Timeline for A word for reading something thoroughly until one understands it well?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Mar 31, 2014 at 12:14 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @JanusBahsJacquet But I see now that ODO labels this "archaic" (despite offering citations that clearly date from the 2nd half of the 20th century), so I must concede the point. | |
| Mar 31, 2014 at 12:09 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @JanusBahsJacquet BTW, the 1870 date is misleading - that fascicle of the OED was published in 1891, so it was at that time contemporary. | |
| Mar 31, 2014 at 4:06 | comment | added | curiousdannii | At best this is exceedingly rare, if not indisputably archaic. | |
| Mar 30, 2014 at 23:40 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | I can't remember the last time I saw con used in that way, and I'm relatively certain I've never heard anyone use it in conversation (colloquial or formal). Conning over a text or conning by rote would be safer ground, but the bare verb is (at least in my experience) so vanishingly rare that it's quite likely to be misunderstood, especially if used by a non-native speaker. | |
| Mar 30, 2014 at 23:33 | comment | added | StoneyB on hiatus | @JanusBahsJacquet You think? I would have said that your sense is strictly colloquial and that the default understanding of con in an academic or formal context would be my sense - particularly because the two senses will occur with radically different objects, persons v. works. | |
| Mar 30, 2014 at 23:04 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | Given the overwhelming prevalence of the meaning ‘scam, defraud, trick’ compared to this meaning here, I wouldn't recommend using con in any situation where the meaning is not extremely clear and unambiguous. In fact, given the fact that the OED linked to has no quotes from after 1870, I wouldn't advise using con in this meaning at all. It's a recipe for misunderstanding. | |
| Mar 30, 2014 at 22:38 | history | answered | StoneyB on hiatus | CC BY-SA 3.0 |