[Ads-l] Another early "fact" = 'idea; proposition.'

[Jonathan Lighter]

It would seem that the "proposition; idea" sense exists almost solely in
the construction "the fact that."

Getting back to _The Green Slime_, the context makes it clear that nobody
knows yet whether Dr. Halvorsen's theory is correct (i.e., a genuine
"fact") or not.

I posted several exx. over the years. Here's a good one from '09:

"We can't be lulled into the fact that all these al-Qaeda people are
flubs....They are expert bombers."

JL

On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 4:03 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
wrote:

> https://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/true-facts-and-false-facts/
>
> > On Jan 12, 2017, at 3:16 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
> adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > There are some 19th century examples of the phrase "untrue fact" which
> > suggest that the definition of "fact: a thing that is indisputably the
> > case" does not quite capture the full meaning. One might argue that
> > these uses are anomalous and should not be included under the
> > definition. Innovative (and incompetent) speakers enjoy stretching the
> > definitions of words.
> >
> > Year: 1890
> > Title: The Teachings of Humanity
> > Author: Ch. W. Rosenfeld
> > Translator: M. M. (from Hebrew)
> > Quote Page 100 and 101
> > Database: Google Books Full View
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Hitherto we met a great many really deserving and pressing cases
> > unattended to or refused, because the applicants cannot or will not
> > humble themselves too much, or, as the impostors usually do, take
> > recourse to false statements, in order to satisfy the requirements of
> > the rules. Should there, however, happen an exceptional case where a
> > honest man has been driven by want and misery to state an untrue fact,
> > it is at once found out, it is seen in his face, and as a punishment
> > naturally follows-a refusal point blank.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Garson
> >
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 2:16 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> > <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> 1968 Bill Finger et al. _The Green Slime_ (film) [No Pun Intended]:
> We're
> >> banking on the fact that Dr. Halvorsen's theory is correct.
> >>
> >> Halvorsen's *theory* is that the slime creatures feed on pure energy,
> which
> >> allows them to multiply like crazy. Something just described by the
> speaker
> >> as a dubious Theory is _ipso facto_ [No Pun Intended] not a Fact.
> >>
> >> JL
> >>
> >> --
> >> "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
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > 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