From: Mari Broman Olsen (molsen@umiacs.umd.edu)
Date: Tue Apr 21 1998 - 15:53:27 EDT
>
> On Mon 20 Apr 98 (12:13:24), molsen@umiacs.umd.edu wrote:
> > WOOLIER
>
> >=A0not woollier.
> >=A0
> >=A0a prescriptivist at heart,
>
> My Webster prescribes "Wool... woolly... woolliness...". It doesn't
> give the comparative; but for my money it's "woollier".
> FWIW
> --
> Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
> <ben.crick@argonet.co.uk>
> 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
> http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
And here's on-line webster:
DEFINITION 0
1wool-ly
also wooly \'wu-l-e^-\ adj wool-li-er; -est
(1578)
1a: of, relating to, or bearing wool
1b: resembling wool
2a: lacking in clearness or sharpness of outline <a woolly TV picture>
2b: marked by mental confusion <woolly thinking>
3: marked by boisterous roughness or lack of order or restraint <where
the West is still woolly --Paul Schubert>
-- wool-li-ness n
2wool-ly
also wool-ie or wooly \'wu-l-e^-\ n, pl wool-lies
(ca. 1865)
1: a garment made from wool; esp: underclothing of knitted wool
-- usu. used in pl.
2 West & Austral: SHEEP
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It at least allows me wooly (as well as woolly). OED also has both
(and no help on the comparative), with woolly winning.
No wonder no one pays me to prescribe anything!
Thanks, Ben!
A sheepish
********
Mari Broman Olsen
Research Associate
University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies
3141 A.V. Williams Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
PHONE: (301) 405-6754 FAX: (301) 314-9658
WEB: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~molsen
*********
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