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#194077 - 11/16/10 02:47 AM wherefore
Alan Harrell Offline
stranger

Registered: 11/16/10
Posts: 1
It is interesting that both examples of usage (in the etymology and the quotation) use the word as a noun.

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#194078 - 11/16/10 04:49 AM Re: wherefore [Re: Alan Harrell]
Lindamp Offline
stranger

Registered: 11/16/10
Posts: 1
Loc: UK
Surely the most obvious quotation for this word would have been be the (in)famous "Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo", often misunderstood to mean "Where are you (hiding in the dark)?" not "Why are you a Montague?"

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#194079 - 11/16/10 05:24 AM Re: Romeo and Juliet [Re: Lindamp]
Candy Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 09/21/10
Posts: 1705
Loc: down under


yes..its sounds much better than Juliet asking
'why art thou Romeo!'

thats a totally different question.

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#194086 - 11/16/10 06:11 AM Re: Romeo and Juliet [Re: Candy]
BranShea Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 06/23/06
Posts: 5249
Loc: Netherlands, the Hague
'Wherefore' to me looks like an Anglisism and dubble dutch at the same time. 'Waarvoor' is a current dutch adverb.
'Waarvoor' are you coming here? (Waarvoor kom jij hier?)

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#194088 - 11/16/10 07:14 AM Re: wherefore [Re: Lindamp]
Faldage Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/01/00
Posts: 13653
Originally Posted By: Lindamp
Surely the most obvious quotation for this word would have been be the (in)famous "Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo", often misunderstood to mean "Where are you (hiding in the dark)?" not "Why are you a Montague?"


Agreed. I thought it was peculiar that he would use an example of the word as a noun when the theme of the week is adverbs.

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#194091 - 11/16/10 08:55 AM Re: wherefore [Re: Faldage]
Alex Williams Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 01/05/01
Posts: 1814
Loc: Spam Factory
Originally Posted By: Faldage
Originally Posted By: Lindamp
Surely the most obvious quotation for this word would have been be the (in)famous "Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo", often misunderstood to mean "Where are you (hiding in the dark)?" not "Why are you a Montague?"


Agreed. I thought it was peculiar that he would use an example of the word as a noun when the theme of the week is adverbs.


I can at least agree that wherefore is an adverb (insofar as I can wrap my mind around why being an adverb). M-W provides the usage "It was getting late, and wherefore we decided to move on."

I think AWAD is 0-2 in the count this week. Citing wherefore being used as a noun counts as a foul tip; I still think calling in situ an adverb was a swing and a miss.

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