Wednesday, January 9, 2008

I DO Stand Corrected!

In her comment to the "bath-ing" entry (and a subsequent email) Yasmin said that, being British, she does use the word "bath" as a verb.  Curious I pulled out my Oxford American and look what I found:

The word "bath" can be a noun or a verb in Great Britain.  Here's what Oxford says: "v. Brit.  1.tr. wash (esp. a person) in a bath.  2. intr. take a bath.

So in Britain "bath" can be a verb, both transitive and intransitive.  However, according to my Oxford, in Britain the word "bathe" is used when referring to a swim, and this goes along with what Yasmin told me, as well.

I will, in all fairness, email my sister, Maxine, and tell her that she wasn't totally incorrect to use "bath" as a verb; she was just using it on the wrong continent!  She will get a kick out of that, believe me.  (Of course, it would still bug me to hear someone say "I need to bath the kids."  It just sounds wrong to my ears.)

Thank you Yasmin for your input!  Aren't we all learning so much?

Note: take a bath is also slang for suffering a large financial loss.

P.S.  I just noticed last night that this journal made the Friday Blogplugs list in Magic Smoke.  (Guido's doing, perhaps?)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You beat me to it I was going to add this later after looking it up also........lol

Yasmin

Anonymous said...

It's strange, Lori, because this journal was not blogplugged until today by yourself. Not guilty this end. However, deserved accolade :-)

Anonymous said...

Makes me think of Room with a View ~  Do you really want this bathe?
Traci

Anonymous said...

That is really interesting! Just note, I will not be telling my husband of this...I'll never hear the end of it. LOL

~Heather

Anonymous said...

This is my first time reading your journal. It's enjoyable, light, but also informative.

If you're taking requests (lol) I have a mental block about when to properly use "lie" and "lay", any tips to help me remember would be appreciated! Thanks and good luck with your journal!