Subject: ADS-L Digest - 31 Aug 1997 to 1 Sep 1997 There are 3 messages totalling 141 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. "Comprise" 2. Hot Dogs (WRONG AGAIN!!); Big Banana 3. Re-spellings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 09:24:12 -0400 From: Alan Baragona Subject: "Comprise" A couple of years ago, I decided the distinction between "comprise" and "compose" was, for all practical purposes, dead when I found "comprise" misused in a Morgan Library Exhibit, on National Public Radio, and in an academic journal all in one week. The fact that both words are used in the same semantic situations (though with opposite meanings), as well as the similarity in spelling, makes it virtually inevitable that they should fall together. But yesterday before the Orioles game, I heard a broadcaster say that the starting pitchers had "comprised" a set of impressive statistics. Of course, he should have said "compiled," but I was wondering if this was simply a misusage by a jock announcer or part of a trend in the semantic shift of the word. Has anyone else run across a confusion between "comprise" and "compile" instead of the more usual "compose"? Alan Baragona alan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]vmi.edu You know, years ago, my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be . . ."--she always called me 'Elwood'--"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me. Elwood P. Dowd