[Ads-l] WOTY candidate: unhoused

[Dan Goncharoff]

"Unhoused" is not new. Goes all the way back to the 20th century.

On Tue, Sep 1, 2020, 8:36 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:

> I would argue that at least the second example is a verbal participle,
> based on the verb “unhouse” ‘to be removed from one's house/housing’ rather
> than a negative adjective ‘not housed’, i.e. ‘homeless’. The former reading
> is parallel to “unhorsed” = ‘removed from one’s horse’.  (Compare
> "unwrapped” as the past tense or past participle of the verb “unwrap” vs.
> the adjective “not wrapped”.)  The first of Amy’s examples is ambiguous,
> but I think the more plausible reading is again the reversative or what is
> sometimes called the ablative verb, again I understand Rep. Bush to be
> talking about suffering eviction, i.e. a change of state, rather than
> simple homelessness, but it could be read the other way, especially if we
> didn’t have the latter example.
>
> LH
>
>
>
>
> > On Sep 1, 2020, at 8:22 PM, Amy West <medievalist at W-STS.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Probably recency illusion, but I've been noticing the use of "unhoused"
> instead of "homeless": I heard Cori Bush, the new Missouri representative
> use it in an interview:
> >
> > " But, you know, I bring a different - you know, I bring something
> different, you know? And that is coming from the heart of the ground, out
> of the activist community, out of the Ferguson uprising, you know, being
> unhoused, being, you know, just a whole different - just a different
> outlook."
> >
> >
> https://www.npr.org/2020/08/18/903616343/congressional-candidate-from-missouri-on-racial-justice-and-policing
> >
> > And now I see it in an e-mail from ACLU:
> >
> > "It was only because of a local moratorium that they were able to keep a
> roof above their heads. Since that expired, both they and her son could now
> be unhoused in a pandemic."
> >
> > "Rent is Due Tomorrow," ACLU, 31 Aug 2020, e-mail.
> >
> > Sorry if other folks have already commented on this.
> >
> > ---Amy West
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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