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Re: CHAT: Southern word

From:Dennis Paul Himes <dennis@...>
Date:Sunday, March 26, 2000, 20:15
John Cowan <cowan@...> wrote:
> > "Unleaded", specifically, lacking in tetraethyl lead, ... > For a while the two were sold side by side (from different > gas pumps), and you still hear people asking for "unleaded" > gasoline, although it is now all unleaded.
Which lead to a shift in the meaning of the word "regular" when applied to gasoline. It used to mean "leaded", but now means, "the most common grade", or something like that. For a while there you could hear "regular unleaded", which just a few years earlier had been an oxymoron. =========================================================================== Dennis Paul Himes <> dennis@himes.connix.com http://www.connix.com/~dennis/dennis.htm Disclaimer: "True, I talk of dreams; which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but vain fantasy; which is as thin of substance as the air." - Romeo & Juliet, Act I Scene iv Verse 96-99