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Meaning of "lack"

What is the most common meaning of "lack" for you ?

  • other meaning

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Hey there Reiku san !! Long time no see, and it's nice to see you posting again !!

While I can see the point you are trying to stress there, Reiku san, I must disagree on the grounds that your proposition is not yet so sure a thing. To say that a dictionary prescribes definition and usage only, is most likely incorrect--a better dicitonary will always admit to trying to maintain a balance between prescribing and describing. Then, in turn, to say that the general masses misuse a language is more than not, a very valid statement.

Regarding the adjective lack, I have never come across any evidence of any elipsis in clauses in which the word would be expected to be used as a fixed portion of that same clause, and then, that the modifiers of that word dropped out. Do you happen to have any such evidence on hand?

Maciamo san, you are jumping the gun on that, and again, you are incorrect. But, it has been said before, due to such tendencies, 'believing is seeing

No language is carved in marble so that it is a hardened and unchangable thing, though at any moment, there are speakers who abuse the norms so as to cause the change--and no language is free from it !! NONE !!
 
Thank you, Mars Man, for your fine comments.

English is a delightful mistress, but a treacherous wife. Some languages have virtue, and try to keep themselves pure. English is content to associate with any other language, and to pick up words here and there.

For instance, most words that begin with "al" are Arabic in origin, and were taken into the European languages and thus into English during the flourishing of Arabic culture. Al-cohol, al-dehyde, al-gebra - these all came from Arabic.

English has many other examples of "borrowed words." It has always been a changing language.
 
Well, this is really something limited to my region (Texas, USA.) When we say lack and mean that something is not there at all, it implies that the missing part is essential to proper function or use of that item, or that what is needed is essential for proper decorum.

Touching on what Steve said, English is different from most other languages in that there is no one primary source for English. In Spanish, for example, the vast majority of the words have Latin origins. Just under 1/3rd of English is Latin in origin. There is also a heavy amount of Greek, Germanic languages, and others in there as well.

Part of this stems from the vast expanse of the British Empire (and later, the America's dealing with its allies.) Many conquered areas gave words from their languages into English.
 
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