Re: [spoon-discuss] Re: [Spoon-business] DimShip redo

[Wonko <dplepage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoth Glotmorf,

> On 6/23/02 at 8:37 PM Rob Speer wrote:
> 
>> On Sun, Jun 23, 2002 at 05:59:47PM -0400, Glotmorf wrote:
>>> It's not a conjunction.  It's an archaic language component.
>> 
>> Webster disagrees with you on both points. "Lest" is still used in
>> modern English - and if it weren't a conjunction, what part of speech
>> would it be?
>> 
>> --
>> Rob Speer, ye pedantick one
> 
> Very sorry.  I had "conjunction" confused with "contraction".  Aside from
> that, my dictionary says it's "middle english", which it defines as being from
> the period of 1100 to 1500 AD, so I'll stand by "archaic". (Just because Latin
> is still used in certain circles doesn't keep it from being a dead
> language...)
> 

By the American Heritage Dictionary, 3rd edition, © 1992, 'lest', while
being a Middle English word, and being derived from an Old English phrase
'thy laes the', meaning so that not, it is in fact still a word of standard
English. Just because it's an elderly English word doesn't mean it's not
also a modern English word.

AHD also defines it as meaning 'for fear that'. So "A lest B" means "A for
fear that B", which I believe is the logical equivalent of [ ~A => (maybe
B), ~B, therefore probably A ].

-- 
Wonko

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