go = say, date?

[Donald M. Lance]

My guess is that it was an r-less 'arf' but that's not how most Americans say it.  Can a
dog bark an r?
DMLance

Arnold Zwicky wrote:

> bob wachal:
>   I was thinking of the theme song for Little Orphan Annie which has
>   the line: "Arf," goes Sandy.  From the early thirties, I would
>   guess.
>
> well, yes, sandy went "arf" all the time.  did the strips (as opposed
> to the much later musical) merely represent sandy going "arf", or did
> they say "sandy goes, 'arf'"?
>
> in any case, this is irrelevant.  sandy produced reportable *noises*,
> but not reportable *speech*.  (this at least is my recollection.
> maybe sandy was more talented than i remember.)  the question is
> whether there are pre-60s attestations of things like, "orphan annie
> went, 'oh sandy, don't chew on that!'"
>
> arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)