Re: The determined verruca

Quoting daniel andreasson <danielandreasson@...>:

> bnathyuw wrote:
>
> > on the word verruca . . . is it much known in the
> > states and elsewhere ? an american colleague of mine
> > said he'd never heard of them, but they're well known
> > in british primary schools !
>
> I thought it was a common word. Even *I* know it, and I'm
> Swedish.
In fact, it's vanishingly rare in most parts of America.  It's
so rarely heard that it doesn't even "feel" British to me, unlike
_Nigel_ which is also exceedingly rare in America but (perhaps
due to British television) "feels" British.  Other names
that have cultural attachments to me:  _Adrian_ (for males,
Australia) and _Travis_ (for Texas; this exists elsewhere,
but there are *lots* of Travises in Texas).

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier            "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637