this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2023
10 points (91.7% liked)

English usage and grammar

363 readers
1 users here now

A community to discuss and ask questions about English usage and grammar.

If your post refers to a specific English variant, please indicate it within square brackets (for instance [Canadian]).

Online resources:

Sibling communities:

Rules of conduct:

The usual ones on Lemmy and Mastodon.. In short: be kind or at least respectful, no offensive language, no harassment, no spam.

(Icon: entry "English" in the Oxford English Dictionary, 1933. Banner: page from Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".)

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

For example, if you say that "feed" isn't a real word because there is a better way to say "issued someone a fee," but the real word is "feed" as in "to provide with nourishment," what would that error in judgment be called?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I don’t really understand your question. Feed meaning “to offer sustenance” has a different etymology than the noun fee meaning “amount paid.” While virtually any noun in the language can be made a verb, it seems unnecessary in this case since to charge is available and already expresses this meaning.

[–] BleatingZombie 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

(I can't think of a way to word this to sound playful, so please understand I'm just being silly and have no animosity)

You really don't understand the question if you're bringing up etymology :P

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago
[–] favrion 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's a matter of context, not etymology.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 10 months ago

In this context, only etymology is relevant.