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I'm a native English speaker and I have never met anyone who makes this distinction, after having spoken English with many thousands of people in my life. Etym
by umanwizard 9y ago
I'm a native English speaker and I have never met anyone who makes this distinction, after having spoken English with many thousands of people in my life.
Etymology doesn't determine meaning.
I'm open to the possibility that in 1950s England these words meant what you say (even though in my native dialect of English they don't), but to argue that you would need to give citations, not etymologies.
- damnfine 9y agoYou used those 2 words with 1000s of people and noticed a trend? Impressive. Words mean things. Just because you, and many others don't always observe the minutae of meaning, does not erase it. There are words you, and 1000 other peers, have not learned yet. That does not render them meaningless.
- dctoedt 9y ago> You used those 2 words with 1000s of people and noticed a trend? Impressive. That's not what he said.
- umanwizard 9y agoSure, words mean things. But meaning is a social phenomenon. If you want to prove a word means something, you have to provide citations of it being used with that meaning.