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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Wreak is sometimes confused with wreck, perhaps because the wreaking of damage may leave a wreck: The storm wreaked (not wrecked) havoc along the coast. The past tense and past participle of wreak is wreaked, not wrought, which is an alternative past tense and past participle of work. [AHD4]
-ron obvious
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The misuse is becoming very common indeed, enough to set the prescriptivist into conniptions
dalehileman
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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(and I meant to add) wreak is pronounced reek! -ron o.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Tell Roth to wax Ron for a while. With no apology to Groucho his own self.
TEd
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
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old hand
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Wax Ron, Wax Wroth. Wax Ron, Wax Wroth.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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But, but...what if Ron would prefer to be waned?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wreak is from the OE wrecan, which was a class 5 strong verb. This means that the 1st preterite (the standard past) was wręc. This suggests that the "proper" past tense in MnE should be 'wrack' if language weren't such a slippery thing.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Aha! When you wreak havoc you bring things to wrack and ruin. I had wonderred what kink of rack.
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