Sebastian Hew    905146 Tue, 11 May 04 01:00 AM "C'mon, Charles of Planet Earth, what, exactly, is being 'lost'? ... your edge, what is it that is no longer there?" "I've seen this a lot: "too unique", etc. I think this kind of semantic shift has a proper linguistic term, but I can't remember what it is." I think the term is 'wilfully obtuse'. Sebastian Hew Universities, Countries, United States, American, Students, Schools, Semantics

	Charles Riggs    905418 Tue, 11 May 04 08:32 AM "be something some" "C'mon, John of Oxford, you're getting edgy when commenting on ... a quality or factor which gives superiority over close rivals.'" "C'mon, Charles of Planet Earth, what, exactly, is being 'lost'? You can have an edge (I can grasp the various meanings). You can *lose* your edge. But when you lose *some* of your edge, what is it that is no longer there?" I couldn't explain it better than Skitt did. But I hope this isn't another of those BrE-AmE confusion factors. Hows (AmE, often jocular) about this jewel (although perfectly acceptable in England, if not in all of the UK, I'm finally realising) heard on the floor of parliament from a prominent politician on the opposition: 'If the defence secretary didn't know it then, he should have done.' What, pray tell, does 'done' refer to? 'Done known it'? Nah while an Alabama hick might say that, an educated Briton never would, so what's going on here? Charles Riggs My email address: chriggs/at/eircom/dot/net Charles Riggs Universities, Countries, United Kingdom, Great Britain, United States, American, Students, Schools

	Alan Hogue    905710 Tue, 11 May 04 08:43 PM "I've seen this a lot: "too unique", etc. I think ... proper linguistic term, but I can't remember what it is." "I think the term is 'wilfully obtuse'." Nope, that's not it. Alan Hogue Universities, Countries, United States, American, Students, Schools

	Chris Malcolm    906123 Wed, 12 May 04 11:30 AM "I think the term is 'wilfully obtuse'." "Nope, that's not it." If you lose some of your edge, your edge has become less acute and more obtuse. Chris Malcolm (Email Removed) +44 (0)131 651 3445 DoD #205 IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK (http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/) Chris Malcolm Universities, Countries, United States, American, Students, Schools

	Alan Hogue    906493 Wed, 12 May 04 06:23 PM "Nope, that's not it." "If you lose some of your edge, your edge has become less acute and more obtuse." More like wilfully binary, I should think. ;) Alan Hogue Universities, Countries, United States, American, Students, Schools

	Geoff Butler    908935 Thu, 13 May 04 11:46 PM "the MIT of India !!!" "Madras Institute of Technology? Mumbai Institute of Technology?" No, you can't do that. You can have 'Madras', but then you have to have 'Bombay'. And you can have 'Mumbai', but then you have to have 'Chennai'. Mixing not permitted, by order of the mgt. -ler Geoff Butler Universities, Countries, United States, American, Students, Schools