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Nessie3
 Post subject: Musing on Drink Driving
PostPosted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 1:19 am 
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Joined: Fri Mar 18, 2005 3:03 am
Posts: 1224
Location: Japan
How on earth did the collocation "drink driving" beat out "drunk driving" in the Commonwealth? To North American ears it sounds so patently wrong. You're not driving a drink.
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paulwiggins
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:08 am 
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Location: Homebush NSW Australia
Takes a hyphen. Australian limits are so low that one can be drink-driving without being drunk. An aside be wary of that word Commonwealth. In the context of this question it steers one incorrectly to thinking about federal law.
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Nessie3
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:30 am 
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Thanks, Paul, as always. I see the term more commonly without the hyphen, as per my link.

And what would you recommend in place of "Commonwealth"?
"In the Commonwealth" was meant to refer to a list of member countries, rather than any legal system.
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paulwiggins
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 7:57 pm 
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''Commonwealth nations'' removes the ambiguity about the group of countries of which the Commonwealth of Australia is a member.
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Nessie3
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 8:37 pm 
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I see. Thank you.
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