Re: English usage: to "subscribe" to a course?

[beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com>]

When you go to lynda.com to sign up for a course, you're subscribing.

Language is evolving to accommodate common web usage - could this be a case
of that?

Bee

On Wed, Jul 16, 2008 at 6:09 AM, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:

> Yves Barbion wondered: <<... when I review English documents written
> by Dutch authors, I often see the phrase "to subscribe to a course"
> in the meaning of "to register for/to sign up for a course". In my
> opinion (but I'm not an English native speaker) you "subscribe to a
> magazine/newspaper, or to an organization, for example an
> environmental action group.>>
>
> "Subscribe to" is definitely valid English, but I can't recall ever
> seeing it in American English and I'm not sure it's still commonly
> used in British English. I'd "enroll in" a course, or "register for"
> the course.
>
> <<I also have the feeling that "to subscribe to a course" is a "false
> friend" (from the Dutch "zich inschrijven voor een cursus").>>
>
> A definite faux ami, yes.
>
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