Ardith Hinton to Anton Shepelev:

> AS>  Things have changed since 1913 -- the year of the classic
> AS>  edition of M.-W, which I had the honor of consulting.
>
>          Uh-huh.  If you're referring to the work of Konstantin
> Paustovsky, who was born in 1892 & wrote a lot of historical
> fiction, this spelling may reflect the language his characters
> would have used.

I am finishing his collected works and have not encountered a lot
of historical fiction, except the historical parts of "Tale of the
North" and "Story of the woods", both of which continue roughly at
the time of writing. There is of course the long
poetico-romantico-impressionist-quasi-autobiographical novel "Story
of a Life", but I skipped it because I had spent too much time, and
too recently, listening to it on radio.

> Since his name is not a household word in North
> America, you may need to explain to your readers in E_T that what
> you are asking about is a bit different from what they would
> generally do.  :-Q

Good advice, but this time I was not trying make it sound dated.

[ Syrup / sirup ]

> AS>  Although based on an accidental spelling variation, the
> AS>  distinction is quite useful
>
>          ... if your readers are aware of it, which the majority
> may not be.  I didn't know about it until Dallas pointed it out.
> But when the author uses the word "treacly", I think of the
> former because "treacle" [UK] = "molasses" [US].

And I was certain the adjective had become more general than the
noun, i.e.: adj. cloyingly sweet or sentimental.

> While it was originally derived from sugar cane, some folks
> equate it with corn syrup.  Most types are already quite sweet &
> thus no added sugar is needed.  In the US & Canada we also have
> maple syrup derived from the sap of trees....  :-)

Not specifically from maple sap? I like its taste but don't buy it
frequently because the imported product is expensive here.

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