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For what it is worth, I have two thoughts on this topic:
1. You do know that even if American Heritage is the only dictionary that
runs contrary to your theory that AH is widely known as being a descriptive
dictionary while M-W is widely regarded as being a prescriptive dictionary?
So, you can use M-W to support what the words "should" mean, but AH will
tell you how people are actually USING the term. Since the question here is
what might the user interpret from the wording, I think a descriptive
approach might be more justified than a prescriptive approach; how language
actually IS used is more important (in this case) then how it SHOULD be
used.
2. The English language is a living, changing language. You've done
something for 12 years, but now you are wondering if you need to change it.
Word meanings and usages change over time. You might take an extreme
approach and say, "we've been doing this for 120 years, so I'm going to keep
the same terminology and syntax." When you increase the time by a factor of
ten, you can see that it is silly to assume that just because it was clear
12 years ago it is still the best way to share your message.
Paul Pehrson
blog.paulpehrson.com
paulpehrson.com
On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Fred Ridder <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> I've been trying to resist getting sucked into this debate about unresolved
> issues, but I finally lost the battle.
>
> > And then, I quoted two dictionaries, one widely used
> > in the USofA and the other widely used in Britain,
> > neither of which had even a suggestion that "address"
> > means "fix".
>
>
> What about definition 2b in one of the Merriam-Webster entry you cited?
>
>
>
> "2 a : to direct the efforts or attention of (oneself) <will address
> himself to the problem> b : to deal with : treat <intrigued by the chance to
> address important issues — I. L. Horowitz>"
>
>
>
> "To deal with" certainly suggests "to fix" in my ear. But maybe I've just
> got tinnitis...
>
> -Fred Ridder
>
>
>
>
>
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