Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
Seriously? Because YOU only heard it used in one context, that must be the only correct way to use it? Have you considered you might be a blind man describing an elephant? Maybe rather than calling everyone else wrong, you might consider the possibility that you just learned something new.
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I don't think you need to be so dramatic. I didn't say everyone else is wrong. (If I did, please show that to me.) I said that in my life it's a very common term, not one that needs a dictionary to understand. And I said that although both Harry and I have large vocabularies, he had never heard of the word at all, and although I have, and often,
I had never heard it used any other way. Have you?
Have you heard it used before this thread? Or is this a new word for you too? It's not new for me. I've been hearing it and using it for almost 50 years. So have my colleagues and friends involved in wildlife ecology and biology. If I may quote you;
you might consider the possibility that you just learned something new. Or, you might decide that your dictionary is always correct. Book usage or Real Life usage. Your choice. A lot of people will choose the book usage. That's OK. And people who know and use the word commonly will laugh as I did, because 'the map is not the terrain.' And as Harry said, I think we can agree to disagree.
Stitchawl