An interesting headline on the news giant Time.com web site for today, 2008-12-12 is this--
Top Stories on Time.com * A British Row Over College Beauty Pageants
Which uses "row" to mean an "argument". On a nice sunny day, I'd prefer to load my little boat WITH college beauty pagenat contestants and ROW around the lake.
And of course all your ducks may be lined up in a row.
I've noticed that the British use row to mean "argument" more often than we do in the states. I looked up the word on the online OED, and they said, "A slang or colloquial word, of obscure origin, in common use from c1800. Noted by Todd (1818) as ‘a very low expression’."
I wouldn't call it slang. It's just not as used as much as it was in the past. Here are some headlines from news archives:
quote:
New York Times, August 19, 1904, Friday LEADERS MAY ACT IN MURPHY-M'CARREN ROW; Democratic Managers Think Feud Has Gone Too Far.
New York Times, July 7, 1917, Saturday ROOSEVELT AND GOMPERS ROW AT RUSSIAN MEETING; Colonel's Denunciation Turns Welcome to Envoys Into a Quarrel Over Race Riots.
New York Times, Feb 15, 1918, Friday PEACE CONGRESS ENDED IN ROW; Rupture Followed Stormy Discussion Between Trotzkyand Kaiser's Delegates.
New York Times, December 8, 1920, Wednesday BUDGET COMMITTEE BREWS ROW IN HOUSE; Chairmen Resent Sending Money Bills to Larger Appropriations Committee.
New York Times, February 19, 1922, Sunday TARIFF ROW COMING ON VALUATION PLAN; Senate Committee Decides Tentatively to Base Rates on Foreign Prices.
New York Times, May 26, 1922, Friday FIST FIGHT MARKS TREASURY JOB ROW; Childs, Ousted Official, Beats Alleged Secret Service Man Shadowing Him.
New York Times, March 18, 1937, Thursday HULL URGES TRUCE IN ROW WITH NAZIS; Again Deplores War of Words as Berlin Renews Protest on La Guardia's Attacks
New York Times, January 23, 1938, Sunday ANTI-LYNCHING ROW SPLITS DEMOCRATS; Party's Solidarity Threatened by Determined Filibuster of Southern Senators
New York Times, June 7, 1939, Wednesday JAPANESE IN CHINA KILL BRITON IN ROW; Ex-Officer of Shanghai Police Slain by Navy Landing Unit in a British Mill
New York Times, January 8, 1940, Monday HORE-BELISHA ROW THREATENS TO END PARLIAMENT TRUCE; Immediate Session Is Sought to Throw Light on Dismissal and to Silence Rumors
New York Times, October 13, 1945, Saturday COAL PARLEY ROW NEARS FISTICUFFS; J.L. Lewis, Angered by Former Senator Burke, Is Reported to Have Acted Menacingly
New York Times, February 1, 1947, Saturday U.S. ROW CHARGED OVER PORTAL CASE; Lawyer of Mt. Clemens Union Says Wages-Hours Head Refuses to Back Attorney General
New York Times, April 5, 1949, Tuesday MAYOR URGES VOTE TO SETTLE CAB ROW; 2,852 TAXIS ROLLING; Both Sides Agree to Weigh His Proposal but Owners Assert Walkout Has Collapsed
Time Magazine - Time - May 7, 1951 The Rollins Row
Time Magazine - Time - Friday, Feb. 24, 1961 Embassy Row Two of John Kennedy's choices for ambassadorships were in trouble last week.
New York Times, February 6, 1963, Wednesday VOTE IN OTTAWA TOPPLES CABINET IN NUCLEAR ROW; Diefenbaker Is Defeated by Three-Party Coalition in No-Confidence Action
New York Times, April 17, 1969, Thursday GUNS DUEL AT SUEZ 9TH DAY IN A ROW; Fire Is Exchanged Along the Southern Half of Canal
Monday, Oct. 13, 1975 Row Over Scarce Gas Shortages of natural gas, each more serious than the last, each just barely coped with and then forgotten, have plagued the U.S. every winter since 1969.
Time Magazine - Time - Monday, May. 19, 1980 Death Drama Stirs a Royal Row
Time Magazine - Time - Monday, Oct. 06, 1980 Growing Row over "Peer Review"
The Washington Post Feb 12, 1977 Eckerd Quits GSA in Row Over Politics
This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,
The grammatical term is beyond me, but it seems to read OK both when "row" is defined as "a line or sequence" and when it is defined as "an argument". Newspaper writers are fond of word plays.
Two guys had a fight ‘bout a cow And I saw them right off the port bow. I first pulled my fish in (In a pregnant condition) And now I’ll row my roe to the row.
