Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Dearly WHAT?

198 views
Skip to first unread message

Mark Brader

unread,
Aug 16, 2012, 3:19:32 PM8/16/12
to
A remake of the 1976 movie "Sparkle" is being released. Whitney
Houston, who was a big fan of the original movie, was a producer
as well as singing and acting in the new one. The Vancouver Sun's
view of the movie:

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/7100781/story.html

opens with the following sentence:

# Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
# in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.

Dearly departed?

Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
with "dearly beloved".
--
Mark Brader | "Oh, sure, you can make anything sound sleazy if you,
Toronto | you know, tell it exactly the way it happened."
m...@vex.net | -- Bruce Rasmussen: "Anything But Love"

My text in this article is in the public domain.

Paul {Hamilton Rooney}

unread,
Aug 16, 2012, 3:40:55 PM8/16/12
to
On 17-Aug-12 3:19 AM, Mark Brader wrote:
> A remake of the 1976 movie "Sparkle" is being released. Whitney
> Houston, who was a big fan of the original movie, was a producer
> as well as singing and acting in the new one. The Vancouver Sun's
> view of the movie:
>
> http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/7100781/story.html
>
> opens with the following sentence:
>
> # Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
> # in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.
>
> Dearly departed?
>
> Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
> with "dearly beloved".

"Dearly departed" is an accepted phrase. Not very logical, but that's
true of a lot of usage.

Jerry Friedman

unread,
Aug 16, 2012, 5:25:09 PM8/16/12
to
On Aug 16, 1:40 pm, Paul {Hamilton Rooney} <paulvloo...@snotmail.com>
wrote:
COCA results:

dearly departed: 60

dear departed: 43
dear, departed: 7


BNC results:

dearly departed: 1

dear departed: 10
dear, departed: 3

Maybe we should start a new collection of incorrect words or phrases
that are more common than reputable versions in reliable corpora (from
some countries, anyway).

--
Jerry Friedman

JOF

unread,
Aug 16, 2012, 7:48:42 PM8/16/12
to
On Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:19:32 -0500, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:

>A remake of the 1976 movie "Sparkle" is being released. Whitney
>Houston, who was a big fan of the original movie, was a producer
>as well as singing and acting in the new one. The Vancouver Sun's
>view of the movie:
>
> http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/7100781/story.html
>
>opens with the following sentence:
>
># Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
># in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.
>
>Dearly departed?
>
>Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
>with "dearly beloved".

It was an expensive demise.
--
John

Guy Barry

unread,
Aug 16, 2012, 4:24:53 PM8/16/12
to


"Mark Brader" wrote in message
news:AvKdnUhc_pNZ2rDN...@vex.net...

> # Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
> # in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.

> Dearly departed?

> Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
> with "dearly beloved".

It could be a subtle way of saying "good riddance". I might even use it
myself.

--
Guy Barry

Cheryl

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 6:16:42 AM8/17/12
to
This is the first time I remember seeing or hearing it. It sounds like
the writer is pleased Ms. Houston is dead.

--
Cheryl

Mike L

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 6:38:09 AM8/17/12
to
It's not accepted round me, nor will it be till you prise the blue
pencil from my cold dead hand.

--
Mike.

mrucb...@att.net

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 7:09:32 AM8/17/12
to
Richard Pryor expounded on its usage in one of routines: "We are gathered here today,to honor the dearly departed. He was dearly, and he has departed; therefore, we call him the dearly departed." Apparently he thought it was funny too.

CDB

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 8:16:46 AM8/17/12
to
On 17/08/2012 6:38 AM, Mike L wrote:
> Paul {Hamilton Rooney} <paulv...@snotmail.com> wrote:
>> On 17-Aug-12 3:19 AM, Mark Brader wrote:

[The Vancouver Sun is more respectable than some]

>>> # Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
>>> # in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.

>>> Dearly departed?

>>> Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
>>> with "dearly beloved".

>> "Dearly departed" is an accepted phrase. Not very logical, but that's
>> true of a lot of usage.

> It's not accepted round me, nor will it be till you prise the blue
> pencil from my cold dead hand.

Her departure has cost us dear. The funeral expenses alone ...

She will be dearly missed: better back over her and make sure; a suit
for damages would ruin me.

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 9:21:51 AM8/17/12
to
While reading that I heard an unusual noise on the road outside. I
looked out of the window and saw a hearse. It was a horse drawn hearse.
The sound I heard was of the clip-clopping of the horses' hooves.

The two horses were doing well trotting up a fairly steep hill.

The hearse was similar to these:
http://www.georgefawcettcarriages.co.uk/funerals.php


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

Harrison Hill

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 9:22:10 AM8/17/12
to
It is perfectly Good English. In the UK "Dearly Beloved, we are
gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses..." is the only
way to get married; "beloved" is a noun in that phrase, and "departed"
in "Dearly Departed" is equally unremarkable.

James Hogg

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 10:51:57 AM8/17/12
to
What's an adverb like "dearly" doing qualifying a noun? "Dearly beloved"
means that the priest dearly loves the people he is addressing. Nobody
has dearly departed the dead, and they didn't depart dearly; they are
dear and departed.

--
James

mrucb...@att.net

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 4:18:53 PM8/17/12
to
It may be taken as short for the dearly, departed loved one? Pryor's obscene and vulgar 'Eulogy' is all about making fun of the windy, pompous word delivery that likely resulted in such a thing. But it is a pretty common thing, nevertheless, and not just in these here parts.

<http://listenmusic.fm/track/Eulogy-by-Richard-Pryor-with-lyrics-665410>

From Collins:


Ms. Hepburn isn't the only dearly departed soul managing to do eight shows weekly in New York.
Globe and Mail(2003)

Soon you'll be able to have a headstone with its own LCD touch screen on which the dearly departed can leave a video message.
Belfast Telegraph(2004)

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 5:01:18 PM8/17/12
to
On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 16:51:57 +0200, James Hogg <Jas....@gOUTmail.com>
wrote:
"X was dearly buried or cremated. Have you seen the bill?!"

Evan Kirshenbaum

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 6:29:54 PM8/17/12
to
m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) writes:

> A remake of the 1976 movie "Sparkle" is being released. Whitney
> Houston, who was a big fan of the original movie, was a producer
> as well as singing and acting in the new one. The Vancouver Sun's
> view of the movie:
>
> http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/7100781/story.html
>
> opens with the following sentence:
>
> # Sparkle is a tribute to the dearly departed Whitney Houston
> # in more ways than her co-starring role in the remake.
>
> Dearly departed?
>
> Looks to me as though the writer was conflating "dear, departed"
> with "dearly beloved".

It's been areound for nearly a century (at least):

Officers and members of the Young Folks League of the Hebrew
Infant Asylum are requested to attend the funeral services of our
dearly departed First Vice President, Dora Weyl.

_NY Times_, 6/10/1915

The Embryo Balia of Taicothe of the Order of the Eight extends
solemn greetings to its dearly departed brother, Harold E. Myers,
in Chapter the Eternal. He was good, he was upright, he was a man
and a brother. May his soul rest in sweet peace and comfort.

_NY Times_, 9/25/1929

No, I have no idea what that all means.

In sad and loving memory of our dearly departed daughter and
sister, Henriette Y. Newburg, who was taken from our midst three
years ago today.

_NY Times_, 12/24/1931

I wonder if it's a calque of a Yiddish phrase.

I see it in Google Books back to

In Loving Memory of
Our Dearly Departed Wife and Mother
Anna Vallance
who passed away June 1, 1946.
Walter Vallance, Sr.
Walter Vallance, Jr.

"The Final Curtain" [death notices and memorials], _The
Billboard_, June 7, 1947

They ran the same notice in 1948. Ray Ole Gilberts' parents ran a
similar notice for their son in 1948 and 1949.

It disappears and picks up again in the early '70s.

Cemeteries, too, havein in some places become country clubs for
the dearly departed.

letter, _The Rotarian_, July, 1972

Mark Brader

unread,
Aug 17, 2012, 8:14:46 PM8/17/12
to
Evan Kirshenbaum (copyedited):
> It's been around for nearly a century (at least):

Huh. Thanks for the education.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "My ambition is to see a saying of mine attributed
m...@vex.net | to Dorothy Parker or Mark Twain." -- Joe Fineman

Steve Hayes

unread,
Aug 18, 2012, 12:20:30 AM8/18/12
to
On Fri, 17 Aug 2012 06:22:10 -0700 (PDT), Harrison Hill
<harrison...@gmail.com> wrote:

>It is perfectly Good English. In the UK "Dearly Beloved, we are
>gathered here today in the presence of these witnesses..." is the only
>way to get married; "beloved" is a noun in that phrase, and "departed"
>in "Dearly Departed" is equally unremarkable.

So just as I can love you dearly, I can depart you dearly?




--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
0 new messages