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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 104
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Ah, I see your point, Faldage. Yeahbut® (I LOVE that!) doesn't the fact that napron became apron.....I presume because of common usage?.....mean that it was therefore "acceptable" to use the more common form, but that still did not make it "correct"???
I dunno.......I think I am confused, now! :D
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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I got thinking about it and seems to me it is acceptable if most people use it and becomes correct when the grammar & usage cops chide people for using that which was formerly correct. Or something like that. One proviso, usages can be acceptable is some contexts and not others. Sometimes what is acceptable in one context will brand you as pariah in others.
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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In reply to:
more people understand the meaning of, and the spelling of, longue as lounge
Google results
all domains: chaise longue 13,700 chaise lounge 29,000
.uk domain: chaise longue 1,910 chaise lounge 255
Bingley
Bingley
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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That gaggle of google math made my eyes goggle and my brain boggle. But isn't the fun [and annoyance] of a living language the fact that it does change. At one point "nice" meant picky, "homely" meant a wholesome homebody not ugly and "let" meant prevent .
I wonder, are there any other words which have reversed their meanings like that?
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Joined: Aug 2002
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2002
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Me again, If you "wreck havoc" does that mean you straighten everything up?
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"let" meant prevent
The let meaning prevent and the let meaning allow are two different words, the former coming from the OE lettan and the latter form the OE lætan. Interestingly, they both come from the same PIE root le-, meaning to let go, slacken. That notwithstanding, Zed is correct about words changing meaning, sometimes drastically. Silly is another example, originally having meant blessed.
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Joined: Sep 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Sure wouldn't want to drop the phrase, "Silly are the peacemakers" and expect to be understood. 
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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Another word that has drastically changed is egregious. Originally it meant remarkable in a good sense. Its present sense, that of being remarkable in a bad sense, may have arisen through ironical usages.
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