Re: USAGE: YAEUT: "proper"

2009/1/13 R A Brown <ray@...>:
> Mark J. Reed wrote:
>I also agree that "Everyone get back to your proper seat!"
> sounds somewhat stilted & formal.
Archaic language usually feels stilted and formal, unless it's so
archaic it becomes theatrical. Just look at the language in books from
the early 20th century, and imagine people talking to others like
being done in those books. It'll likely seem stilted and formal, even
though it was not in that time frame.

Now, not everything that feels stilted and formal is archaic, but
since E. Raigmore seems to believe it was once common, it doesn't seem
unlikily that it is needed to write this down as an archaic use of the
word proper.