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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Now that I have your attention, I'd like to ask AWADers from around the world about this word. A poster in another place said: "My projects are a copulation of science and history". This led to some mildly ribald comments from other posters and the poster, who was a Canadian who had also spent some time in the UK, insisted that this was the first time his use of the word in this way as a synonym for mixture or combination had been thought out of the ordinary, suggesting that the problem stemmed from a US usage. When I then mentioned that I had never heard of the word except in the sexual sense, and the related word copulative as a grammatical term, well let's just say I received a most unAWADlike answer.
So what do AWADers think? Could you use the word copulation in a non-sexual sense? I did wonder if the poster was actually a francophone; any comments bel?
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
1. The action of coupling or linking two things together, or condition of being coupled; connexion, union. Obs.
1752 Johnson Rambler No. 194 310 Wit+is the unexpected copulation of ideas. 1752 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) I. 179 A pyramid which by a most unnatural copulaton is at once a grotto and a greenhouse.
b. Grammatical or logical connexion.
c. quasi-concr. A combination. Obs. rare.
1774 H. Walpole Let. Sir W. Hamilton 19 June, A new instrument+a copulation of a harpsicord and a violin.
2. spec. The union of the sexes in the act of generation. (Now chiefly a term of Zoology.)
[OED]
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
My dictionary lists copulate, with sexual connotation as only definition. But I can remember when "intercourse" had not yet become restricted to same topic.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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Dictionary definitions aside, I have never heard anyone in the midwest of the US use "copulation" except with sexual connotations.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
no argument; note that defns 1a, 1c evidently weren't found after the 18th century and are marked obsolete, but the original meaning has been corrupted (a la decimate)!! copulare [L] - to fasten together, link, couple
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
A poster in another place said: "My projects are a copulation of science and history". Now that I have your attention..I have a strong suspicion that the "other poster" used the word with same intention as you did - I can barely believe in his/her candidness. I'm irresistibly reminded of the '68 slogan: There is no revolution without copulation.
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