at Wayne State will EVER ask you for your password. Never send it to anyone in an email, no matter how authentic the email looks. 

----- Original Message -----

> From: "Amy West" <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Monday, March 2, 2015 11:30:00 AM
> Subject: Re: steal = borrow (intentionally or not)

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
> Subject: Re: steal = borrow (intentionally or not)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On 2/28/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> > Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2015 22:24:51 -0800
> > From: Benjamin Barrett<gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> > Subject: steal = borrow (intentionally or not)
> >
> > Yesterday, in a coffee shop, someone asked if they could steal a
> > chair
> > from the table where I was sitting.
> >
> > This sort of usage is common and while I might have called it
> > jocular in
> > the past, I don't see people necessarily smiling anymore when they
> > say
> > it. AFAIK, this usage is limited to politeness situations.
> It seems similar to the "lie" use for "misremember". Instead of
> saying,
> "Oh, I was wrong/mistaken, he isn't the actor who played Benson,"
> people
> will say "Oh, I lied, he isn't the actor. . ." when they didn't
> *actually* lie but misrembered, were wrong/mistaken, etc.

> ---Amy West

> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org