http://blog.oup.com/2008/07/anathema-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/ Academic insights for the thinking world. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:14:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://blog.oup.com/2008/07/anathema-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-155761 David_uk_51 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:45:06 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=2014#comment-155761 "An" or not to "an" ... Anathema appears to be a noun, so it should be preceded with "an", but, I believe the usage without the preceding "an" has been erroneously adopted because most people find the pronunciation of a double "an" in "an anathema" off-putting and can't believe that it's right. (Without the "an", doesn't it take the role of an adjective, which, according to the etymology, is wrong ?) “An” or not to “an” … Anathema appears to be a noun, so it should be preceded with “an”, but, I believe the usage without the preceding “an” has been erroneously adopted because most people find the pronunciation of a double “an” in “an anathema” off-putting and can’t believe that it’s right. (Without the “an”, doesn’t it take the role of an adjective, which, according to the etymology, is wrong ?)

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2008/07/anathema-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-150442 Justin Tue, 05 May 2009 21:47:55 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=2014#comment-150442 Thanks! F'in lifesaver. I was gonna be anathema (or, alternately, albeit much less frequently, an anathema) to my history proffesor if I screwed up my usage. Good to know both are acceptable (I've used it before, with doubt boiling in my belly.) It's probably because everybody has an essentially ambivalent relationship with the word that both usages are correct. No one REALLY knows how to use it. Thanks! F’in lifesaver. I was gonna be anathema (or, alternately, albeit much less frequently, an anathema) to my history proffesor if I screwed up my usage. Good to know both are acceptable (I’ve used it before, with doubt boiling in my belly.) It’s probably because everybody has an essentially ambivalent relationship with the word that both usages are correct. No one REALLY knows how to use it.

]]> http://blog.oup.com/2008/07/anathema-%e2%80%93-podictionary-word-of-the-day/comment-page-1/#comment-147088 podictionary weekly » podictionary weekly # 165 - July 28 to August 1 Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:56:53 +0000 http://blog.oup.com/?p=2014#comment-147088 [...] Wednesday’s word origin was for carabiner Thursday’s etymology, posted at OUPblog was for anathema and Friday’s word root was for the word [...] [...] Wednesday’s word origin was for carabiner Thursday’s etymology, posted at OUPblog was for anathema and Friday’s word root was for the word [...]

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