Re: flaunt/flout redux

From: CyberCypher (cybercypher_at_19-16-25-13-01-03.com)
Date: 11/07/04 

Date: 7 Nov 2004 07:43:41 GMT

CyberCypher wrote on 07 Nov 2004:

> Skitt wrote on 07 Nov 2004:
>
>>
>> CyberCypher quoted and commented:
>>
>>> Usage Note: Flaunt as a transitive verb means "to exhibit
>>> ostentatiously": She flaunted her wealth. To flout is "to show
>>> contempt for": She flouted the proprieties. For some time now
>>> flaunt has been used in the sense "to show contempt for," even
>>> by educated users of English. This usage is still widely seen as
>>> erroneous and is best avoided.
>>>
>>> The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language,
>>> Fourth Edition. Copyright© 2004, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin
>>> Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights
>>> reserved.
>>
>> About those "educated users of English" -- they may well be
>> educated, but they are not necessarily "users educated in the
>> English language". I have known many educated users of English
>> who can hardly put a sentence together, and misuse of these kinds
>> of words is standard for them.
>>
>> I have seen dictionaries present quotes from well-known writers
>> as examples of usage. I contend that being a well-known writer
>> does not automatically entitle one to set usage standards. After
>> all, writers are often well known for what they express, not for
>> how they do it.
>>
>> A beautifully told story may well have some language
>> irregularities that are purely part of the teller's idiolect.
>> After that, others may copy them, and so it goes.
>>
> No disagreement here.'Cept I'd think that being "educated"

DELETE: "was inclusive of" [Been reedin' too many medical manuscripts
by native sinophones].

> included knowing how to use the language well, idiomatically,
> and at a high level. Yousta mean that, I thunk when I was yunger,
> but, Hel, that's the passed now, a yousless eidge ta wurry 'bout.
>
> 

-- 
Franke: EFL teacher & medical editor
For email, replace numbers with English alphabet.

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