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#11405 11/29/00 11:42 PM
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tsuwm Offline OP
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>The only sense I think it is used these days

of the two citations I gave... hang on a second...
In reply to:

I was reminded today of the British use of 'minute' as a verb; to wit: "On the 14th Churchill minuted Cadogan....", or "In no case should I phone him or minute him; even the internal lines were taboo."


...the first is from Stephen Dorril's "MI6" published this year and the second is from LeCarre's "Tinker, Tailor...". [where does the period belong in that last sentence?] both seem to be of the sense to write [a memo] to.


#11406 11/30/00 11:15 AM
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both seem to be of the sense to write [a memo] to

I'd agree with Jo that this isn't a common usage. You don't often even minute a meeting - you take minutes.

Perhaps it's primarily used in political/governmental circles. I think the implication is that you aren't just writing a letter, you're writing a pithy summary of salient points (minuting) and passing that on by internal post - like a memo but far more secure.

However, we used to talk about memoing people back before email became commonplace, so there's your noun verbing.

In fact when we first had company-specific (as opposed to Internet) email facilities we used to call emails memos.



#11407 11/30/00 07:35 PM
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Actually he flied OUT to center field. Made a fly out. They've probably been using this since the first radio broadcast of a baseball game. My dictionary has it as a past tense of fly with the stipulation that it's only for baseball.

I tried in my mind "He flew to center field" and "He flew out to center field" and I kept getting this image of Harry Potter on a broom.



TEd
#11408 12/01/00 05:32 AM
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Isn't "to mail", rather than "send an e-mail" another example?

I can accept that a verb minute comes from a noun directly, or to say that one is memoing comes from the noun memo, but mail? I have mailed things all my life. If ever the verb or noun was derived from the other both versions have been part of my life since I had vocabulary. I have always accepted mail to be one of those words that has various meanings, and various parts of speech. I don't think of the verb as being derived from the noun.

It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.
--Governor George W. Bush Jr.

#11409 12/01/00 08:32 AM
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jmh Offline
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>I have mailed things all my life.

Whereas I have always posted my letters, not mailed them.


#11410 12/02/00 03:44 AM
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xara, I know this has nothing to do with this thread title but what on earth is GWBush getting on about in this quote of yours. I am sure it must mean something of note since you have used it a few times. Seeing as we are on the Earth, which is in orbit around the sun, and is not the last planet out, the human race IS in the solar system. ???


#11411 12/02/00 07:33 AM
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>the human race IS in the solar system

I think that maybe the point


#11412 12/02/00 09:03 PM
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Colour me clueless Jo. Maybe I'd understand the quote if I knew in what context he was saying it.


#11413 12/02/00 10:20 PM
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tsuwm Offline OP
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here's a whole bunch of stuff attributed to 'W'; the unfortunate thing at this point is that it's all so far removed from context that it's nigh on to impossible to tell what George said and what was *really said by Dan Quayle.

http://www.tolkienonline.com/thewhitecouncil/messageview.cfm?catid=24&threadid=5405




#11414 12/03/00 11:56 AM
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>the human race IS in the solar system

I think that maybe the point


Well, I rather think the point is that George W. Bush Jr isn't in the Solar System. So he can't be human. Unless, of course, Planet Reebok has moved?




The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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