Re: USAGE: cold (was Re: Nouns with arguments, verbs without arguments)

Jonathan Knibb scripsit:

> And from an English medic's perspective, I would add that I don't
> recall ever saying of a hypothermic patient, 'He/she is cold.'.
Hypothermia isn't always the issue.  When my wife touches my hands or
ears after I've been outside and says "You're so cold", she is not
referring to my subjective state *or* my core temperature, but is
saying it the same way she would say it of a non-sentient object.
(Not that I mind being objectified in this case, to be sure.)

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_