Re: evolving languages

Christophe wrote (replying to Tristan IIRC):

>> I'm just wondering Christophe: were you trying to pun there, or have
>> you
>> misunderstood the expression 'more-or-less'? It essentially means that
>> they'll follow them.
>
>Really? I've never seen the expression used in this sense. I've always seen
it
>meaning "some more, some less".
>
It can mean "sort of, almost" as in "I've more or less finished reading 100
e-mails". Or:  "Did you like the movie?" "Yeah, more or less"
In speech, I suspect that's probably the usage 95% of the time.

In writing and (ahem) careful speech, it can indeed mean "some more, some
less", as in: "The Grulk islanders are more or less dark-skinned, depending
on ethnic origin."  Because of the frequency of the other usage, this one is
liable to misinterpretation.