USAGE: The Prefix "Ob-"

Steg Belsky scripsit:

> Doesn't "Ob" as in "ObConlang" stand for "Obligatory on-topic comment,
> because after all the list is supposed to be about..." ?
> So wouldn't "ObsemiOT" or "ObOffTopic" or anything else that isn't
> "ObConlang" be self-contradictory?
> Could this be a shift in meaning for the prefix?
I interpret Ob- as meaning simply "obligatory".  "Obligatory off-topic"
is ironic, but not actually self-contradictory.

--
John Cowan  jcowan@reutershealth.com  www.ccil.org/~cowan  www.reutershealth.com
"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on
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