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Ferienwohnungen

Posted by barry on 2011-08-02 02:19:26

My dictionary at home (Collins) doesn't give etymology for any of these words but a quickly look online says 'reliable': originally 1569, raliabill, Scottish, from rely + -able. Not common before 1850; and execrated thereafter in Britain as an Americanism! Agrees on 'lengthy' and 'curvaceous' attributed to Mae West! 'Hindsight' - has no attribution but early 19c., "backsight of a firearm," from hind (adj.) + sight. Meaning "seeing what has happened" is from 1883, probably formed on model of foresight. Likewise, 'mileage',1754, "fixed rate per mile," from mile + -age. Meaning "a total number of miles" is from 1861. Re redundancies in spelling - yes, but why did US not go wholehog (!) and get rid of all the others? And isn't it a fact that US-English kept many old English usages abandoned in UK, i.e. 'gotten', 'fall'. Isn't this fun! Seriously, I'm not a pedant for English usage and believe that language changes in spite of any attempts to preserve old forms. But I don't think that these things are improvements, just developments.

Ferienwohnungen by Nick B. on 2011-08-02 03:57:21

Ferienwohnungen by barry on 2011-08-02 13:57:02