[Ads-l] to "question"

[Jonathan Lighter]

> I find blend analyses more appealing for one-off structures.

But every structure was a one-off at one time. Or a bunch of one-offs.

Or maybe "that" is coming to mean "whether" in cases like this.

JL

On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 3:52 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: to "question"
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To put it another way, it's bad writing.
> On Mar 30, 2015 2:34 PM, "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
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> > Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: to "question"
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > > On Mar 30, 2015, at 11:56 AM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> =
> > wrote:
> > >=20
> > >=20
> > > Looks like a blend: "The government does not question the accuracy of =
> > the information"
> >
> > But why not "The government does not question whether the information is
> =
> > accurate", which is a lot closer to the syntax of the sentence uttered?
> =
> > And if it's a blend, it's a well-established one; examples of "X do(es) =
> > not question that Y" with exactly this sense (expressing doubts as to =
> > whether Y is the case, not necessarily denying, or attempting to deny, =
> > that Y is the case) are very easy to attest.  I find blend analyses more
> =
> > appealing for one-off structures. =20
> >
> > LH
> >
> > > + "The government does not deny that the information is accurate."
> > >=20
> > > Gerald Cohen=20
> > > ________________________________________
> > > Jonathan Lighter wrote, Monday, March 30, 2015 6:29 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > Subject: to "question"
> > >=20
> > > 'To attempt to deny (that)' :
> > >=20
> > > CNN reports that the French government has criticized the release of
> > > cockpit recordings from the Germanwings flight, "but does not question
> =
> > that
> > > the information is accurate."
> > >=20
> > > Some OED defs. come close, but definitely no cigar.
> > >=20
> > > JL
> > >=20
> > >=20
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