CompuServe Messages

Jim, Thanks for the clarification. I was not aware of the date of the article(s). You are probably correct in both your assumptions and the conclusion you draw. Now! In the Army, when someone brings up a good idea, that means they've volunteered for it. Knowing both you and your fastidious scholarship, would you be so kind as to research this point and enlighten us all? WATIA (We all thank you in anticipation!) Again, your observations and comments are correct. It is mildly interesting to learn that "raunchy" originally meant "neat, shipshape, polished" as opposed to it's current meaning, just a "Madonna" had religious connotations, and certainly not the raunchy (current tense) that we relate to today. I have always been curious; do Etymologists willfully change the meanings of words or do they just catalog the phenomena? My Chinese friends think the colloquial was created to keep them from learning English. After all, how can you "chop a tree up" once you have "chopped it down"? Best regards Jan Best regards Jan