[ExI] "Reality Check," a book of predictions

[BillK]

On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 7:38 PM, Damien Broderick  wrote:
> I know that most people now moan about "punctuation nazis" (or complaining
> "That's just *semantics*" although semantics is about *what is meant*) as if
> being one's a bad thing. But for some reason I'm especially troubled by the
> growing incapacity of smart people to know the difference between it is and
> its. Maybe if nobody notices any long it stops mattering, like the really
> stupid widespread belief that "hoi polloi" means "rich and stuck-up" when it
> means the exact opposite, or that "momentarily" means "fairly soon" instead
> of "very very briefly"--but hey, I'll get over it momentarily, although
> probably not for long.
>
>

The dictionaries say that Hoi polloi is sometimes incorrectly used to
mean "the elite," possibly because it is reminiscent of high and
mighty or because it sounds like hoity-toity.

In $cientology, the Hoipolloi installed the Gorilla Goals about 300
trillion years ago.
(before Greek was used so it must be true).

-------------------

However........

The 'authorities' seem to accept both meanings for "momentarily" these
days though they acknowledge that some people still dispute the usage.

-----------------------------------------
Oxford English Dictionary
adverb
    *  1 for a very short time:    as he passed Jenny's door, he
paused momentarily
    *  2 North American at any moment; very soon:   my husband will be
here to pick me up momentarily

-----------------------------------
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
ADVERB:
   1. For a moment or an instant.
   2. Usage Problem In a moment; very soon.
   3. Moment by moment; progressively.

Usage Note:
Momentarily is widely used in speech to mean "in a moment," as in The
manager is on another line, but she'll be with you momentarily. This
usage rarely leads to ambiguity since the intended sense can usually
be determined on the basis of the tense of the verb and the context.
Nonetheless, many critics hold that the adverb should be reserved for
the senses "for a moment," and the extended usage is unacceptable to
59 percent of the Usage Panel.
------------------------

<http://www.word-detective.com/back-b2.html#momentarily>
has their usual interesting story........
Quote:
"Momentarily" can mean either "in a moment" or, as you remember it,
"for a moment." Both forms are correct, and have been for a long, long
time. It is true that the earliest example of "momentarily," dating to
1654, uses the word in the "for a moment" sense, but both senses have
been used for centuries, although both were fairly rare until the
early 20th century. Instead, people more often used the now-extinct
form "momently," which could mean "in a moment," "for a moment," and,
just to confuse things a bit more, "from moment to moment" or
"constantly," as in "We waited at the bus stop, expecting the bus
momently."

When "momentarily" took over from "momently" in popular usage in the
early 20th century, the "for a moment" sense of "momentarily" was the
first to appear, but the "in a moment" sense was hot on its heels. The
"constantly" sense of "momently" didn't really make the jump to
"momentarily," for which we should all be grateful.
--------------------------



BillK