Article View: sci.lang
Article #2292Re: "Presently" ?= "Now"
From: Henry Spencer
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1986 17:37
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1986 17:37
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> I read somewhere that "presently" does not mean "now", but rather
> "soon" (as in "He'll be along presently".) However, I still see
> everyone else use it as if it means now...
The use of "presently" to mean "now" is a corruption arising from
ignorance; its proper meaning, as of some years ago, was "soon".
However, said corruption is so common now that it is effectively
part of the language, and most dictionaries are in the business of
describing the language as it is, not as somebody thinks it should
have been.
--
Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry
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Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!henry From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: sci.lang Subject: Re: "Presently" ?= "Now" Message-ID: <7234@utzoo.UUCP> Date: Thu, 16-Oct-86 13:37:26 EDT Article-I.D.: utzoo.7234 Posted: Thu Oct 16 13:37:26 1986 Date-Received: Thu, 16-Oct-86 13:37:26 EDT References: <3489@utcsri.UUCP> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 13