XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: throopw@sheol.org   
      
   :: I?m well aware of that.  It s beside the point that I was making:   
   :: within the cultural context in which the usage is common -- i.e., in   
   :: the U.S.  -- the reaction is indeed a sign of age or pedantry.   
      
   : "Brian M. Scott"    
   : Which is unlikely to be possible unless the person in question has at   
   : least some inclination towards pedantry,   
      
   But the *reaction* need not be *due* *to* pedantry.  Indeed, a tendency   
   towards packratting word-game trivia and using it to make jokes doesn't   
   need to be a sign of anything besides a tendency to packratting word-game   
   trivia and using it to make jokes.   
      
   Indeed, the syndrome as I see it seems to a large degree *incompatible*   
   with pedantry in the usual sense.  For wordplay to be wordplay, you have   
   to assume that the audience will "get" the reference.  The pedant assumes   
   the audience won't/doesn't, and therefore it's a mitzvah to correct them.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)