[Ads-l] Well, that's unexpected.

[Jonathan Lighter]

I think I posted something on this a few years back.  At any rate, I recall
a graduate student in English insisting to me some ten or twelve years ago
that "diffuse" was correct in such cases.

She wasn't sure why. Maybe because "defuse" meant bombs.

JL

On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 3:17 PM, guy1656 at centurylink.net <
guy1656 at centurylink.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "guy1656 at centurylink.net" <guy1656 at CENTURYLINK.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Well, that's unexpected.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I imagine distribution by means similar to an aerosol spray.
>
> - GLL
>
> > Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Perhaps she was thinning it out, rather than spreading it around.
> > On Mar 14, 2015 6:23 PM, "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> >
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Daily Kos headline:
> >
> > "Joan Baez _diffuses_ right-wing protest at Idaho concert"
> >
> > Isn't she a left-over lefty from the '60's?
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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

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