"Peter Aitken" > wrote in message
. com...
>
> I wonder who bones the oil-packed ones? What a job! By the way, my
> complements to you for using the correct "boned" and not the too common
and
> ignorant "deboned."
>

Quibble but disagree -- strictly on the basis of precision, the transitive
verb "deboned" has but one meaning, whereas the word "boned" has
numerous of them, and only one of them means the removal of bones
in meats or fish. In this sense most contemporary dictionaries accord
them equal definition in opposite senses, such as we have with the
infamous "flammable" and "inflammable."

Not that you in any way committed a boner, Peter...the OED does not
recognize "debone."

pavane