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From: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Subject: Re: A tough case
Message-ID: <E1x9pn.LIv@scn.org>
Sender: news@scn.org
Reply-To: lilandbr@scn.org (Leland Bryant Ross)
Organization: Seattle Community Network
References: <32A476E8.41C6@uiuc.edu>  
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 03:58:34 GMT
Lines: 31


In a previous article, langford@uiuc.edu (Jacob Langford) says:

>My foreign friend had written about 'a tough exam', and was told that
>the word 'tough' was not ok, but that the words 'hard' and 'difficult'
>were. 

*Where* had he written about 'a tough exam', why, to whom...?  And *who* 
told him what he was told?  Personally, I think "tough" is nearly 
synonymous with "hard" and "difficult" in this case; my "sense of the 
language" tells me that I feel "tough" is more likely to be used (and to 
"sound right") in relatively informal contexts, "hard" and "difficult" in 
somewhat more formal ones, but I would not say that using any of the 
three in any contexts I can think of was "an error".  And I am having a 
hard time imagining who *would*.  And anyone who *would* would *surely* 
object to "exam" where "examination" was *meant*...	

>"Paradigmatically (that is in the language system which is fixed in the
>dictionary) it is quite ok, but syntagmatically - in speech it is not
>the norm.    ... The closest speech meaning (not sense because it's a
>grammar term) with 'tough' is 'a tough competition'."
>
>Was this person just defending her initial criticism of the word
>'tough', or does her gobbledygook make sense?

Looks like the former to me.
--
Liland Brajant ROS'    			Ae, ka manu iluna oka hale,
P O Box 30091      			"O" ku'u leo "E moe maika'i," 
Seattle, WA 98103 Usono			Kani ku'u leo, ku'u hoapu,
Tel. (206) 633-2434  			Ae, ka manu iluna oka hale.
