What is the term for accepted or common or popular use of a word

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Close in concept I suppose, but not what I'm looking for:colloquialism vulgate folk etymologyBy accepted use or common use or popular use, I think I mean accepted meaning, not speech. I won't know until I see the word again.Which brings me to my 2nd request: Are there any good, free, on-line reverse dictionaries?I found this one: http://www.ultralingua.net (it didn't find my word) And there's another one with "snow" in the title, but when I tried to use it, it did not respond.D.O. www.geak.com

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]By accepted use or common use or popular use, I think I mean accepted meaning, not speech. I won't know until I see the word again.[/nq]
Perhaps you are thinking of "vernacular"?
[nq:1]Which brings me to my 2nd request: Are there any good, free, on-line reverse dictionaries?[/nq]
I don't know of any offhand; I suspect Google is your friend, on this one.

-M

-- Michael J. Fromberger | Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science http://www.dartmouth.edu/~sting/ | Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Close in concept I suppose, but not what I'm looking for: colloquialism vulgate folk etymology[/nq]
A colloquialism means something spoken but too informal to be acceptably written. Vulgate means the Latin Bible. You probably meant vulgar as in "vulgar tongue." Folk etymology is a plausible but erroneous historic reason, e.g. that "history" = his story (excluding women.)
[nq:1]By accepted use or common use or popular use, I think I mean accepted meaning, not speech. I won't know until I see the word again.[/nq]
The question does not speciify what is wrong with accepted (adjective) or common use (noun.)

-- Don Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) dphillipson(at)trytel.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Close in concept I suppose, but not what I'm looking for: colloquialism vulgate folk etymology[/nq]
[nq:1]A colloquialism means something spoken but too informal to be acceptably written.[/nq]
From the entry for "colloquialism" in the *Merriam-Webster's Collegiate*:

"1 a : a colloquial expression b : a local or regional dialect expression 2 : colloquial style."

For "colloquial" it has

"1 : of or relating to conversation : CONVERSATIONAL 2 a : used in or characteristic of familiar and informal conversation; also : unacceptably informal b : using conversational style."

I was going to ask what the heck you meant by "too informal to be acceptably written," but perhaps that's a moving target. I once expressed the opinion that contractions were unacceptable in formal writing, only to be told that in some academic journals contractions are indeed acceptable.

What's unacceptable in one type of writing can be acceptable in another. Many American newspaper columnists nowadays write in what I would call informal Standard American English (I don't know about British newspaper columnists). It seems to me that "colloquial" is used both for that and for even more informal English.
[nq:1]Vulgate means the Latin Bible. You probably meant vulgar as in "vulgar tongue."[/nq]
From the entry for "vulgate" in the Collegiate:

"3 : the speech of the common people and especially of uneducated people."
[nq:1]Folk etymology is a plausible but erroneous historic reason, e.g. that "history" = his story (excluding women.)[/nq]
And many supposed "folk etymologies" were actually erroneous ideas put forth by scholars, which is why John Ciardi preferred to call them "spook etymologies."
[nq:2]By accepted use or common use or popular use, I ... speech. I won't know until I see the word again.[/nq]
[nq:1]The question does not speciify what is wrong with accepted (adjective) or common use (noun.)[/nq]
It's a matter of the original poster having once encountered a word with the meaning in question, having forgotten it, and now trying to find it again.

-- Raymond S. Wise Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Close in concept I suppose, but not what I'm looking for: colloquialism vulgate folk etymology[/nq]
[nq:1]A colloquialism means something spoken but too informal to be acceptably written. Vulgate means the Latin Bible. You probably meant vulgar as in "vulgar tongue." Folk etymology is a plausible but erroneous historic reason, e.g. that "history" = his story (excluding women.)[/nq]
[nq:2]By accepted use or common use or popular use, I ... speech. I won't know until I see the word again.[/nq]
[nq:1]The question does not speciify what is wrong with accepted (adjective) or common use (noun.)[/nq]
...questions seldom do. Still, I make it a habit to cooperate with the word police: the word was used in a thread, and if I find the word, I'll be able to find the thread. Please do not confiscate my thesaurus; Wink (illocutionary act).

John www.geak.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]vulgate[/nq]
[nq:1]Vulgate means the Latin Bible. You probably meant vulgar as in "vulgar tongue."[/nq]
When capitalized "the Vulgate" is indeed the Latin Bible, but using the common noun "vulgate" is just fine for conveying the sense of "vulgar (or common) tongue".

-- Odysseus

What is the term for accepted or common or popular use of a word

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