Subject:
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Re: Another one for Maggie:
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.fun
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Date:
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Fri, 19 Apr 2002 23:55:29 GMT
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Viewed:
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3191 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Ross Crawford writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Allan Bedford writes:
> >
> > While I'm sure that the importance of "tuna fish" will soon be made clear to
> > Dave, I'm just worried about how he'll react when he finds out that
> > flammable and inflammable actually mean the same thing! ;)
>
> Indeed! Here's some info found at dictionary.com:
>
> "Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the
> presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that
> inflammable means “not flammable” or “noncombustible.” The prefix -in in
> inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related
> to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious.
> Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition
> in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not
> aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only
> flammable to give warnings."
I'm not an expert in language issues, but it seems to me there is a very
slight differnce in the two, like the dictionary says. If I were to read
"flammable", I'd think it pointed to the possibility of spontaneous ignition
(like phosphorus exposed to oxygen); "inflammable" would point more to
"easily set on fire" (ie, with a spark or something).
Latin is a real pain... ;-)
Pedro (giving his two €-cents...)
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Another one for Maggie:
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| (...) Indeed! Here's some info found at dictionary.com: "Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means “not flammable” or (...) (24 years ago, 19-Apr-02, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)
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