Words: grandfather, v.

AN INELEGANT paragraph in the New York Times recently reported that "the bills try to block taxes on information. Eight states already tax Internet access, and their taxes would be grandfathered in if the states affirmed within a year that they intended to tax Internet access."

The verb receives scant notice in the OED, a single example. It is, however, cogently explained in the endlessly beguiling pages of Black's Law Dictionary.

To grandfather is an important notion which goes back to the days when Southern states exempted from new laws men whose ancestors had fought in the Civil War. Recently, and perhaps more crucially, those already allowed to drink could continue to do so when the age limit was increased.