Talk:unpossible

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Latest comment: 16 years ago by Widsith in topic Nonstandardness
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Nonstandardness

[edit]

I took the etymological bit which said it's an ‘erroneous imitation’ of impossible. In fact this word is quite as old as impossible and for a long time was considered equally correct. I think what the comment was getting at was to indicate that today it's sometimes used ‘wrongly’ for impossible – I've added a Usage note which hopefully gets that across satisfactorily. Widsith 13:48, 19 May 2007 (UTC)Reply

In most Google hits for the word, it's distinctly used in a way that attempts to be intentionally incorrect, even if it's not, in fact, wholly incorrect. I believe this traces back to the November 13, 1994 Simpsons episode, so even byself it passes attestation.[1] --Interiot 18:41, 16 April 2008 (UTC)Reply

Good point. I have added a context tag to indicate that it can still be used jocularly. Widsith 18:44, 16 April 2008 (UTC)Reply