XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.books   
   From: hayesstw@telkomsa.net   
      
   On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 02:31:13 -0400, "Brian M. Scott"    
   wrote:   
      
   >On Mon, 26 Aug 2013 07:00:36 +0200, Steve Hayes   
   > wrote in   
   > in   
   >rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.movies,rec.arts.books:   
   >   
   >[...]   
   >   
   >> That misuse of "momentarily" by *airline* staff, of all   
   >> people, is the most stupid and irresponsible language   
   >> error I have ever heard. The airlines really ought to   
   >> train their staff better.   
   >   
   >Ah, a follower of Miss Thistlebottom.  There is perhaps some   
   >excuse for that if one is in the business of teaching formal   
   >writing, but from a linguistic point of view it’s nonsense.   
   >   
   >Languages change, and usage ultimately determines what is   
   >and is not an error.  This sense is sufficiently widespread   
   >in U.S. usage that its use in U.S. varieties of English can   
   >no longer be considered an error.   
      
   When I first visited the US (in 1995) I had never heard of that usage.   
   Fortunately I went there on a Russian airline, and not a US one, or I might   
   have been unduly alarmed.   
      
      
      
   --   
   Steve Hayes   
   Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/LITMAIN.HTM   
        http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw   
        http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)