On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 12:50 PM, Chris Mason <[email protected]> wrote: <snip>
> Now I'm an incredibly understanding character myself and so I am going to > exercise extreme kindness and bow to the litigious folk between the shining > seas by quoting from a dictionary which I believe is held in highest esteem by > our wayward cousins, namely, "Webster's Seventh New Collegiate", on the > flyleaves of which the latest date I can find is 1966. Sadly, it's cloth- not > Morocco- bound! Why are you using an obsolete reference? It's 45 years old: the language has evolved since then. I'll bet it doesn't include any mention of a telecommunications device under "cellular", for example; it may not even include "integrated circuit". Plus that's hardly a highly esteemed dictionary (little-known fact: "Webster's" on a dictionary has no significance - it's just an attempt to cadge some legitimacy by invoking Noah Webster's name). Try AHD or OED (both of which do support the usage). I don't think cherry-picking your references enhances your credibility. Look at any modern dictionary: I suspect you'll find they're synonyms. (I say "suspect" because I haven't checked them all, of course.) Ye're rowin' agin the tide, son... ...phsiii ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
