Jim Dougan wrote: > Remember, though, that languages evolve - and does so fairly quickly. > The things we decry now may well be standard usage in 100 years. >
This is, of course, true. My complaint was not about usage quibbles (which often amount to regional and class differences in the way language is deployed). It was, rather, about situations in which people simply replace the correct word, often with another word that sounds like the first but doesn't mean the same thing. (Of course, a mistake made long enough by enough people can become a acceptable usage -- like the nearly pervasive misuse now of "begs the question" -- but I think one can make a strong case for not assimilating similar-sounding words that actually refer to two different things. Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [email protected] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ ========================== --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
