Subject: ADS-L Digest - 31 Aug 1997 to 1 Sep 1997 There are 3 messages totalling 141 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. "Comprise" 2. Hot Dogs (WRONG AGAIN!!); Big Banana 3. Re-spellings ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 09:24:12 -0400 From: Alan Baragona baragonasa[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]VAX.VMI.EDU Subject: "Comprise" A couple of years ago, I decided the distinction between "comprise" and "compose" was, for all practical purposes, dead when I found "comprise" misused in a Morgan Library Exhibit, on National Public Radio, and in an academic journal all in one week. The fact that both words are used in the same semantic situations (though with opposite meanings), as well as the similarity in spelling, makes it virtually inevitable that they should fall together. But yesterday before the Orioles game, I heard a broadcaster say that the starting pitchers had "comprised" a set of impressive statistics. Of course, he should have said "compiled," but I was wondering if this was simply a misusage by a jock announcer or part of a trend in the semantic shift of the word. Has anyone else run across a confusion between "comprise" and "compile" instead of the more usual "compose"? Alan Baragona alan[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]vmi.edu You know, years ago, my mother used to say to me, she'd say, "In this world, Elwood, you must be . . ."--she always called me 'Elwood'--"In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant." Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you may quote me. Elwood P. Dowd ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 19:24:37 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Hot Dogs (WRONG AGAIN!!); Big Banana HOT DOGS No, I couldn't escape the summer without this. No way. There it was today on AOL. An Associated Press story from Donna de la Cruz, "America's Hot Dogs Immortalized." Two New Jersey filmmakers are doing a documentary called FOOTLONG. No one, of course, contacted me. The AP--and you know they check their facts and double check 'em--story continues in part: (...) The dog itself was first introduced to America at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, though it went by a different name. That changed in 1906, so the story goes, when cartoonist Tad Dorgan saw vendors at a baseball game selling the slim sausages and calling out "Get your red hot dachsund sandwiches!" Dorgan, sketching a wiener with mustard, couldn't spell dachsund. Hot dog it became. (...) Yes, it truly has been summer now. WHERE'S MY REMAINING HALF GALLON OF "DEATH BY CHOCOLATE"? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- BIG BANANA I'm in the process of trying to give my "Big Apple" papers away and put them on a web site, to be linked to the NY Convention & Visitors Bureau, Museum of New York, New York Public Library, et al. This donation process has taken a mere five years, and the web pages are still just as bad as the above. A small part of the "Big Apple" web page would feature "the Big Banana," so I might as well update the first Random House HDAS, which has: BIG BANANA 1. the top prize or recognition; the focus of interest or attention. (1980 citation--ed.) 2. BIG SHOT. (1984 citation--ed.) In 1875, a comic musical sketch called THE BIG BANANA was written and composed by Alfred B. Sedgwick. It begins: HANS: Vell. Dot is so goot as noding. Ya! I been in Ney Yorik dis nine six days--and I gets no vorks! nor nodings! and everyvere I goss, I sees brinted up in big red leddirs, "Big Banana." Ter deyful mit der big banana. (...) DUET HANS: I'm off to the Big Banana! I'm bound for the Big Banana! I'll sail for the Big Banana! Right straight upon this line. I'll work like any nigger And when my pile gets bigger I'll cut another figure And make ein Schurne schein. _Refrain._ Oh! Then I'll be so happy So happy! So happy! Oh! then I'll be so happy When that big fortune's mine. (...) ANNA: Now, really, sir, I canna'--- In no sort--shape--or manner Don't talk about Havana I'm free--and so decline. The Big Banana was Havana. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- VIDEORAZZI, again A few blocks away from where I live is the British consulate. There are about as many news trucks there as there are people. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 1 Sep 1997 22:47:02 -0400 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTK.EDU Subject: Re-spellings On another list, someone asked: I think Alje (_how_ does he pronounce that?) is right. Someone else wrote: He pronounces it "Aljaee," like "algae". My question: why do people substitute one non-phonetic spelling for another. Why was the response not simply "Algae." Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 311/1117 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process: Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA http://ljp.la.utk.edu [Sept-Dec '97, Dep't of Linguistics/470 ICC/Georgetown University/ Washington, D.C. 20057/202-687-6029] ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 31 Aug 1997 to 1 Sep 1997 *********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 1 Sep 1997 to 2 Sep 1997 There are 2 messages totalling 174 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. ...razzi/Buck House 2. Safire's WATCHING MY LANGUAGE, HDAS H-O reviews; Hot Dog & the AP ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 15:43:18 -0400 From: "Margaret G. Lee -English" mlee[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CS.HAMPTONU.EDU Subject: Re: ...razzi/Buck House How about "PAPANAZI," considering the blood thirsty way they stalk their victims, like bounty hunters. On Sun, 31 Aug 1997, DMC Rogers wrote: Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 22:59:31 EDT From: DMC Rogers rogers22[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JUNO.COM To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU Subject: Re: ...razzi/Buck House Speaking of words used in the discussions of Princess Diana's death, I noticed several people calling Buckingham Palace "Buck House." Does anybody know anything about the origins of that or earlier uses? On Sun, 31 Aug 1997 00:58:35 -0400 "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM writes: Princess Diana is dead. I can't believe it. David Shulman told me about his research into "paparazzi" (and "paparazzo"). The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology is correct: PAPARAZZO n., pl. PAPARAZZI, aggressive photographer who pursues celebrities. 1961, American English, borrowing of Italian _paparazzo_, in allusion to the surname of a free-lance photographer in the Italian motion picture _La Dolce Vita_ (1959). ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Sep 1997 23:34:35 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Safire's WATCHING MY LANGUAGE, HDAS H-O reviews; Hot Dog & the AP BOOK REVIEW: WATCHING MY LANGUAGE: ADVENTURES IN THE WORD TRADE by William Safire $27.50, 317 pages Random House, 1997 A few confessions first: I didn't buy the book, and I have a longstanding grudge against Mr. Safire and his newspaper. I didn't buy the book, and I don't think many people will, either. The book is the ninth collection of his columns (which I HAVE read); I read this book in the store. (Barnes & Noble has comfy chairs.) $27.50 is an outrageously high price for this. In six months, I'll buy it for $10 when the returns are sold at the Strand bookstore. My longstanding grudge against Mr. Safire is well known. (THAT IS: His paper still hasn't run a "Big Apple" story--not even five years too late! When I invited Mr. Safire to the 1992 American Name Society "Big Apple" dinner (as suggested by a co-worker of mine--Safire's cousin), he didn't even reply to me! When my co-guest of honor (Charles Gillett) at that dinner died in 1995, the New York Times screwed up "the Big Apple" in his obituary! No one has ever apologized!) This book is too spooky to be believed. Spooks starts on an opening page: Grateful acknowledgment is made to _The New York Times_ for permission to reprint 76 "On Language" columns by William Safire from the May 5, 1991, through January 24, 1993, issues of _The New York Times Magazine_. So what they're selling here--for $27.50--is columns that you may have already read and that are AT LEAST FOUR AND A HALF YEARS OLD! Safire has a publisher. He has an agent. IT TOOK FOUR AND A HALF YEARS FOR THIS?? The back cover asks "Who first used the expression _Not!_?" The inside jacket asks "Who deserves credit for coining the expressions _policy wonk_, _digerati_, and _Not!_?" In BUZZWORDS: L.A. FRESHSPEAK, page 73, "Not!" is "overused and now considered _lame_." If you look at the latest RH HDAS (review follows), "Not!" goes back to 1893. You know who found that citation? ME! I've got lots of stuff on "Not!" Not only is "Not!" old news and considered lame at this date in 1997, BUT HE DIDN'T EVEN GET IT RIGHT!! There's no historical discussion, for example, of "nit!" This was one of the reasons to buy the book? On pages 161-163, he reviews "new" books that are six years old! On page 162, there's a discussion of Fowler's MODERN ENGLISH USAGE. On page 163, "If you can afford a great reference work that makes all American lexies proud, get Volume II of Fred Cassidy's Dictionary of American Regional English, published this year (1991)." Well, it's 1997, there was a Volume III... Maybe it'll sell to libraries. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- BOOK REVIEW: RANDOM HOUSE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG, H-O by Jonathan Lighter $65, 736 pages Simon & Schuster (Random House! Just kidding!), 1997 Another confession: some of my stuff is in this work, and my name is in the acknowledgments. This is obviously an important and major work, the second volume to be published. My complaints are more about what this is not than what it is. David Shulman objects to the number of citations after what he considers the first and most valuable ones. However, I'm not upset by TOO MANY citations--better than too few! Another person on this list commented that Lighter uses responses from students at the University of Tennessee (where he's based); again, if there are many citations, I don't have a problem with this. Obviously, I could quibble all day about individual citations. The most egregious was when I saw that "jinx" is derived from "jynx." As I posted here a few months ago, it comes from "jinks" and the popular 19th century song "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines." I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that. "Hotlanta" is here, but I've posted an earlier citation. My new stuff on "Show Me" is not here in the "Missouri" entry. "Hot diggety" is credited to TAD from 1923, but I have it in 1906. There are many other little stuff. There's a large entry for "Motherfucker." The first volume took a lot of hits for "fuck" and other such entries. I don't mind curse words. I can't say that I'm overly interested in the historical uses of every kind of curse, but there's room here for them (unlike, perhaps, other works). The big entries here are "O.K.," "jazz," "nigger," and a few others. Some entries will probably be a little difficult to read ("hobo" and "ho-boy," for example). Overall, of course, it's an important reference work. My biggest criticism is what it's not. What I want is a super book or source for the American language, and this is not that book. It's a book of SLANG, not a book of AMERICANISMS nor a book of ENGLISH WORDS. Many words and names are not here. For example, I was stunned when the first volume had "Big Apple" but not "Gotham." The second volume has "hot dog" and also "hamburger," BUT ONLY THE SLANG USES OF HAMBURGER. In other words, the RH HDAS supplements DARE and DA and DAE and OED, but doesn't render them obsolete. Also, this is a book. By the time slang books are published, it's old slang. What's needed is a computer database of the American and/or English language that's constantly updated and combines the books I've just mentioned. I want to type in "New York--1920s" and I want a group of words and phrases that would be used at that place and time. I want a big computer database! I don't want 1,000 books! I WANT TO CLEAN THIS APARTMENT! Volume III will be essential, too... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- HOT DOG AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS I walked into the Rockefeller Center Offices of the Associated Press. The fourth floor connected me to someone, who told me to call the AP office (609-392-3622) that made the story--Trenton, New Jersey. I was shown the way to the pay phones. Oh, great. Donna de la Cruz, who wrote yesterday's "America's Hot Dogs Immortalized," wasn't in, but I spoke to her editor. I told him that the hot dog wasn't first introduced to America at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, and that Tad Dorgan didn't coin the name "hot dog" in 1906. I spent many years researching the term, I've traveled across the country, and my work has been published in scholarly journals. "We used Webster's," the editor said. Well, he should have used the Random House HDAS H-O, or the OED, or even Leonard Zwilling's TAD LEXICON. Any computer search on T. A. Dorgan should pull up the TAD LEXICON, but no "hot dog" writers ever research this far. The editor realized that the story was wrong. Sure it's trivial, but this story was read by thousands of people--many of AP's newspapers, and it was a feature story on AOL NEWS all day. Maybe MILLIONS of people read it. And the story was wrong! It was a good experience on how the AP corrects itself. What happens when I read an AP health story and it declares "XYZ Cures Cancer!" How would I know it's true? "We're not going to do anything," the editor told me. I'm no Richard Jewell, but I have a real problem with that. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 1 Sep 1997 to 2 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 2 Sep 1997 to 3 Sep 1997 There are 6 messages totalling 249 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Apples & Oranges 2. m/mla panels of interst for ads members (2) 3. Safire's WATCHING MY LANGUAGE, HDAS H-O reviews; Hot Dog & the AP 4. Word origin, of course 5. ADS IN NEW YORK--PROGRAM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 00:48:02 -0400 From: "Bethany K. Dumas" dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UTK.EDU Subject: Apples & Oranges On Tue, 2 Sep 1997, Barry A. Popik wrote: snip RANDOM HOUSE HISTORICAL DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN SLANG, H-O by Jonathan Lighter This is obviously an important and major work, the second volume to be published. My complaints are more about what this is not than what it is. David Shulman objects to the number of citations after what he considers the first and most valuable ones. However, I'm not upset by TOO MANY citations--better than too few! Another person on this list commented that Lighter uses responses from students at the University of Tennessee (where he's based); again, if there are many citations, I don't have a problem with this. Time does not permit setting the record straight at length, but please note these points: 1. This IS a slang dictionary. It is not nor was it ever intended to be a book of Americanisms. 2. Much has been made of the fact that some citations come from students at the U. of Tennessee. in fact, most of the citations were collected as Jon read in the New York Public Library, misspending his youth as thoroughly as anyone I know. A high percentage of citations come from individuals on the Knoxville campus now because Jon has been in residence here since 1974. He and I arrived at the same time. His M.A. thesis was the Amerian Speech issue on WWI slang; his doctoral dissertation, which I had the pleasure of "directing," was the letter "A" of the dictionary. I hope that individuals who can add to the material included in the first ed. will share their information with Jon. Write him c/o the English Dept (address below). Jon himself has contributed a lot to the OED in that way. Thanks, Bethany Bethany K. Dumas, J.D., Ph.D. Applied Linguistics, Language & Law Department of English EMAIL: dumasb[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]utk.edu 311/1117 McClung Tower (423) 974-6965, (423) 974-6926 (FAX) University of Tennessee Editor, Language in the Judicial Process: Knoxville, TN 37996-0430 USA http://ljp.la.utk.edu [Sept-Dec '97, Dep't of Linguistics/470 ICC/Georgetown University/ Washington, D.C. 20057/202-687-6029] ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 07:35:44 EST From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU Subject: m/mla panels of interst for ads members Hi Everyone, How's your semester look so far? This year, the M/MLA in Chicago has at least three panels of interest for ADS members. On Friday, Nov. 6, beginning in the morning, from 8:30-11:45 a.m., "Studies in Deixis: Working the Margins of Semantics and Pragmatics" is a two-session forum. Co-organizers, Beth Simon (me) and Anna Fellegy. Have some lunch, then from 12:30-2 pm, the ADS session. Don Lance, Matthew Gordon will be presenting there. Tom Beckner, this year's chair for the session, can give you more specifics. On Saturday, the applied linguistics panel. Should be good! best, beth ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 10:24:49 -0400 From: Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU Subject: Re: Safire's WATCHING MY LANGUAGE, HDAS H-O reviews; Hot Dog & the AP On Tue, 2 Sep 1997, Barry A. Popik wrote: What's needed is a computer database of the American and/or English language that's constantly updated and combines the books I've just mentioned. I want to type in "New York--1920s" and I want a group of words and phrases that would be used at that place and time. I want a big computer database! I don't want 1,000 books! Mr. Popik is correct that there is no database or dictionary bringing together all that is known about English-language historical lexicography. Right now, there are the OED, the Middle English Dictionary and other period dictionaries, regional dictionaries such as the DAE, DA, RHHDAS, Australian National Dictionary, etc., specialized dictionaries such as E. J. Nichols, Historical Dictionary of Baseball Terminology, numerous articles in Notes and Queries and American Speech, etc. When the 3d edition of the OED is completed, drawing upon the sources just mentioned, that will be a pretty comprehensive source for those words and phrases of sufficient importance to be included there. However, that will still not reflect a major collection of historical-lexicographical information: the 20 million or so citations in the Merriam-Webster files. I wrote an article in the journal _Dictionaries_ some years ago suggesting that Merriam-Webster compile a supplementary historical dictionary based on the datings in their files earlier than those in the OED. (If anyone from Merriam-Webster is reading this, I would be interested in editing such a work!) Another large source of potential antedatings of OED is the Lexis/Nexis database. The OED now routinely checks Nexis for new terms, but a thorough comparison of datings in the OED with the earliest occurrences in Lexis/Nexis would yield thousands of antedatings. This is true to a lesser extent of other databases such as JSTOR. Fred R. Shapiro Associate Librarian for Public Services and Lecturer in Legal Research Yale Law School fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yale.edu ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 12:47:49 -0400 From: Ron Butters RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Re: m/mla panels of interst for ads members If anyone would like to chair a session at the ADS meeting in New York in January, please let me know as soon as possible. There are still a couple of sessions that are still open for chairs. Preference will be given to folks who can use a spot on the program in order to secure funding from their insitutions for travel to the conference. We have 24 papers scheduled--this will be the lazrgest ADS meeting in my memory. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 13:15:50 -0400 From: Brenda Lester brenles[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CODY.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU Subject: Word origin, of course A friend of mine, who is a newspaper editor, asked me for the origin of "bulldog edition." He said he has found only the definition but not the origin. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 17:09:31 -0400 From: Ron Butters RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: ADS IN NEW YORK--PROGRAM WE STILL NEED CHAIRS FCR A SESSION OR TWO Date: Wed 3 Sep, 1997 5:04 PM EDT From: RonButters Subj: Re: ADS in NY To: ejphill[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]root.indstate.edu(bettyphillips) cc: RonButters *****TENTATIVE 1998 ADS PROGRAM***** Thursday January 8 3:00 pm-5:00 pm, General Session I--Chair: __AVAILABLE__ *3:00-3:30: "Idiom's Delight"--Christine Ammer, Lexington, MA *3:30-4:00: " 'Er hat uns gesaved vun unser sins': Past Participial Marking in Pennsylvania German"--Janet M. Fuller, Southern Illinois Univ. *4:00-4:30: "Searching for Standard American English"--Judith W. Fuller, Gustavus Adolphus College *4:30-5:00: "Facilitating Self-Regulated Learning in English Language Studies Classrooms"--Sonja L. Lanehart and Paul A. Schutz, Univ. of Georgia Friday, January 9 8 am, Executive Council 10:30-11:30 am, Words of the Year nominations 1:00-4:45 pm Special Session on Reconfiguring Regional Dialects--Chair: Ellen Johnson, [Western Kentucky Univ.????] *1:00-1:30: "Dynamic Boundaries in African-American Vernacular English: The Role of Local Dialect in the History of AAVE"--Walt Wolfram, Erik Thomas, and Elaine Green, North Carolina State Univ. *1:30-2:00: "Redrawing Ethnic Dialect Lines: A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of /ay/ in Lumbee Native American Vernacular English"--Natalie Schilling-Estes, Stanford Univ. *2:00-2:30: "Takin' Bauman to the Burbs: Verbal Art in the Discourse of Suburban Teens," Lisa Ann Lane, Univ. of Michigan. 2:30-2:45: break *2:45-3:15: "Standard English Hardball: The Pressure of Transplant Dialects on Young Atlanta Professionals"--Anne Marie Hamilton and Frank Bramlett, Univ. of Georgia. *3:15-3:45: "L-Handshape Variation in American Sign Language"--Ceil Lucas, Mary Rose, and Susan Schatz, Gallaudet Univ. *3:45-4:15: "Rising Glides in Chicano English"--Amanda Doran, Univ. of Texas. *4:15-4:45: "Linguistic Behavior of Three South Texas Border Communities: Same or Different?"--Kati Pletsch de Garcia, Texas A&M International University 4:30-5:30 pm, Words of the Year final vote 5:30-6:30 pm, BYOB exhibit & refreshments Saturday, January 10 8:00 am, official business meeting 9:00 am-12:30 pm, General Session II--Chair: __AVAILABLE__ *9:00-9:30: "Negation, Nasalization, and Regularization: Creating Similar Diachronic Paths"--Kirk Hazen, North Carolina State University *9:30-10:00: "_Was/were_ Variation in English: Primitive, Remnant, Syntactic Restructuring, or Act of Identity? Evidence from Intervariety Comparison"--Sali Tagliamonte and Jennifer Smith, Univ. of York, England *10:00-10:30: "The Morphology of Past Tense in AAVE"--Patricia Cukor-Avila, Univ. of North Texas, and Guy Bailey, Univ. of Texas at San Antonio *10:30-10:45: "African-American Stereotypes in Early Twentieth-Century English"--Richard Bailey, Univ. of Michigan *10:45-11:15: "Mock Ebonics: Linguistic Racism in Parodies of Ebonics on the Internet"--Maggie Ronkin and Helen Karn, Georgetown Univ. *11:15-11:45: "The Language of the Free People of Color in Nineteenth Century New Orleans: Evidence form the Journal of Sister Mary Bernard Diggs"--Georgette Ioup, Univ. of New Orleans *11:45-12:15: "Who Speaks Scots in the United States? An Analysis of Social Labels in DARE"--Anne Marie Hamilton Univ. of Georgia 12:45 pm-2 pm, annual luncheon 2:15 pm-5:30 pm, General Session III--Chair: Bethany Dumas, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville *2:15-2:45: "Semantic Variability in Terms for 'medical research': Implications for Obtaining Meaningful Informed Consent"--Ronald R. Butters, Lyla Kaplan, and Jeremy Sugarman, Duke University *2:45-3:15: " 'It'll kill ye or cure ye, one': The History and Function of Alternative _one_"--Michael Montgomery, University of South Carolina *3:15-3:45: " 'So I Says, Says I': Quotatives in Southern White Discourse"--Margaret Mishoe and Boyd Davis, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte 3:45-4:00: break *4:00-4:30: "_Leave_ 'let': American Doppelganger"--Michael Adams, Albright College *4:30-5:00: "What Makes a Coinage Successful? The Factors Influencing the Adoption of English New Words"--Valerie Boulanger, Univ. of Georgia *5:00-5:30: "Complementizer Variation in American English: Overt, Covert, and Pleonastic"--Beverly Olson Flanigan, Ohio Univ. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 2 Sep 1997 to 3 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 3 Sep 1997 to 4 Sep 1997 There are 7 messages totalling 188 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. FAMILY NAME (film review); Media-cracy (2) 2. Bulldog Edition (2) 3. graduate schools for dialectology & language study (2) 4. Queries: _Am. Tongues_ & Slang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 10:21:03 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: FAMILY NAME (film review); Media-cracy FAMILY NAME (film review) A new documentary called FAMILY NAME opened at the Film Forum in New York for a limited run. A review is perhaps more appropriate for the American Name Society, but American Dialect Society members will find the film interesting as well. It got four stars in Wednesday's New York Post, and Godfrey Cheshire of New York Press called it "The best American film of the year to date." Better than SPAWN?? Macky Alston is the filmmaker, and the film is about how he traces his roots. Unlike ROOTS, this is a low-budget documentary, but it also covers slavery. Macky remembered that the black students in his grade school shared his last name of Alston. The film starts with a white Alston family reunion and a black Alston family reunion, both taking place in North Carolina. Alstons were slave owners, and the slaves would also use the same Alston name. The slave owners had children with the slaves, so Macky filmed this whole Alston family stew. If you miss it, it'll probably be on PBS soon. Macky tried to provoke some of the Alstons with his questions about slavery and race. "There's a bearcat down the river," answered one Alston. Macky asked what this meant. It means that there's trouble ahead. Hendrickson's MOUNTAIN RANGE has something similar in "there's a squirrel in the tree somewhere" (something's hidden) and "there's somethin' dead up the branch" (something's strange; a branch is a stream of water). "There's a bearcat down the line, down the river," the person repeated later in the film. Anyone familiar with this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- MEDIA-CRACY Media-cracy is a combination of "media" and "democracy" made to sound like "mediocrity." I've seen it before in the Daily News, and it's in today's Daily News, 3 September 1997, pg. 41, col. 4: JANE LEEVES: Faults tabloid media-cracy for Diana's death. Media-cracy is not in the HDAS H-O. Has it caught on recently? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 11:13:38 -0400 From: Gregory {Greg} Downing downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU Subject: Re: FAMILY NAME (film review); Media-cracy At 10:21 AM 9/4/97 -0400, you (Barry Popik) wrote: MEDIA-CRACY Media-cracy is a combination of "media" and "democracy" made to sound like "mediocrity." I've seen it before in the Daily News, and it's in today's Daily News, 3 September 1997, pg. 41, col. 4: JANE LEEVES: Faults tabloid media-cracy for Diana's death. Media-cracy is not in the HDAS H-O. Has it caught on recently? I don't know if the word was coined there or not, but _Mediacracy_ is the title of a Kevin Phillips book (1975). I've seen the word a few times in the popular press in the last year or two. Someone with access to NEXIS may wish to search it. Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:43:49 -0400 From: Brenda Lester brenles[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CODY.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU Subject: Bulldog Edition I am looking for the origin of "bulldog edition." Any takers? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 14:07:05 -0700 From: Benjamin Lukoff blukoff[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU Subject: graduate schools for dialectology & language study I graduated in June from the University of Washington with a BA in English, with minors in Linguistics and Russian Language. I am considering doing graduate work in linguistics. My interests lie in dialectology, lexicography, sociolinguistics, and language history -- especially those of the English language. Looking at various schools I have found that English departments are almost all devoted to literary criticism and creative writing, and that Linguistics departments are almost all devoted to theoretical syntax and phonetics, or to cognitive science. I've come across the Universities of Georgia, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Are there any other schools and programs which the members of this list could recommend? Thank you all, Benjamin Lukoff blukoff[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]u.washington.edu "She is by my side, and the sky is wide -- so let the sun shine bright" -- Ray Davies ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 17:17:18 -0400 From: Gregory {Greg} Downing downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU Subject: Re: Bulldog Edition At 04:43 PM 9/4/97 -0400, you wrote: I am looking for the origin of "bulldog edition." Any takers? OED2 cites "bull-dog edition" at bull-dog (n.), meaning 10, defining it as the earliest edition of a daily of Sunday paper, labelling it "U.S." and giving a first citation dated 1926. It does not explain the logic behind the term (which I guess is what you are looking for), but rather than speculate in Horne Tooke fashion I'll point to the many prior figurative uses of "bull-dog" treated at meanings 1c through 7b (see for example the attributive use of "bull-dog" meaning "strong," 7b). Maybe that's the general semantic field we're talking about as a background for "bull-dog edition." Anyone have more specific information about the derivation of "bull-dog edition"? Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:22:21 -0500 From: "Emerson, Jessie J" jjemerso[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INGR.COM Subject: Re: graduate schools for dialectology & language study Have you thought of looking at anthropology departments? Some of the larger ones (Berkley, Chicago, etc.) include linguistic studies that might be more interesting to you. Jessie ---------- From: Benjamin Lukoff[SMTP:blukoff[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]U.WASHINGTON.EDU] Sent: Thursday, 04 September, 1997 4:07 PM To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU Subject: graduate schools for dialectology & language study Are there any other schools and programs which the members of this list could recommend? ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:27:18 -0500 From: "Emerson, Jessie J" jjemerso[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]INGR.COM Subject: Re: Queries: _Am. Tongues_ & Slang I'm dying of curiosity, and I don't have access to the tape - what is the "ice chest" thing? Jessie ---------- From: simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU[SMTP:simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CVAX.IPFW.INDIANA.EDU] Sent: Friday, 29 August, 1997 10:22 PM To: ADS-L[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UGA.CC.UGA.EDU Subject: Re: Queries: _Am. Tongues_ & Slang Ice chest is in the short version. I've used the short version several times. The long thing with the telephone operator/numbers is out, and I don't really miss that. beth ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 3 Sep 1997 to 4 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 4 Sep 1997 to 5 Sep 1997 There are 8 messages totalling 317 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Scamdicapper (2) 2. media-cracy 3. Money talks 4. Katie redux (2) 5. Bulldog Edition 6. "I'm A Nut" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 01:03:27 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Scamdicapper At the beginning of every football season, Phil Mushnick of the New York Post does an article about football "scamdicappers"--people who give the lines (or "point spreads" or "handicaps") on games. If you call the scamdicapper's telephone number at $5 or so a minute, you can get his "winning picks." It usually is a "scam." Today's (Friday's) New York Post Phil Mushnick column tells us about this year's "scamdicappers." Mushnick must not read his own newspaper, however--every Friday it provides at least two full pages on what games to bet on. Did Mushnick coin "scamdicapper"? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- In New York City this week only, clothing purchases are tax free. Many stores are running sales in addition to this. The more you buy, the more you save. I bought the entire store of Moe Ginsburg's men's suits and boy, did I save money!...Maybe Mayor Giuliani can run a tax-free week for slang dictionaries? ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 10:19:06 -0500 From: Mark Mandel Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM Subject: media-cracy Barry A. Popik writes: Media-cracy is a combination of "media" and "democracy" made to sound like "mediocrity." I don't think the second half can be firmly attributed to "democracy". That component is common also to "aristocracy", "meritocracy", "kleptocracy", and probably others. It comes from Ancient Greek "kratia", meaning 'rule, government'. In fact, "meritocracy" is itself an argument for "-cracy" as a suffix. In, hmm, Plato's I think, analysis of government (probably in "The Republic"), it's called "timocracy", lit. 'rule by honor', in which the state is ruled by those chosen by their fellows for their ability. But in English, more familiar with Latinate roots than Greek ones, that "tim-" tends to be misunderstood as 'fear' (cf. "timid"), and the word to be critically misunderstood as 'rule by fear'; and, I guess, "meritocracy" is used for that reason. It can't be a Greek word because "merit" comes from French. Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/ Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 08:36:32 -0700 From: Peter Richardson prichard[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LINFIELD.EDU Subject: Re: Scamdicapper I don't know who coined scamdicapper, but I'd like to know who coined Mushnik. Now _there's_ a name that's just begging to slide into the slang lexicon, e.g. "Shaddap and don't be such a mushnik!" PR ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 13:27:45 -0400 From: Leslie Dunkling 106407.3560[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM Subject: Money talks A couple of other quotes from OED II. The first shows where Richard Armou= r derived his inspiration. Aphra Behn doesn't use the exact wording, but t= he sense is clearly there. \1903 Sat. Even. Post 5 Sept. 12/1 When money talks it often merely remar= ks =91Good-by=92. \1681 A. Behn Rover II. iii. i. 43 Money speaks sense in a Language all Nations understand. OED2 on CD-ROM (c) Copyright Oxford University Press 1994 = ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 14:06:22 -0400 From: Orin Hargraves OKH[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM Subject: Katie redux I have the task of defining "Katie bar the door." Would someone be kind enough to supply a synopsis of the recent discussion of it? Sadly I don't= find it in any of my sources or saved messages. With thanks, Orin Hargraves ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 19:05:09 -0700 From: Laura Doll doll[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]TELEPORT.COM Subject: Re: Bulldog Edition On Thu, 4 Sep 1997, Brenda Lester wrote: I am looking for the origin of "bulldog edition." Any takers? As a sort of a stretch, would this maybe mean the early morning edition, when a man and his dog go outside and his dog brings him his paper? It's the only theory I can come up with. --Laura Doll ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 22:10:39 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: "I'm A Nut" Is it me, or is everyone dying this year? Mother Teresa, Diana, Jimmy Stewart, my mother, my father... In a lighter note, I'll antedate the Random House HDAS H-O on "nut"="crazy." This is from MICHIGAN'S FAVORITE COLLEGE SONGS, edited by Roy Dickinson Welch 1909 and Earl Vincent Moore 1912, seventh edition 1923, pages 244-247. RHDAS has 1908, but this is from 1904: "I'm A Nut" Words & Music by WILLIS A. DIEKEMA Dippy little Dotty, Didn't like home, Packed her little suitcase, started to roam, Took her father's bankroll, Took her mother's fur, She took her neighbor's motor car and borrowed his chauffeur. When they found her, Brought her back to stay Said she was crazy, What did Dotty say? CHORUS: Get me a job upon the peanut stand, I'm a nut! I'm a nut! Feed me to the squirrels for their breakfast food, I'm a nut! I'm a nut! I ought to be cracked for my shell is rough, But I have a kernel that's sweet enough, Am I really crazy? Gee! that's tough! I'm a nut! I'm a nut! When she'd finished telling, What they should do, Dotty said she'd follow her own plan through, So she took the "limo," Waived to all her friends, And rolled a long the avenue to where the river ends. There on the dock she waited for a while, Then told the chauffeur to drive another mile. (REPEAT CHORUS) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- On "media-cracy," I should have said that "Democracy" was an example of the suffix...I posted "Bulldog edition" earlier this year. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Sep 1997 22:20:12 -0400 From: Charles & Mary Boewe boewes[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JUNO.COM Subject: Re: Katie redux On Fri, 5 Sep 1997 14:06:22 -0400 Orin Hargraves OKH[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]COMPUSERVE.COM writes: I have the task of defining "Katie bar the door." Would someone be kind enough to supply a synopsis of the recent discussion of it? Sadly I don't find it in any of my sources or saved messages. With thanks, Orin Hargraves I was going to suggest that you consult the ADS-L online archive, but when I went there to check I found all the links dead. I post this now, in part with the hope of finding out what happend to the archive. It happens that I initiated the Katie thread, but I am not sure when--I think it was last October. It also happens that I bought a new computer about that time and did take the precaution of archiving on a floppy texts (but without dates) of things I thought I might want to reference someday. Here follows what I saved of Katie--not the whole thread, I think, but that part of it which seemed significant to me at the time. Charles Boewe _______________________________________________________ When confronted by a calamity, either natural or man-made, my late father (1898-1985) was likely to remark, "It will be Katie bar the door!" I had supposed the expression was common to his generation and might be limited to the Middle West. However, recently on his ABC news program, Ted Koppel also declared that if certain things came about it would be "Katie, bar the door." My questions are: Who was Katie? and Why did she bar the door? Charles Boewe __________________________________________________________ From: Cynthia Bernstein bernscy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.AUBURN.EDU : The following explanation is offered by Frederic G. Cassidy (Chief Editor, Dictionary of American Regional English), in an article entitled "DARE: Some Etymological Puzzles," forthcoming in early 1997, _Language Variety in the South Revisited_, edited by Cynthia Bernstein, Thomas Nunnally, and Robin Sabino, University of Alabama Press. My final example is an expression that had a considerable vogue in sports broadcasting early in 1991: Katie, bar the door! There is no question of the meaning: it is a signal of alarm, accurately translated as `All hell is about to break loose'. We have appealed for help in NADS (the newsletter of the American Dialect Society), and in American Notes and Queries but without much response. It seems pretty clearly to refer to the old story of the assassination in 1437 of King James the First of Scotland. The King was in an outbuilding, unarmed, accompanied only by the Queen and her ladies among whom was Katherine Douglas. When the attack came, someone shouted, "Katie, bar the door!" But the murderers had removed the bar, so Katie Douglas thrust her arm through the staples and held on. The men were too strong for her, her arm was broken, and though the King defended himself, he was killed. However, the heroic deed won Katie the nickname of Barlass, the lass who barred the door, and her praise was sung throughout Scotland. Now, the etymological question. How did this phrase come to be used in the United States in the late twentieth century? My best guess at present, based on no hard evidence but, I think, a reasonable surmise, is that Katie bar the door was a line, perhaps the refrain, of a popular song or ballad composed at the time of James' murder, that it was brought to America by Scottish immigrants, as so many ballads were, and that it lingered, most likely in Appalachia. Unfortunately, I have found no published form of this putative ballad, and if anyone knows it and can still sing it, he or she has not been found. Nevertheless, Katie bar the door has been in wide use for a long time. It is a reality, and the sense of it is exactly preserved in the form now used by sports figures and fans. It would require only one player or one sportscaster with Scottish roots to have revived it. Consider another well-known Southern phrase, which once had a popular vogue in the baseball world. "Sitting in the catbird seat" has been traced to Red Barber, a sports broadcaster of the 1930s and 1940s. It was later used in a short story by humorist James Thurber, who brought it to a wider audience. Katie bar the door may well have followed a similar route. I have come upon no competing explanation. But without some hard evidence, this particular scenario is inconclusive. I appeal once again to all with an interest in ballads or acquaintance with ballad singers. (pp. 280-281) . . . . . . Finally, Katie, bar the door. The reconstruction I have offered, however plausible, does not produce an acceptable etymology. I hope that someone may still find us some hard evidence. Till then, it is still etym. uncert. (p. 281) _____________________________________________________ From: Natalie Maynor maynor[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]RA.MSSTATE.EDU : Is the implication of what Cindy just sent us that "Katie, bar the door" is associated with recent years more than with earlier this century? I may be wrong, but I think it's an expression I've known all my life and had not thought of as having had any kind of resurgence in popularity (recent resurgence, that is -- it may well have resurged at some point between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries). ________________________________________________________ From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM : Your baseball team is in trouble. There are men on the basepaths. The game is on the line. The manager comes to the mound and makes a pitching change. He brings in his "stopper," his "closer," his "relief pitcher," for one specific purpose, and the manager tells him.... "Katie, bar the door!" (No more runs, please!) I don't know the specific sportscaster who revived it in this sense, but if I ever get to write a sports dictionary, it's one of the things you'll see. You remember my on-line, interactive sports dictionary, don't you? You know, the one that's sponsored by Nike and Reebock and the Sports Authority and Footlocker and ESPN and Sports Illustrated? No federal funding at all! You know, the one that turns kids on to language and to technology? You want to be blown away by "Katie, bar the door"? We'll play that audio clip RIGHT NOW.... :-) __________________________________________________________ ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 4 Sep 1997 to 5 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 5 Sep 1997 to 6 Sep 1997 There are 2 messages totalling 74 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Katie redux 2. Ice Cream Sandwich; Esquire ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 09:16:25 -0600 From: Joan Houston Hall jdhall[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]FACSTAFF.WISC.EDU Subject: Re: Katie redux The responses DARE received as a result of the query in NADS showed that "Katie bar the door" has been well known throughout this century and throughout the country. ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 23:53:10 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Ice Cream Sandwich; Esquire ICE CREAM SANDWICH "Sadly, several defy historical sleuthing and seem to have just appeared around the turn of the century. Such is the case with the ice cream sandwich, the banana split, and the float--and for lack of data the songs of their hero-inventors must go unsung." --Paul Dickson, THE GREAT AMERICAN ICE CREAM BOOK (1972). This is from the Long Branch (NJ) Record, 24 August 1900, pg. 4, col. 5: ICE CREAM SANDWICHES All Wall Street Buying Them Nowa- days, to the Profit of the Inventor. The latest thing that the purveyors to the gastronomic demands of the office boys, messengers and clerks in the Wall street district are supplying to their patrons is the ice cream sandwich. It made its first appearance during the hot spell of last week. A young man showed up with a wagon and began to descant on the value of his wares at the corner of Nassau and Wall streets. He soon had a crowd around him, and the first man that tried an ice cream sandwich bit into it gingerly. It was made of two graham wafers and a slab of ice cream between. The wafers were fresh and crisp and sweet and the ice cream was good. Then, too, it had the advantage of being cold in addition to being palatable. The cost of the sandwich was one, two and three cents, according to the thickness of the slab of ice cream. This new edible made such a hit that its fame spread through the Wall street district the first day and the young man who invented it did not have enough of stock to satisfy the demand. The second day the brokers themselves got to buying ice cream sandwiches and eating them in a democratic fashion side by side on the sidewalk with the messengers and the office boys. All of the other ice cream and lemonade vendors saw that they were outclassed and immediately began to sell imitations. The young man held the bulk of the trade, however, throughout the week. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------- ESQUIRE For whatever it's worth, this is from the Long Branch (NJ) Record, 21 September 1900, pg. 5, col. 5: COMMON WORDS MISUSED. To Only Certain Classes Should "Esq." Be Applied. The word "esquire," or, as it is generally abbreviated, "esq." is becoming more and more obsolete in America. And it is well that this is so, for it never had any place here. Even in England, where it belongs, it is woefully misused, and always has been, for not one person out of a great many can tell who are legally esquires. They are all sons of peers, baronets and knights; the elder sons of the younger sons of peers, and their eldest sons in perpetuity; the eldest son of the eldest son of a knight, and the eldest son in perpetuity; king of arms, heralds of arms, officers of the army and navy ranking as captains and upwards, sheriffs of counties for life, J. P.'s of counties while in commission, sergeants-at-law and Queen's counsel, companions of the orders of knighthood, the principal officers of the Queen's household, deputy lieutenants, commissioners of the court of bankruptcy, masters of the Supreme Court and those whom the Queen may see proper to style "esquire." All others have no right to anything beyond the simple prefix "Mr."--Louisville Courier-Journal. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 5 Sep 1997 to 6 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 6 Sep 1997 to 7 Sep 1997 There are 2 messages totalling 44 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. "Gay Head" in Scholastic Magazine 2. sad news. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 01:12:32 -0400 From: Bob Haas rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU Subject: Re: "Gay Head" in Scholastic Magazine On Tue, 26 Aug 1997, David Bergdahl wrote: The "Letters--We Get Letters!" is an allusion to the Perry Como tv show which was on in the mid-to-late '50s. Sorry this is so late, David, but I'm cleaning my mailbox. Is this also the song which Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra cover on Letterman? Thanks for the oh so valuable popular culture info. When I saw this, it made my day! Bob Haas UNCG Department of English rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]hamlet.uncg.edu "No matter where you go, there you are." ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 1997 22:15:19 -0400 From: Ron Butters RonButters[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: sad news. I am sorry to report that Bob Howren (former chair of linguistics at Univ. North Carolina at Chapel Hill) died suddenly of a heart attack Friday afternoon. He had been gliding in western NC; apparently landed the glider fine, stepped out, collapsed and could not be revived. I am told that Bob explicitly did not want a standard public memorial service and that there will be none. There may be a small private gathering for family and close friends. His wife's (Phyllis) address is 402 Ransom St., Chapel Hill , NC 27516. Those who have studied Ocracoke dialect will rember that Bob wrote a landmark early study on Outer Banks pronunciation. ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 6 Sep 1997 to 7 Sep 1997 ********************************************** Subject: ADS-L Digest - 8 Sep 1997 to 11 Sep 1997 There are 3 messages totalling 160 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Teen Slang; Basketball Hall of Fame 2. Great Wigwam; Murphy's and Rawson's UNWRITTEN LAWS (2) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 02:52:47 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Teen Slang; Basketball Hall of Fame TEEN SLANG This is from the Springfield (Mass.) Union-News, 9 September 1997, pg. C6, cols. 5-6: Brush up on your teen slang skillz By CASSIE WARD Central High School Have you ever heard your teenager use a crazy sounding word on the telephone? Well, here's an update on teen-age slang to help with translation. Just remember to listen to how the word is used as it could have more than one meaning. 1. BENJAMINS--Money. 2. BOO--Is usually used to talk about a boyfriend. 3. BOUNCE--To go out somewhere. 4. BUGGIN'--To act crazy or strange. 5. BUMMIN'--To dress in a very tacky way. 6. BUTTAS--Something that is nice or pretty. 7. CHILLIN'--Hanging out or just doing nothing. 8. CREEPIN'--Sneaking around or cheating on someone. 9. HERB--Describes someone with no skills. 10. HOT--Something is very stylish. 11. MOMZ DUKE--Refers to a mother. 12. PARLAYIN'--Hanging out. 13. PEEPS--Very close friend. 14. PLAYA--A person who cheats on someone. 15. POPZ DUKE--Refers to a father. 16. REPIN'--Means to represent something. 17. SHORTY--Is used to talk about a girlfriend. 18. SKILLZ--Means that you are able to do anything. 19. WHILIN'--Means to act crazy or lie. Here are several commonly used words for which you might want to keep an open ear. 1. BOOTY CALL--Having sex for fun. 2. DRAMA--A very serious problem. 3. GAT--Is a gun. 4. WET--Is to be very drunk. These three words refer to a blunt or weed. EL, GOSHA, TRAUM. Now parents, every once and a while use these words in conversation to show your teen that you have MAD SKILLZ!!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- BASKETBALL HALL OF FAME I went to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. Unlike the baseball hall in Cooperstown, there is no library to speak of. The librarian wasn't even in. I wasn't shown a single book or article of hoop slang. The internet showed that Springfield College had "Miscellaneous pamphlets on basketball, 1890-1950." I was very interested in this--basketball wasn't invented in 1890! James Naismith invented it in the winter of 1891, right? I got all hot and bothered about the 1890 date!! It was wrong! The James Naismith story is entirely correct. Oh, well. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 21:05:00 -0400 From: "Barry A. Popik" Bapopik[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM Subject: Great Wigwam; Murphy's and Rawson's UNWRITTEN LAWS GREAT WIGWAM (WASHINGTON, D. C.) Boston is Beantown, Philadelphia is Quaker Town (gosh, they need a new one), New York is the Big Apple, Chicago is the Windy City, Atlanta is Hotlanta, Washington D. C. is... This is from the Hampden Federalist (Springfield, Mass.), 30 November 1815, pg. 1, col. 5: From the Philadelphia Aurora, Nov. 13. _Smoke in the Wigwam_.--Smoke, they say, is an excellent means to catch rats--it is reported that some rats from _Ghent_, in Flanders, been lately making a sad bustle in the _Great Wigwam_, and that it has ended in _smoking out the Old Rat_. (...) (Notes at bottom--ed.) Great Wigwam=Washington. Old Rat=Galatin. Today, I suppose "the great wigwam" is Janet Reno's hair. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------- MURPHY'S AND RAWSON'S "UNWRITTEN LAWS" Hugh Rawson, the author of WICKED WORDS, DEVIOUS DERIVATIONS, RAWSON'S DICTIONARY OF EUPHEMISM & OTHER DOUBLETALK, and the AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN QUOTATIONS, has come out with: UNWRITTEN LAWS: THE UNOFFICIAL RULES OF LIFE AS HANDED DOWN BY MURPHY AND OTHER SAGES (290 pages, $22, Crown Publishers, 1997). I was going to review it, but let's just say it's an O. K rehash of books that have already been written. In 1978, Paul Dickson wrote THE OFFICIAL RULES. In 1979, Harold Faber wrote THE BOOK OF LAWS. Also in 1979, John Peers wrote 1001 LOGICAL LAWS, ACCURATE AXIOMS, PROFOUND PRINCIPLES, TRUSTY TRUISMS, HOMEY HOMILIES, COLORFUL COROLLARIES, QUOTABLE QUOTES, AND RAMBUNCTIOUS RUMINATIONS FOR ALL WALKS OF LIFE. Give Rawson credit for at least acknowledging these books on page 269. The only law I'm interested in is Murphy's Law. We discussed it earlier this year, and I'm still not convinced. The U. S. Navy's MURPHY'S LAW training film in 1957 is clear, but the 1949 story puzzles me. Supposedly, Captain Edward A. Murphy, Jr. worked under Colonel John P. Stapp at Edwards Air Force Base; Murphy screwed in things the wrong way. The original law was that if there are two ways of doing something (right and wrong), someone will do it the wrong way. Check the HDAS H-O 1957 citation from the Tamony Collection. Peter Tamony (in nearby San Francisco) was a master at collecting Americanisms. How could "Murphy's Law" have completely escaped him for eight years? And why is the Edward A. Murphy, Jr. story coming out as late as 1978?? If "Murphy's Law" was used in manufacturers' ads--WHERE ARE THOSE ADS?? I tried to check sportswriter Jack Murphy of the San Diego Union, who gave his name to Jack Murphy Stadium. The Library of Congress started getting the San Diego newspaper in 1958. When I asked why, the LOC librarian replied "state capital and two major cities" (Sacramento, San Francisco, and Los Angeles). San Diego has a football team, a baseball team, a major military installation--I can't explain the LOC!! When I checked Murphy's column in 1958, I did NOT find a Murphy's Law in the title nor in the copy. Until I find an earlier citation, the 1949 story remains an unsupported hypothesis. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 21:20:38 -0400 From: Fred Shapiro fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU Subject: Re: Great Wigwam; Murphy's and Rawson's UNWRITTEN LAWS The U. S. Navy's MURPHY'S LAW training film in 1957 is clear, but the 1949 story puzzles me. Supposedly, Captain Edward A. Murphy, Jr. worked under Colonel John P. Stapp at Edwards Air Force Base; Murphy screwed in things the wrong way. The original law was that if there are two ways of doing something (right and wrong), someone will do it the wrong way. Check the HDAS H-O 1957 citation from the Tamony Collection. Peter Tamony (in nearby San Francisco) was a master at collecting Americanisms. How could "Murphy's Law" have completely escaped him for eight years? And Note that the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs documents 1955 and 1956 citations for _Murphy's Law_. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fred R. Shapiro Coeditor (with Jane Garry) Associate Librarian for Public Services TRIAL AND ERROR: AN OXFORD and Lecturer in Legal Research ANTHOLOGY OF LEGAL STORIES Yale Law School Oxford University Press, 1997 e-mail: fred.shapiro[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]yale.edu ISBN 0-19-509547-2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of ADS-L Digest - 8 Sep 1997 to 11 Sep 1997 ***********************************************