Friday, February 20, 2004

Geoff Pullum: One by one, P + N compounds are being added to the English vocabulary. One example that has the structure and meaning I'm talking about is overlanding, and another (referring to making descents of cliffs or office block walls on ropes) is downwalling. [Language Log] What about offshoring, which is making the news widely these days? I know, it could be interpreted as the verb derived from the adjective offshore, but it seems to have the same compositional semantics as overlanding, which I suspect also appeared after the adjective overland as in Overland Pony Express. 11:39:21 AM