Date:  Fri, 19 May 1995 12:20:35 +0100

From:  debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UIUC.EDU

Subject: Re: 1995 Candidates "Word of the Year"



>I'd like to know if people are really using it or if it's just part

>of an organized campaign to get this word out into the world.

>

>Jesse Sheidlower

>Random House Dictionaries

><jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>



Not to be too dense, Jesse, but doesn't the second somehow presume the

first? People campaigning for a word are, presumably, using it. Or is this

a case of tobacco execs who don't smoke? More to the point, how do we

differentiate between language planning and language promotion or PR? Must

a word arise naturally or can it be consciously promoted? Certainly people

have done this in the past, with whatever degree of success. And there are

those stories out there about the origins of humongous.



Dennis

--





Dennis Baron                      debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu



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