On Nov 30, 2011, at 11:31 AM, Cliff Nadler wrote:
> http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backyard
> http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/backyard?q=backyard
>
> Both show as nouns, only the American one shows it as an adjective.
>
Even experienced copy editors get thrown. Early on I ran into questions about
my use of "grey" as opposed to "gray." I really don't know why I do, just
habit I guess. Anyway, my copy editor at the time, a wonderful gal named
Elaine Chubb, who was British, though she had lived in NYC for years (a serious
METS fan, which is how long) queried me on it and we discussed. She said
"grey" was British preferred usage, but "gray" was American preferred. I
corrected her (one of the VERY few times I got to do that) as grey is preferred
British, but grey and gray are equally acceptable American usage.
It's why there's an Oxford English Dictionary and an Oxford American Dictionary
(though most authorities on language in the US prefer Wester's Third Unabridged
(Merriam-Webster) revised 2000.
Anyway, always remember, a dictionary isn't put together by an oracle, but by a
usage panel of various academics, and words are deleted to make way for new
ones, usages are often changed ("ain't" went from "illiteracy" to "slang," over
my lifetime), and regional variations,.
I suspect will ever be thus.
Best, R.E.F.
----
www.crydee.com
Never attribute to malice what can satisfactorily be explained away by
stupidity.
