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strathspey@strathspey.org:45614

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simon scott

simon scott

RE: Divided by a common language (was Reels and Hornpipes)

June 21, 2006, 5:56 p.m. (Message 45614, in reply to message 45604)

In any case, I've seen  "outwith"  occasionally,  and  just
considered  it  a  rare synonym for "outside".  I think I'd
picked up that it had some UK association, but didn't think
of it as especially Scottish.  I'm a bit surprised that, in
this day of such easy  international  communication,  there
are English-speaking people who don't know the word.

We do have a minor problem in English, in that the opposite
of "within" obviously should be "without", but that's taken
for a rather different meaning.  That's typical for such  a
poorly designed language, I guess.


--
   _,
   O   John Chambers
 <:#/> <xx@xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxx>
   +   <xxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx>
  /#\  in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, Earth
  | |
  ' `

In the old "English" hymnbook the first verse of the Easter Hymn was

There is a green hill far away
"Without" a city wall

It did not mean that the city had no wall but rather that the hill was
outside the city's wall.

It has now been changed to "Outside"

So both "outwith" and "without" can mean "outside"

Simon
Vancouver

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