crumpets & muffins

Joe Pickett Joe_Pickett at HMCO.COM
Fri Jan 19 13:48:02 UTC 2001


The Beatles song is "I'm So Tired" on the White Album.

John Lennon says "get," referring to Sir Walter Raleigh, who has gotten him
addicted to cigarettes.


Joe






Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on 01/18/2001
07:45:30 PM

Please respond to American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>

Sent by:  American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>


To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
cc:
Subject:  Re: crumpets & muffins


>The Americanization of the Potter books is even stranger, given the fact
>that most American kids are raised on Disney Britophilia such as Peter
Pan,
>Alice in Wonderland, 101 Dalmatians, Mary Poppins, The Sword in the Stone
>(though recall the American-accented Arthur), The Great Mouse Detective
>(one of my favorites), and many others.  If kids can get the Caterpillar
>and Mad Hatter, why not the philosopher's stone?
>
>But I think the Americanization of the Potter books actually was fairly
>limited. For instance, Harry's friend Ron often uses the word "git" for
>schoolmates he doesn't like. This word is not in most American
dictionaries
>and is unfamiliar to American kids and to most of their parents as well.
>
>Joe
>
Luckily for some of those parents, the Beatles used "stupid git" in
at least one of their songs, so it's not totally unknown to us.

Larry



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