Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 11:53:09 -0400

From: Robert Ness ness[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DICKINSON.EDU

Subject: Re: sea change



Sea change we certainly owe to Ariel's song in The Tempest, I.2 that

begins "Full fathom five." Nothing of him that doth fade,/But doth

suffer a sea-change/Into something rich and strange" (400-3). On Fri, 24

Oct 1997, Carol Andrus wrote:



Can someone enlighten me about when the expression "sea change" came into our

language? It's a common buzzword in corporate writing...a sea change in

management, etc.



Also, some words in English have a separate meaning for the plural, as in

premise and premises (Macy's recently had a big sign at the 34th St.

entrance: "No Solicitation on the Premise!") Daily, the NY Times uses the

term "ground" as "he sued her on the ground that"...Isn't this a legal term

and used in the plural? On the grounds that? I also see the singular usage in

the CSMonitor. Even the most respected newspapers are coming up with

inexcusable typos: the CSM recently described a new hairstyle as designed to

resemble a Roman centurion's helmut, which my German friend Helmut loved! and

the NYTimes had a headline: Study of Prostrate Cancer Proves Inneffective --

2 boners in one headline! Sorry to ramble.