Re: "write him" was Re: More questions
| From: | Paul Bennett <paul-bennett@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Friday, November 28, 2003, 3:37 |
|---|
On Thu, 27 Nov 2003 21:41:07 -0500, John Cowan <cowan@...>
wrote:
> Costentin Cornomorus scripsit:
>
>> Except for actual cock (the chicken); stopcock,
>> shuttlecock, cock your
>> rifle/shotgun/weapon-of-choice, etc.
>
> The last three are technical terms of particular groups (badminton
> players, chemists, hunters/soldiers). As for the galline usage,
> "rooster" became dominant at the time and AFAIK still is.
Technical terms, it is true, but ones that are intelligible to any member
of the general population at large. It's like calling "television" a
technical term of TV repairmen ;-)
Paul
Reply