Comments on: The adverb as a form of litter

By: Jeffro

Jeffro — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 23:36:14 +0000

I don’t know what was worse – having to Google McG’s quote, or realizing I should have remembered.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:40:25 +0000

She gets too hungry, for dinner at eight…

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:06:39 +0000

And there’s at least one other meaning to “tramp” these days as well.

At least, when it prefaces, “stamp.”

By: McGehee

McGehee — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:09:24 +0000

Mark, that wasn’t Chaz making that comparison, it was me. And I said “most Americans,” which still to the best of my knowledge almost certainly excludes members of the tramp, bum, hobo and bindlestiff communities– at least until next April 15.

By: Mark Alger

Mark Alger — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:22:58 +0000

All matters of ignorance. You could say said ignorance has been foisted on society by progressives in the education establishment (and you’d not be far wrong). Yes, it’s true: they don’t make teachers like they used to. More’s the pity.

BTW, Chaz: bum, tramp, and hobo all have separate and distinct meanings. Just call a bindlestiff and tramp and see where it gets you. Call either a tramp or a ‘bo a bum and the LEAST you’ll get is a vehement denial.

One man’s “mere semantics” is another’s critical meaning.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:23:22 +0000

McG: yeas, it is kind of slang, of the sort like denim fabric is called “jean fabric”. Examples of usage: ” I need a tramp to Haifa for tomorrow afternoon. Know of somebody available?”
When I read it, I couldn’t believe my eyes

By: McGehee

McGehee — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:16:11 +0000

Most Americans think of “tramp” as a synonym for a bum or hobo, which is a slang application derived from its prior meaning — though these days most people think of tramps as riding in boxcars or hitchhiking along the highway rather than treading or walking with a firm, heavy, resounding step.

Tat, I suspect that odd usage of “tramp” in Israel is likewise just slang — which would nevertheless mean that professor is every bit as full of carp as you thought.

By: Tatyana

Tatyana — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:17:12 +0000

hehehe.
I’ve had an excruciatingly long and full of barely-conceived-contempt with a professional linguist from Israel of the topic of linguistic evolution. Namely, he claimed that the word “tramp”, which when used in Israel means “car ride”, was not mistranslated (and gotten an opposite meaning to original English word), but is a neologism [in Hebrew] of foreign origin, with new meaning that evolved according to local conditions.
I gave up on the third loop of the same argument…

By: CGHill

CGHill — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:53:22 +0000

In terms of linguistic evolution, I find it easier to deal with grammatical rules being set aside — God forbid anyone should call an emergency meeting of the Grammar Patrol just because someone decided to baldly split an infinitive — than with words whose meanings have been completely, perhaps even “literally,” reversed without any intervening drift.

By: sya

sya — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:17:53 +0000

Semantic laziness or linguistic evolution? As long as it doesn’t appear that we’re heading toward a version of the chicken-chicken-chicken scenario, I think I’d prefer the latter explanation. I’ve been berated enough times about my speech habits that I’ll take any reason to not feel like a verbal incompetent.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:21:05 +0000

I’m favoring a literal death penalty for people who use “decimate” to mean “devastate” or “annihilate” or even just “really trashed.”

Here’s a hint offered directly and exclusively to people who misuse that word: if every single one of you gets put to death, you’re not being “decimated.” Trust me, I wouldn’t leave 90% of you alive in hopes you’d learn from the example of the other 10% — you obviously aren’t capable of it.

Grrrr…

By: Lisa Paul

Lisa Paul — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:10:59 +0000

I am so, so, like, totally f*cking OVER this sort of grammatical crime. Literally.

By: fillyjonk

fillyjonk — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:53:21 +0000

I admit to being guilty of this one. I tend to use “literally” as an intensifier.

In my defense, there is another intensifier that I am choosing not to use, one that my students often use, beginning with an f and ending with an -ing.