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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 2,154 |
I hate to tell curmudg I mean Father Steve this but one of the editors of the OED was interviewed on CBC radio on the weekend. He mentioned the dis- vs uninterested imbroglio and said that what many people hate to admit is that disinterested has come to mean uninterested. The OED will define dis as being unbiased etc but will also note that from the 1970's on the meaning changed to uninterested for reasons that are none of the business of the dictionary. (or words to that effect.  ) He referred to the OED as a biography of English so words are not removed just because they become extinct or politically incorrect.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,027 |
OED as a biography of English suggesting that biography is a paradigm of objectivity? Well, well..
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
Is this where I'm sposed to pop out of the woodwork and point out that the original defintion of disinterested was 'lacking interest' and that of uninterested was 'unbiased, impartial,' and that it is a common argument among prescriptivists to say that solecistic usage in the past is no excuse for solecistic usage now?
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