I was just sitting here, wondering exactly the same thing, whilst I rummage the boards. See, even I couldn’t restrain myself from reading the boards while I was on vacation! :P
Bryn, you might be interested and surprised, as I was, that sneaked is the accepted past tense of the verb. Evidently, snuck, while gaining acceptance (and obviously used by a large percentage of the English speaking population), is not recognized by the Usage Panel as the accepted past tense, at least in formal speech and language.
Usage Note: Snuck is an Americanism first introduced in the 19th century as a nonstandard regional variant of sneaked. Widespread use of snuck has become more common with every generation. It is now used by educated speakers in all regions. Formal written English is more conservative than other varieties, of course, and here snuck still meets with much resistance. Many writers and editors have a lingering unease about the form, particularly if they recall its nonstandard origins. And 67 percent of the Usage Panel disapproved of snuck in our 1988 survey. Nevertheless, an examination of recent sources shows that snuck is sneaking up on sneaked. Snuck was almost 20 percent more common in newspaper articles published in 1995 than it was in 1985. Snuck also appears in the work of many respected columnists and authors: "He ran up huge hotel bills and then snuck out without paying" (George Stade). "He had snuck away from camp with a cabinmate" (Anne Tyler). "I ducked down behind the paperbacks and snuck out" (Garrison Keillor).
[quote author=tcward link=board=omni;num=1042848548;start=0#6 date=01/21/03 at 23:24:24]Bryn, you might be interested and surprised, as I was, that sneaked is the accepted past tense of the verb.
Aha. I was. Clearly a case of Usage panel 0, Misuse panel 1.
While sneaked is clearly more correct than snuck (and far more than snook), I intuitively feel that snuck has a sneakiness about it.
Bryn
P.S. the score remined me of…
And here is a late sports result: Lions 3, Christians nil.
snooker - 1889, the game and the word said to have been invented in India by British officers as a diversion from billiards. The name is perhaps an allusion (with reference to the rawness of play by a fellow officer) to British slang snooker "newly joined cadet" (1872). Tradition ascribes the name to Col. Sir Neville Chamberlain (1856-1944), at the time subaltern in the Devonshire Regiment in Jubbulpore. The verb meaning "to cheat" is from early 1900s, probably because novices can be easily tricked in the game.
[quote author=missgardner link=board=omni;num=1042848548;start=0#11 date=01/23/03 at 06:48:39]hi , just out of interest I have never heard anyone in the UK say the past tense as snuck. Quite honestly never! :-X
This surprises me, maybe it’s a regional variation but I am certain that I first came across this in Norfolk many years ago. Certainly I have been known to say it myself, even in the UK! Next time I will say it a bit louder so you can hear :D
Or am I confusing the East Anglian thing with their rendering of the past tense of shriek as shrook? I always liked this.
[quote author=KatyBr link=board=omni;num=1042848548;start=0#12 date=01/23/03 at 10:18:52]that reminds me of the people who think that drug is the past tense of drag, as in "Look what the cat drug in"
I actually do hear this - people from the Midwest (U.S.) seem to say it more than people from the East or West coasts.
To get back on-topic - really, where is Grant? Has he absconded...?
I don’t think Grant would mind if I said this, so I will say on Grant’s behalf that he has left the Agora. At least for the foreseeable future.
He does not want to be sought and convinced to return. He didn’t want anyone to try to talk him out of it before he left. His interest in the material that was being posted on a routine basis was waning, unlike when the Agora originally started.
I was able to contact him by e-mail, because I am a phenomenal researcher ( ::) ), but I will not divulge his e-mail address, so don’t ask.
