[Ads-l] Roe vee Wade

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sat Sep 21 01:03:02 UTC 2024


> On Sep 20, 2024, at 3:37 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> 
> I believe that in the legal community "v." is most common, with "versus" being more common in general usage. When my kids were growing up they use "vers" in various contexts, which I had never heard before.
> 
> Fred Shapiro

And in particular “to verse”, i.e.'to compete against, oppose in an athletic or video game’.  Probably documented in an ATNW entry at some point.

LH
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of James Landau <00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2024 3:24 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Subject: Roe vee Wade
> 
> It seems to me that most public references to the Supreme Court case "Roe vs. Wade" call it "Roe vee Wade" rather than "Roe versus Wade".
> I believe I have heard lawyers refer to Supreme Court cases as "X vee Y" but I don't recall hearing laypeople (such as newscasters) using "X vee Y' rather than "X versus Y" e.g. "Brown versus Board of Education" not "Brown vee Board of Education".
> Am I tone deaf or is there a trend here?
> James Landau
> jjjrlandau at netscape.com <mailto:jjjrlandau at netscape.com>
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org/<http://www.americandialect.org/> <http://www.americandialect.org/%3Chttp://www.americandialect.org/%3E>
> 
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>> on behalf of James Landau <00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:00000c13e57d49b8-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2024 3:24 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>>
> Subject: Roe vee Wade
> 
> It seems to me that most public references to the Supreme Court case "Roe vs. Wade" call it "Roe vee Wade" rather than "Roe versus Wade".
> I believe I have heard lawyers refer to Supreme Court cases as "X vee Y" but I don't recall hearing laypeople (such as newscasters) using "X vee Y' rather than "X versus Y" e.g. "Brown versus Board of Education" not "Brown vee Board of Education".
> Am I tone deaf or is there a trend here?
> James Landau
> jjjrlandau at netscape.com
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org/<http://www.americandialect.org/> <http://www.americandialect.org/%3Chttp://www.americandialect.org/%3E>
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org/ <http://www.americandialect.org/>

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


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