On 2016-12-05 20:57, Philip Hands wrote: > Tollef Fog Heen <tfh...@err.no> writes:
>> ]] Ian Jackson >>> That is 6+ weeks' more stop-energy. 6+ weeks' more inaction. 6+ >>> weeks during which members of the TC have been prevaricating. >> What are you accusing the TC of lying about? > I think that British English has drifted into using that as a synonym > for procrastinate while American English seems to have stuck to its > earlier meaning (judging by the online dictionary entries I see). There has evidently been drift in both languages. The current full Oxford English Dictionary lists only two senses (when used as an intransitive verb) as non-obsolete: a. To deviate from straightforwardness; to speak or act in an evasive way; to quibble, equivocate. (with citations back to 1623) b. To behave evasively or indecisively so as to delay action; to procrastinate. (with citations back to 1854) It says that the second is "now the usual sense". I can find some American dictionaries which strengthen sense 'a' to include "deliberately mislead" or even "lie", but that is not standard British usage. -M-
