| Author |
Message |
brians@wsu.edu
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:20 pm
Post subject: Withhold/Withstand |
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What I think was a slip of the tongue on the part of an anxious Florida
resident on NPR this morning caught my ear: "We live in a mobile home,
and they don't withhold very good." This substitute for "withstand"
might have been suggested by "stand up" as in "stand up to
hurricane-force winds," but may have been a mere verbal stumble. The
absence of an object for this transitive verb could also be attributed
to nervousness about being interviewed. Or has anybody noticed
"withhold" being regularly substituted for "withstand"? I never would
have thought of these two words together but for this interview, and I
find this symmetrical pair pleasing.
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Tony Cooper
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:25 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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On 23 Oct 2005 08:20:14 -0700, "brians@wsu.edu" <brians@wsu.edu>
wrote:
| Quote: | What I think was a slip of the tongue on the part of an anxious Florida
resident on NPR this morning caught my ear: "We live in a mobile home,
and they don't withhold very good." This substitute for "withstand"
might have been suggested by "stand up" as in "stand up to
hurricane-force winds," but may have been a mere verbal stumble. The
absence of an object for this transitive verb could also be attributed
to nervousness about being interviewed. Or has anybody noticed
"withhold" being regularly substituted for "withstand"? I never would
have thought of these two words together but for this interview, and I
find this symmetrical pair pleasing.
|
I'd lay it off to a slip of the tongue. We Floridians have ample
reason to be nervous about the approach of Wilma. While hurricanes
haven't impacted Florida the way they did New Orleans and the other
Gulf state areas, just the frequency of hurricanes Floridians have had
to experience is enough to make one stumble over words.
I think the speaker was probably going for "hold up" rather than
either "withhold" or "withstand".
--
Tony Cooper
Orlando, FL |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:09 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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Tony Cooper wrote:
| Quote: | brians@wsu.edu wrote:
What I think was a slip of the tongue on the part of an anxious
Florida resident on NPR this morning caught my ear: "We live in a
mobile home, and they don't withhold very good." This substitute for
"withstand" might have been suggested by "stand up" as in "stand up
to hurricane-force winds," but may have been a mere verbal stumble.
The absence of an object for this transitive verb could also be
attributed to nervousness about being interviewed. Or has anybody
noticed "withhold" being regularly substituted for "withstand"? I
never would have thought of these two words together but for this
interview, and I find this symmetrical pair pleasing.
I'd lay it off to a slip of the tongue. We Floridians have ample
reason to be nervous about the approach of Wilma. While hurricanes
haven't impacted Florida the way they did New Orleans and the other
Gulf state areas, just the frequency of hurricanes Floridians have had
to experience is enough to make one stumble over words.
I think the speaker was probably going for "hold up" rather than
either "withhold" or "withstand".
|
Doggone it, Tony. I was just preparing my response -- mentioning "hold
up" -- when your post appeared.
Too often "a day late and a dollar short,"
Maria Conlon
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2005 11:58 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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Tony Cooper wrote:
| Quote: | On 23 Oct 2005 08:20:14 -0700, "brians@wsu.edu" <brians@wsu.edu
wrote:
What I think was a slip of the tongue on the part of an anxious
Florida resident on NPR this morning caught my ear: "We live in a
mobile home, and they don't withhold very good." This substitute
for
"withstand" might have been suggested by "stand up" as in "stand
up
to hurricane-force winds," but may have been a mere verbal
stumble.
The absence of an object for this transitive verb could also be
attributed to nervousness about being interviewed. Or has anybody
noticed "withhold" being regularly substituted for "withstand"? I
never would have thought of these two words together but for this
interview, and I find this symmetrical pair pleasing.
I'd lay it off to a slip of the tongue.
[...]
I think the speaker was probably going for "hold up" rather than
either "withhold" or "withstand".
|
It's bloody good, though. I'm going to try to remember to use it.
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked chickens
would "eat lovely".
--
Mike. |
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Lars Eighner
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:20 am
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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In our last episode,
<1130080814.703178.132620@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com>,
the lovely and talented brians@wsu.edu
broadcast on alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | What I think was a slip of the tongue on the part of an anxious Florida
resident on NPR this morning caught my ear: "We live in a mobile home,
and they don't withhold very good." This substitute for "withstand"
might have been suggested by "stand up" as in "stand up to
hurricane-force winds," but may have been a mere verbal stumble. The
absence of an object for this transitive verb could also be attributed
to nervousness about being interviewed. Or has anybody noticed
"withhold" being regularly substituted for "withstand"? I never would
have thought of these two words together but for this interview, and I
find this symmetrical pair pleasing.
|
I believe the speaker merely misspoke in a discussing a
situation that, for obvious reasons, was very stressful for the
speaker. "Hold up" would be the natural colloquial expression,
and it was confused with "withstand."
--
Lars Eighner eighner@io.com http://www.larseighner.com/
I don't see posts from or threads started from googlegroups.
Great authors are admirable in this respect: in every generation they make
for disagreement. Through them we become aware of our differences. --Andre Gide |
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Ross Howard
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 3:45 am
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 18:58:49 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
| Quote: | Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked chickens
would "eat lovely".
|
Intransitivization SUCKS!!!
--
Ross Howard |
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Robert Lieblich
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:47 am
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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Ross Howard wrote:
| Quote: |
On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 18:58:49 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked chickens
would "eat lovely".
Intransitivization SUCKS!!!
|
I dispute.
--
Bob Lieblich
And where's John Cleese? |
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ArWeGod
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 2:37 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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|
"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3s21bmFm26ggU2@individual.net...
| Quote: | Tony Cooper wrote:
On 23 Oct 2005 08:20:14 -0700, "brians@wsu.edu" <brians@wsu.edu
wrote:
I think the speaker was probably going for "hold up" rather than
either "withhold" or "withstand".
It's bloody good, though. I'm going to try to remember to use it.
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked chickens
would "eat lovely".
|
How does one "ready-cook" a chicken? We just go ahead and cook them over
here.
After that, they are "already cooked chickens".
--
ArWeDinnered |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2005 7:49 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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ArWeGod wrote:
| Quote: | "Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
[...]
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked
chickens
would "eat lovely".
How does one "ready-cook" a chicken? We just go ahead and cook them
over here.
After that, they are "already cooked chickens".
|
Perhaps you miss the subtleties of the transaction. On my arrival in
the shop, these birds were ready-cooked, since they had been cooked
already. If I'd had to wait while they were cooked, they might have
been ready in any of several senses, but would not have been ready in
respect of the kind of readiness I was prepared to pay for, viz.,
ready-cookedness. Study expressions such as Gilbert's "ready
disinherited".
--
Mike. |
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Ross Howard
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:41 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:49:01 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
<mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
| Quote: | ArWeGod wrote:
"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
[...]
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked
chickens
would "eat lovely".
How does one "ready-cook" a chicken? We just go ahead and cook them
over here.
After that, they are "already cooked chickens".
Perhaps you miss the subtleties of the transaction. On my arrival in
the shop, these birds were ready-cooked, since they had been cooked
already. If I'd had to wait while they were cooked, they might have
been ready in any of several senses, but would not have been ready in
respect of the kind of readiness I was prepared to pay for, viz.,
ready-cookedness. Study expressions such as Gilbert's "ready
disinherited".
|
Then get confused by expressions such as "oven ready", applied to
things that, oy, haven't been anywhere near an oven yet already.
--
Ross Howard |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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Ross Howard wrote:
| Quote: | On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:49:01 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
[...]
respect of the kind of readiness I was prepared to pay for, viz.,
ready-cookedness. Study expressions such as Gilbert's "ready
disinherited".
Then get confused by expressions such as "oven ready", applied to
things that, oy, haven't been anywhere near an oven yet already.
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Then, for a bonus, there's Aethelred, who wasn't already atal.
--
Mike. |
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ArWeGod
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:48 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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|
"Ross Howard" <gguiri@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:tqkrl1dbjg2nfg5p4juisbu4odgn9k76dt@4ax.com...
| Quote: | On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:49:01 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
ArWeGod wrote:
"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
[...]
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked
chickens
would "eat lovely".
How does one "ready-cook" a chicken? We just go ahead and cook them
over here.
After that, they are "already cooked chickens".
Perhaps you miss the subtleties of the transaction. On my arrival in
the shop, these birds were ready-cooked, since they had been cooked
already. If I'd had to wait while they were cooked, they might have
been ready in any of several senses, but would not have been ready in
respect of the kind of readiness I was prepared to pay for, viz.,
ready-cookedness. Study expressions such as Gilbert's "ready
disinherited".
Then get confused by expressions such as "oven ready", applied to
things that, oy, haven't been anywhere near an oven yet already.
|
Oven? I thought the only thing the English cooked was gas!
My Aunt had a gas cooker, I'm sure!
--
ArWeGassy |
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JF
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 10:32 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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In message <Z048f.20617$6e1.15409@newssvr14.news.prodigy.com>, ArWeGod
<ArWeGod?@sbcglobal.net> writes
| Quote: | "Ross Howard" <gguiri@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:tqkrl1dbjg2nfg5p4juisbu4odgn9k76dt@4ax.com...
On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 14:49:01 +0100, "Mike Lyle"
mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrought:
ArWeGod wrote:
"Mike Lyle" <mike_lyle_uk@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
[...]
Intransitivisation can be a fine tool: I remember being assured in
about 1964 by a Devon butcher that a couple of ready-cooked
chickens
would "eat lovely".
How does one "ready-cook" a chicken? We just go ahead and cook them
over here.
After that, they are "already cooked chickens".
Perhaps you miss the subtleties of the transaction. On my arrival in
the shop, these birds were ready-cooked, since they had been cooked
already. If I'd had to wait while they were cooked, they might have
been ready in any of several senses, but would not have been ready in
respect of the kind of readiness I was prepared to pay for, viz.,
ready-cookedness. Study expressions such as Gilbert's "ready
disinherited".
Then get confused by expressions such as "oven ready", applied to
things that, oy, haven't been anywhere near an oven yet already.
Oven? I thought the only thing the English cooked was gas!
My Aunt had a gas cooker, I'm sure!
|
The kosher counter in our local supermarket has 'oven already' chickens. |
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ArWeGod
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:07 pm
Post subject: Re: Withhold/Withstand |
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"JF" <jf@NOSPAMmarage.demon.co.uk> wrote in message
news:RbRnFHD2EQYDFw1R@marage.demon.co.uk...
| Quote: | The kosher counter in our local supermarket has 'oven already'
chickens. |
I just got a "worked already" paycheck!
--
ArWeReadyAlready |
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