LL-L: "Verbs" [E/F] LOWLANDS-L, 09.JUN.1999 (02)

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From: gavilan <gavilan at nbnet.nb.ca>
Subject: Verbs

This is what I found in my computer's American Heritage Dictionary
regarding usuage of the verb 'sneak'.

USAGE NOTE: Snuck is an Americanism first introduced in the 19th century
as a nonstandard regional variant of sneaked. But widespread use of snuck
has become more common with every generation. It is now used by educated
speakers in all regions, and there is some evidence to suggest that it is
more frequent among younger speakers than sneaked is. Formal written
English is naturally and properly more conservative than other varieties,
of course, and here snuck still meets with much resistance. Many writers
and editors have a lingering unease about the form, particularly if they
recall its nonstandard origins. In fact, our consolidated citations,
exhibiting almost 10,000 instances of sneaked and snuck, indicate that
sneaked is preferred by a factor of 7 to 2. And 67 percent of the Usage
Panel disapproves of snuck. Nevertheless, in recent years snuck has been
quietly establishing itself in formal writing. An electronic search of a
wide range of reputable publications turns up hundreds of citations for
snuck, not just in sports writing but in news columns and commentary: "He
ran up huge hotel bills and then snuck out without paying" (George
Stade). "In the dressing room beforehand, while the NBC technician was
making me up, Jesse Jackson snuck up behind me and began playfully
powdering my face" (Bruce Babbitt). "Raisa Gorbachev snuck away yesterday
afternoon for a 65-minute helter-skelter tour of San Francisco" (San
Francisco Chronicle). "The Reagan administration snuck in some illegal
military assistance before that" (New Republic). Our citation files also
contain a number of occurrences of snuck in serious fiction: "He had
snuck away from camp with a cabinmate" (Anne Tyler). "I ducked down
behind the paperbacks and snuck out" (Garrison Keillor).


      *+*^*+*^*+*^*+*^*+*^*+*

        -+-  Bob Thiel  -+-
        gavilan at nbnet.nb.ca
    Translator: Spanish to English
        ICQ # 20586962

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