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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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Hi all ... a question about today's word, tarry.
I've tarried from time to time - probably in every sense that Anu's definition lays out - but I've never seen it used as a noun.
Do you have a tarry?
Do you do a tarry?
Do you receive a tarry?
Seems strange to me! And it's not listed as a noun in COD. Perhaps someone should ask John Simpson about it on December 19.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Cap:
It's listed as an obsolete noun in OED: to do an action "without tarry." In the back of my mind I've got a feeling that it might also be one of those state of the art words in the legal profession, meaning the same thing.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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TEd offered: It's listed as an obsolete noun in OED: to do an action "without tarry." In the back of my mind I've got a feeling that it might also be one of those state of the art words in the legal profession, meaning the same thing.
Oh, I see. Silly me. Of course, I should have realised that it wasn't something you have, it's something you don't have. What's more, if you did have it, it would necessarily (and by OED definition) be obsolete.
I won't comment on its use in the legal profession. I've never met a lawyer who considered him/herself obsolete, or being a tarry. What's worse, they confuse fees with phone numbers.
Thanks, TEd
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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addict
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>It's listed as an obsolete noun in OED<
Not sure when it went obsolete then! In my Shorter Oxford (1969), no obsolescence is shown. In fact, it even has two meanings:
1. The act of tarrying, spending or loss of time; delay, procrastination
2. Sojourn; a 'stay'. Now chiefly US.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Not sure when it went obsolete then! In my Shorter Oxford (1969), no obsolescence is shown. In fact, it even has two meanings:
1. The act of tarrying, spending or loss of time; delay, procrastination
2. Sojourn; a 'stay'. Now chiefly US.
these are, in fact, the 2 senses given in the OED (1989); the first is now tagged obs -- the latest citation is dated "1745 Wright in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Reg. (1848) II. 207 We made no tarry but set forward for Fort Dummer."
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