Learning to eat everything

[shemp]

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Gump - uh, "varietal" and "variety" are 2 different parts of speech...

-Al

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You haven't noticed that "varietal" is now used as a noun extremely frequently? Notice that shemp, for example, used it as a noun. Here is the not so authoritative dictionary.com entry:

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va·ri·e·tal
–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, designating, or characteristic of a variety.
2. constituting a variety.
3. (in U.S. winemaking) designating a wine made entirely or chiefly from one variety of grape.
–noun
4. a varietal wine named for such a grape (distinguished from generic).



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Good stuff and a reasonable nit to pick.

But it seems to me that the taxonomic meaning of variety is being avoided (because another sense is common) and varietal (carrying no such baggage from a variety of senses) is selected instead. Though it could be snobbery, or that and some mix of ignorance.

Also, I suspect, this usage is supported by more authoritative dictionaries. I could be wrong about that, too.