Re[2]: [tied] Languages Evolve in Punctuational Bursts

At 3:39:40 PM on Thursday, February 7, 2008, fournet.arnaud
wrote:

[...]

> People who borrow from another language
> tend to create odd things
> like French "smoking" used
> as a supposedly English word for
> "good-looking men's clothes".
> When you have some rudiments about English
> this meaning makes little sense.

On the other hand, it makes perfectly good sense when you
realize that <smoking> is shortened from <smoking jacket>.

[...]

Brian