Hi everyone I have moved this to chat from lace (and it is chatty - so bear with me, there is a small but brilliant conclusion....
In the sig line of a message I had written to [lace] do with 3 pairs Flanders, and which included a quote from a European writer using the continental meaning of 'exhibit', and following on what someone else had posted to lace about the meaning of exhibit/exhibition, I wrote, quoting the Canadian Gage dictionary << 'exhibit' applies particularly to an object or > collection of things put on view at a fair, exhibition or other public > show. 'exhibition' applies to a public show of works of art, rare objects > of any kind, lace, commercial objects, etc. (ok, I added the word 'lace'). > >> this was for the interest of anyone following the thread, to demonstrate the conventional Canadian/North American usage Then Susan responded, with the logical observation > > I think to American ears, grown accustomed to the shorthand of the > press, exhibit sounds 'right' while exhibition sounds a tad pretentious. > But I'm not aware of strict usage either way. Susan in Florida and Bev adds (hold on this is leading to the brilliant part)... in the North American art world where I spend some of my time, we do tend to define an exhibit as made up of parts, unless the part itself is the exhibit. e.g. Famous Artist has Exhibit of Recent Works (plural); Famous Artist has Exhibit of Recent Sculpture (singular). I was unaware of the European usage until recently. That doesn't mean it isn't in North American usage, just that I haven't encountered it. Now that I know, it has stretched my mind appreciably. It was a moment of brilliance, albeit small. In law there is the 'exhibit A' sort of thing - I wonder if that could be equally a single item, or a set of items. I looked up the entry for 'exhibit' in my guide to language and usage, but was only reminded to include the 'h' in the spelling. I presume the guide writers weren't too concerned with exact meaning. bye for now Bev, fascinated with language, in sunny Sooke BC (yes there is sun somewhere above the rain) west coast of Canada, and on our Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
