Re: "cumulated" or "accumulated"

[John Cowan]

Bob Proulx scripsit:

> Like "kempt" and "couth" I only assume exist because "unkempt" and
> "uncouth" exist.  But I never hear them used. :-) 

"Kempt" now appears in the more regular form of "combed".

> Flammable, inflammable.  

"Inflammable" is the original word, meaning "capable of bursting into
flames."  It was changed to "flammable" on the sides of fuel trucks
because, as Quine says, semi-literacy should not be a capital offense.

> The very fact that you and I are on completely opposite sides of this
> observation tells me that the use is problematic and should be avoided
> regardless of whether either is correct or incorrect.  

Quite so.  I would change it to "combined", since that
is the clearly relevant meaning of those listed at
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cumulate .

-- 
John Cowan              http://www.ccil.org/~cowan      address@hidden
Would your name perchance be surname Puppet, given name Sock?
                --Rick Moen