[Ads-l] recruit

[Jonathan Lighter]

Good 1981, Garson.

To say flatly that Cuban was indeed "recruited," however, when the
phrase means to most of us (I believe) that he actually consented,
makes for a strange ambiguity.

E.g.:

Donald Trump was recruited to serve on the Nobel Prize Committee in 2015.

(This is a fictional example.)

Ambiguous or not?

JL

On Mon, May 16, 2016 at 12:55 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> Merriam Webster has something close to the pertinent sense, I believe.
>
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recruit
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> recruit - transitive verb
> 1 (d) to seek to enroll <recruit prospective students>
> [End excerpt]
>
> To find an example of the above sense I searched for "widely
> recruited" because I had seen that phrase applied to athletes. At most
> one school will succeed in enrolling the student.
>
> Date: February 19, 1981
> Article: Big Eight Football Signings Roundup
> News Service: UPI NewsTrack
> Database: NewsBank Access World News
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> 'He's the most highly publicized and widely recruited player we've
> ever signed,' said Kansas State Coach Jim Dickey, whose Wildcats have
> endured 10 straight losing seasons.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 8:36 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> I wonder where and when the new use began.  It's standard in academia--the grad students you've accepted and haven't yet agreed or declined to join the department are recruits (at open houses, for example).  But I assume it's standard in business in similar uses.  Maybe the chronology for the noun is different from that for the verb.
>>
>> LH
>>
>>> On May 15, 2016, at 8:20 PM, Joel Berson <berson at ATT.NET> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm impressed.
>>>
>>> Joel
>>>
>>>
>>>      From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 7:52 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] recruit
>>>
>>> Not in OED.  Therefore interesting.
>>>
>>> Traditionally, you "recruit" someone only when they join you.  Before
>>> that, they haven't been "recruited."
>>>
>>> If you invite or interview them, and they say "No thanks!" they
>>> haven't been "recruited."
>>>
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>>
>>> JL
>>>
>>> On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 6:41 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Why is this interesting? This usage has been around all century.
>>>> On May 15, 2016 7:54 AM, "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> CNN reports confidently that Mark Cuban was "recruited" to run as a
>>>>> third-party candidate.  He declined.
>>>>>
>>>>> I.e., "solicited or interviewed for a possible position."
>>>>>
>>>>> JL
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=SNnjlgKX69lNamHYfc33kaKyAzlYQlvPjdnjwqr-uFc&s=-VhlDkae41FSsvOOzPi89wZ0UiQwZgZFooU1a8FFeMA&e=
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>>> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=SNnjlgKX69lNamHYfc33kaKyAzlYQlvPjdnjwqr-uFc&s=-VhlDkae41FSsvOOzPi89wZ0UiQwZgZFooU1a8FFeMA&e=
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=SNnjlgKX69lNamHYfc33kaKyAzlYQlvPjdnjwqr-uFc&s=-VhlDkae41FSsvOOzPi89wZ0UiQwZgZFooU1a8FFeMA&e=
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=SNnjlgKX69lNamHYfc33kaKyAzlYQlvPjdnjwqr-uFc&s=-VhlDkae41FSsvOOzPi89wZ0UiQwZgZFooU1a8FFeMA&e=
>>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 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