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I'm just catching up on podcasts and just heard the question about what to call your ex's spouse. I have a friend who refers to his ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend as his "Y", both as a counterpart to "X" and as a homophone for "why" (as in, why him and not me?). It may sound a little derogatory but everyone involved is on good terms with each other.
The mention of the “get down from a car†calque reminded me of an old Justin Wilson routine, in which he exhorts an arriving visitor to “unclimb that train!â€
And as for the woman who wants a word for the current wife of an ex-husband, if none of the suggestions here are quite satisfactory for her, she could try the “There oughta be a word for…†section of Addictionary.
Dan
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
Regarding the form of writing putting single words as sentences, I'd long been aware of that form, way before The Simpsons program.
Shortly after listening to this WWW program, I read a short story that used it. The story, “Wildcat†by Poul Anderson was published in November 1958 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF to fans). In the collection I was reading, this form also appeared in a story by the same author, “To Build A Worldâ€, published in 1964.
Here's the quote from the 1958 story: “Yeah. Sure. Classified. Arise, ye duly cleared citizens of democracy and cast your ballots on issues whose nature is classified. Great. Hopping. Balls. Of. Muck.â€.
While your attribution to the Simpsons show is interesting and may show where some younger users picked up the term, it was being used by writers in fiction in the 1950s (as you mentioned).
Hi, I loved this episode.
However, I was much amused at 48:13, when Lillian said "Well, you know, ..." after complaining about precisely that phrase. This was especially entertaining since Martha had just complemented Lillian for "setting the bar high" with her flawless English.
Didn't you guys catch that?
Richard Robinson said:
I read a short story that used it. The story, “Wildcat” by Poul Anderson was published in November 1958 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF to fans). In the collection I was reading, this form also appeared in a story by the same author, “To Build A World”, published in 1964.
I would imagine that the style dates back even further than that, if one had the resources to research it (and cared to do so). The style probably has existed for as long as writers have needed to capture an orator's speaking rhythm in text. I could see this evolving into existence shortly after the dawn of movable type.
I was listening to this episode on the net this week, and I must say I was a little put off by the last caller commenting on disfluencies. I know that many people have issues with their use, but they are a natural part of spoken language (not just English). And, as Grant pointed out so nicely in the broadcast, they do serve a purpose.
In my own experience as an ESL teacher, I have found that students of some cultures have more difficulty using them in their speech when using English. And, the students who lack these "disfluencies" actually sound less fluent. So, to me their omission is the true disfluency.
There is an excellent book on the subject called "Um: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean" by Michael Erard, which discusses these "disfluencies," as well as slips of the tongue. In it, Erard attempts to find where the distaste for these essential aspects of speech originates. I would recommend this book to anyone who is unable to recognize the value of "um," "hmm," "you know," and the like.
Welcome, hmm!
In my own experience as an ESL teacher, I have found that students of some cultures have more difficulty using them in their speech when using English. And, the students who lack these “disfluencies†actually sound less fluent. So, to me their omission is the true disfluency.
Never thought about it quite that way! Fascinating.
When the caller asked about spittin' image or spit and image, I couldn't believe that no one mentioned what I've long felt sure to be the origin of the phrase. I read that the idiom started out as "spirit and image," which then turned into "spit and image" and then "spittin' image." I could be remembering incorrectly, but I believe I found this in Steve Mitchell's book How to Speak Southern.
I too had heard "spirit and image" and furthermore heard it attributed to African American speech before it entered the general speech, consistent with the poster's identification of a probable southern origin. From an "Occam's Razor" approach this seems most likely - it doesn't require invoking bizarre slang for spitting or employing outdated language forms as an explanation. It is also very easy to hear how the shortened form could have arisen in general speech. Finally, this phrase also clearly implies similarity in both character and appearance, consistent with the sense of common usage.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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