Q: 'die', 'dice'

[Geoffrey S. Nathan]

----------------------------Original message----------------------------
At 07:31 AM 4/4/2001 -0400, Richard Coates wrote:
>I think it is curious that we dice with death and do not die with it. Few
>English verbs are derived by conversion from a plural noun - the ones I can
>think of are colloquial, perhaps British, and rude (e.g. _I've ballsed up_
>`I've made a mistake', `fouled things up').

Still curiouser is the (apparently relatively) new form 'dicey'
(surprisingly cited by the OED no earlier than 1950).  For those who deal
in lexical phonology style strata this formation is OK but it certainly
shows the loss of any plural sense as early as mid 20th century.  On the
other hand, further to Richard's example, in American English there is
'ballsy' (showing gumption, daring).

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
Department of Linguistics
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
Carbondale, IL, 62901-4517
Phone:  (618) 453-3421 (Office) / FAX (618) 453-6527
         (618) 549-0106 (Home)
                                                         geoffn at siu.edu