datasuspect
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Mon Feb-26-07 02:43 PM
Original message |
Poll question: normalcy or normality |
swag
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Mon Feb-26-07 02:47 PM
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1. I used "normalcy" once in a History of Science class and the prof spat back, |
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"I presume you mean 'normality.' 'Normalcy' was coined by a politician."
from Wikipedia:
"A return to normalcy" was U.S. Presidential candidate Warren Harding’s campaign promise in the election of 1920. Although the word was a neologism as well as a malapropism (see normality), coined by Harding, the implied concept apparently encapsulated what Americans wanted, since he was elected president over his Democratic opponent James Cox.
Normalcy has been defined by a historian (P. Massie) as "The good old days that never were."
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Oeditpus Rex
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Mon Feb-26-07 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
2. Had nothin' to do with grammar |
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Only reason Harding got elected was nobody wanted to wear a button that said "I Like Cox."
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datasuspect
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Mon Feb-26-07 02:49 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
3. similar to using "nauseous" |
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while drinking with some people, a friend had said that he felt "nauseous", and the british feller with us said, "i'm quite positive you have that effect on others, but are you sure you aren't feeling nauseated?"
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Spider Jerusalem
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Mon Feb-26-07 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #1 |
4. Actually, both your professor and Wikipedia are, in this instance, wrong. |
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The Oxford English Dictionary cites examples of the use of "normalcy" from 1857 (in a mathematical dictionary) and 1893 (in The Nation, of all places), and lists it as an acceptable variant of "normality" (found chiefly in American usage).
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swag
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Mon Feb-26-07 06:53 PM
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Fri May 03rd 2024, 10:26 AM
Response to Original message |