[Ads-l] "separation with"

[Marc Sacks]

It sounds as if Liam Hensworth and Miley Cyrus are both discussing the
separation.

On Sat, Apr 18, 2020 at 12:00 AM Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at gmail.com>
wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stanton McCandlish <smccandlish at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      "separation with"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Liam Hemsworth Is Opening Up About His Painful Separation With Miley
> Cyrus":
> https://spiritedbliss.com/liam-hemsworth-confession/?as=2100016710067
> (capitalized in all-words headline style).
>
> Makes me wonder if that one's inevitable.  If it read "separation from", it
> might be inferred to mean he's simply been lonely while she's away on
> tour.  A married couple's legal separation is a jointly-signed instrument,
> so "with" makes sense in a round-about way.  But it sure does sound/read
> weird.  Would be better to rewrite: "Liam Hemsworth opens up about painful
> Miley Cyrus separation agreement". That's actually slightly shorter, and
> more traditional headline syntax, while also being more precise.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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