[ExI] wordplay for a tuesday morning

William Flynn Wallace foozler83 at gmail.com
Tue Sep 30 22:29:28 UTC 2014


On Tue, Sep 30, 2014 at 5:01 PM, Tara Maya <tara at taramayastales.com> wrote:

> Apparently the legal doublets in English date back to the centuries right
> after the Norman conquest, when, in order to be sure your listener
> understood you, one had to use both an English word and a French or Latin
> term.
>
> Some examples that will be familiar: "aid and abet" "over and above" "part
> and parcel" "terms and conditions" "free and clear" "hue and cry" and on
> and on…
>
> So obviously doublings are right and proper and we should neither cease
> nor desist from using them.  ;)
>
>
> Tara Maya
> <http://taramayastales.blogspot.com/>
>

​But some of them are just wrong!  Take 'back and forth'.  Clearly one
cannot go back without first going forth.  So either use 'to and fro' or
change the former to 'forth and back'.  bill w​


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>
>
> On Sep 30, 2014, at 2:34 PM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> How about rescuing certain words from tight couplings to others? For
>> instance, whenever someone says "travesty," it's almost always coupled with
>> "of justice," no? Well, use it in other words to break the couple. There's
>> nothing wrong with "travesty of logical argument" or "travesty of a good
>> date." Ditto for "abject" and many other words.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Dan
>>
> ​Yes,  How about let's start with 'close proximity', or 'band together'
> (most uses of 'together' are redundant - e.g. 'group together', 'pair
> together' etc.)  bill w
>>
>
>>  My latest Kindle book, "Born With Teeth," can be previewed at:
>> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N72FBA2
>>
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