tack » tact

Chiefly in:   take another tact

Classification: English – final d/t-deletion

Spotted in the wild:

  • Or take another tact: is Penelope’s heroism portrayed as equal to Odysseus’s heroism? If so, why, if not, why not? (link)
  • While we do not discount another merger attempt in the future, Surrey could take another tact due to its public status and become a consolidator of other B.C. credit unions. (link)
  • Now that I understand your position a bit better, let me take another tact. (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

The sailing metaphor has been lost, and a link has been forged from the “course of action” sense to, maybe, the word _tactics_.

| link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/02/12 |

Commentaries

  1. 1

    Commentary by rosanne , 2005/05/14 at 11:06 am

    Also seen in “to change tact”.

  2. 2

    Commentary by Arnold Zwicky , 2006/04/28 at 5:13 pm

    Also in “(take) a new tact”.

  3. 3

    Commentary by JonF , 2006/08/09 at 6:19 pm

    I think there’s also a connection to the sense that a situation must be handled carefully, hence “tact” must be used and therefore we must be ready “to change tact” if necessary.

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