mandirians

[Quinn]

yeah, i obviously missed the boat on that one. but i'm with you now. i will remember being gutted by the reefers if this one ever comes up again. i have a good example of another overapplication (is that a word?) of grammar - the word is "sympathetic", therefore one would assume "empathetic" is also correct. however, it is in fact "empathic" (according to a prof of mine, not websters).

as for the transformation of language, i certainly can attest to that. writers in the social sciences liberally change the meaning of words, or create new ones, to suit the circumstances. i can't think of a case in point, but it's something along the lines of "behaviour" and "behaviourism" becoming "behavism".

fascinating - from mandarins, to ethics, to linguistics!