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Is it "in stead of" or "instead of" in (Am) English?

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H. H. B.

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Dec 5, 2012, 4:37:59 AM12/5/12
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Is it "in stead of" or "instead of" in (Am) English?

Bill McCray

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Dec 5, 2012, 8:43:19 AM12/5/12
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On 12/5/2012 4:37 AM, H. H. B. wrote:
> Is it "in stead of" or "instead of" in (Am) English?

Use "instead of" instead of "in stead of".

Bill in Kentucky

Anton Shepelev

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Dec 5, 2012, 9:58:41 AM12/5/12
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Bill McCray:

> > Is it "in stead of" or "instead of" in (Am) En-
> > glish?
>
> Use "instead of" instead of "in stead of".

But the separation is still present in, say:

I'm too afraid of the approaching business
trip to France and wish someone could do it in
my stead.

so we now have two incosistent spellings of the same
word in the same sense. Other words, like "myself"
and "doughnut" have already been glued together, but
I personally don't like concatenations when the only
reason behind them is the frequent occurence of a
certain pair of otherwise unconnected words...

--
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/\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Dec 5, 2012, 11:22:45 AM12/5/12
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On Wed, 5 Dec 2012 18:58:41 +0400, Anton Shepelev
<anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> wrote:

>Bill McCray:
>
>> > Is it "in stead of" or "instead of" in (Am) En-
>> > glish?
>>
>> Use "instead of" instead of "in stead of".
>
>But the separation is still present in, say:
>
> I'm too afraid of the approaching business
> trip to France and wish someone could do it in
> my stead.
>
>so we now have two incosistent spellings of the same
>word in the same sense. Other words, like "myself"
>and "doughnut" have already been glued together, but
>I personally don't like concatenations when the only
>reason behind them is the frequent occurence of a
>certain pair of otherwise unconnected words...

"instead" is thoroughly glued together. It is a normal and commonly used
word.

"Stead" on its own is used if a few standard phrases such as "in my/his
stead" which the OED marks as "Now only literary".

Other uses of "stead" in this sense are marked "obsolete" and/or
"archaic".

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

Ian Jackson

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Dec 6, 2012, 8:02:21 AM12/6/12
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In message <kpsub8dthquobtpf9...@4ax.com>, "Peter
Duncanson [BrE]" <ma...@peterduncanson.net> writes
I've always assumed that "stead" means "place" or "position".
--
Ian

Anton Shepelev

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Dec 6, 2012, 10:11:37 AM12/6/12
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Ian Jackson:

> I've always assumed that "stead" means "place" or
> "position".

Very correct, and so we write:

a. instead of me, but
b. in place of me

occam

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Dec 6, 2012, 10:42:24 AM12/6/12
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On 06/12/2012 14:02, Ian Jackson wrote:

>>
> I've always assumed that "stead" means "place" or "position".

Interesting. As in 'Hampstead' (London) and 'Northstead' etc

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Dec 6, 2012, 10:59:57 AM12/6/12
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_forms_in_place_names_in_the_United_Kingdom_and_Ireland

stead | OE | place, enclosed pasture | cf. ger. Stadt or
-st�tt as in Eichst�tt

Anton Shepelev

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Dec 6, 2012, 11:30:50 AM12/6/12
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Peter Duncanson:

> stead | OE | place, enclosed pasture

It is interesting to note how many words in differ-
ent languages have "st" as their root meaning to
stand, to be motionless.

For example:

-------------------------------
English Russian
-------------------------------
stand stoyat'
stable (bldg.) stoylo
stable (unchanging)
stead meSTo
statue
station
stupor
stop oSTanovka
-------------------------------

Bill McCray

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Dec 6, 2012, 1:47:44 PM12/6/12
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On 12/6/2012 11:30 AM, Anton Shepelev wrote:

> -------------------------------
> English Russian
> -------------------------------
> stop oSTanovka
> -------------------------------

I thought it was interesting that stop signs in Moscow and St.
Petersburg (and I assume in the rest of Russia) said "STOP" in the
Cyrillic alphabet ("cton" where "n" here is used here for pi, which
looks a lot like "n").

Bill in Kentucky



Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Dec 6, 2012, 3:31:21 PM12/6/12
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On Thu, 6 Dec 2012 20:30:50 +0400, Anton Shepelev
<anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> wrote:

>Peter Duncanson:
>
>> stead | OE | place, enclosed pasture
>
>It is interesting to note how many words in differ-
>ent languages have "st" as their root meaning to
>stand, to be motionless.
>
>For example:
>
> -------------------------------
> English Russian
> -------------------------------
> stand stoyat'
> stable (bldg.) stoylo
> stable (unchanging)
> stead meSTo
> statue
> station
> stupor
> stop oSTanovka
> -------------------------------

Yes, although a stampede is certainly not motionless!

Anton Shepelev

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Dec 7, 2012, 2:25:50 AM12/7/12
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Bill McCray:

> >
> > -------------------------------
> > English Russian
> > -------------------------------
> > stop oSTanovka
> > -------------------------------
> >
> I thought it was interesting that stop signs in
> Moscow and St. Petersburg (and I assume in the
> rest of Russia) said "STOP" in the Cyrillic alpha-
> bet ("cton" where "n" here is used here for pi,
> which looks a lot like "n").

Yes, but actually two spellings are used. STOP in
Latin on red backgroud that commands the driver to
stop and CTOn in Cyrillic on white background which
is an additional mark of a stop-line before a traf-
fic light, e.t.c. Hadn't occured to me!

"Ostanovka" is a noun and means either the act of
stopping or a place where public transport stops, as
in: "Next stop is Harlem!"

Anton Shepelev

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Dec 7, 2012, 2:49:56 AM12/7/12
to
Peter Duncanson:

> > -------------------------------
> > English Russian
> > -------------------------------
> > stand stoyat'
> > stable (bldg.) stoylo
> > stable (unchanging)
> > stead meSTo
> > statue
> > station
> > stupor
> > stop oSTanovka
> > -------------------------------
> >
> Yes, although a stampede is certainly not motion-
> less!

Yes, and I think it comes from "stomp" which could
be of imitative origin, just as the Russian
"stuk" -- a knock.

P.S.: Unchanging is also con-STant :-)

Peter Duncanson [BrE]

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Dec 7, 2012, 7:14:49 AM12/7/12
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On Fri, 7 Dec 2012 11:49:56 +0400, Anton Shepelev
<anton.txt@g{oogle}mail.com> wrote:

>Peter Duncanson:
>
>> > -------------------------------
>> > English Russian
>> > -------------------------------
>> > stand stoyat'
>> > stable (bldg.) stoylo
>> > stable (unchanging)
>> > stead meSTo
>> > statue
>> > station
>> > stupor
>> > stop oSTanovka
>> > -------------------------------
>> >
>> Yes, although a stampede is certainly not motion-
>> less!
>
>Yes, and I think it comes from "stomp" which could
>be of imitative origin, just as the Russian
>"stuk" -- a knock.
>
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=stampede&searchmode=none

stampede (n.
1828, from Mex.Sp. estampida, from Sp., "an uproar," from estamper
"to stamp, press, pound," from the same Germanic root that yielded
English stamp (v.).

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stamp&allowed_in_frame=0

stamp (v.)
O.E. stempan "to pound in a mortar, stamp," from P.Gmc.
*stampojanan (cf. O.N. stappa, M.Du. stampen, O.H.G. stampfon, Ger.
stampfen "to stamp with the foot, beat, pound," Ger. Stampfe
"pestle"), from nasalized form of PIE root *stebh- "to support,
place firmly on" (cf. Gk. stembein "to trample, misuse;" see staff
(n.)). The meaning "impress or mark (something) with a die" is first
recorded 1560.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=stomp&allowed_in_frame=0

stomp (v.)
1803, variant of stamp.

>P.S.: Unchanging is also con-STant :-)

Indeed!

Ian Jackson

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Dec 7, 2012, 8:05:20 AM12/7/12
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In message <k9qp8d$tkp$1...@news.albasani.net>, Bill McCray
<billm...@mindspring.com> writes
For the 1980 Moscow Olympic games, many of the "cton" signs were
replaced with the international "STOP" sign*.
*Apart, I believe, Quebec, where they use "ARRETE" (which seems
unnecessarily familiar to me).
--
Ian
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