Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Horace Goes to Law School:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_06_21-2009_06_27.shtml#1245682580
A law professor e-mailed me this (prompted by my [1]Correcting
Students� Usage Errors Without Making Errors of Our Own:
Over the years, I have tried to get students to use �garnishee� as
a verb, as in �to garnishee an employee�s wages� rather than to
garnish wages. I say �to garnish wages� is to sprinkle parsley but
even as I say it I think I sound pedantic. Any thoughts?
Here's what I said in response: I don�t teach in the field, so my
judgment might not be good here; but I�ve always much preferred
�garnish.� True, �garnish� is also used for food, but English speakers
are quite familiar with words that have vastly different meanings;
no-one really thinks even for a moment about the limbs of forest
animals, for instance, when they hear about �bear arms.� So I doubt
that �garnish� is even distracting. And garnish certainly isn�t wrong:
The Oxford English Dictionary attests it to 1577 (three centuries
earlier than �garnishee� as a verb), and Black�s of course lists it as
well.
What�s more, �garnishee� strikes me as sounding too much like a noun
based on the verb, much as �employee� or �mortgagee.� At first, that�s
all I thought it was; some years ago, I learned that it is indeed used
as a verb, but it still sounds unpleasant to my ears (though again I
stress that this isn�t my field).
But rather than just relying on my ear, let me suggest that we go with
Horace, and follow �the will of custom, in whose power is the decision
and right and standard of language�
(http://books.google.com/books?id=jVl0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA303&lpg=PA303&dq=%
22the+will+of+custom%22&source=bl&ots=IjQs3aprUe&sig=FK4N8LHEekAWHrjQH
fEAlA62AZI&hl=en&ei=Ud0uSuupGIr-swPq-viwCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=resu
lt&resnum=1). A Westlaw search for ((garnish garnished) +5 wages) &
date(> 1/1/2000) reports 675 hits, seemingly (from looking at the
first page) almost entirely genuine and not false positives. A search
for ((garnishee garnisheed) +5 wages) & date(> 1/1/2000) reports 23
hits. One of those is labeled �[sic],� and 12 use �garnishee� as a
noun and not a verb (e.g., �orders the garnishee to withhold
attachable wages�). So it looks like there are only 11 hits (one
condemnatory, because of the �sic�) for �garnishee� as a verb, as
compared to 675 for �garnish.�
That, I think, strongly counsels against the �garnishee� usage. Some
people, such as the �sic�ing court (the Second Circuit), might think
�garnishee� is wrong. And others who understand and accept the usage
would still likely be distracted.
So it seems to me that students are better off learning to use the
familiar and broadly accepted �garnish,� notwithstanding the possible
(but in my view unlikely) association this may briefly create in the
reader�s mind with parsley, rather than the much rarer �garnishee.�
I'm pleased to report that my correspondent e-mailed me back to say
that this argument "convinced [him] to go back to garnish as a verb."
What do you think?
References
1. http://www.law.ucla.edu/volokh/errors.pdf
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