[Ads-l] pottable

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sat Aug 15 21:01:08 UTC 2020


Seems unfair that there’s no OED entry for an adjective “pottable”, given the plethora of transitive verbs “to pot” and the listings for “plottable”, “pattable”, and “pettable”.  At least wiktionary has such a listing:

pottable (not comparable)

• (billiards, snooker) In billiards, pool, or snooker: able to be potted.

Then there’s this, from the “older Scots”:

Pottable, adj. 'fit for the pot, as for potting and preserving, or for cooking for immediate consumption’

Probably neither is what the CNN anchor had in mind, but you never know.  

LH


> On Aug 15, 2020, at 4:49 PM, Barretts Mail <mail.barretts at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> I can recall being corrected on this as a kid and correcting someone else as an adult. Regardless of whether there are two t’s, the oh sound seems more likely from the spelling in my dialect. BB
> 
>> On 15 Aug 2020, at 06:17, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>> 
>> That's how at least one high-paid, well educated CNN anchor says "potable."
>> 
>> Maybe because you can cook with it?
>> 
>> 
>> JL
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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



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