Inner Prescriptivism

Laurence Horn laurence.horn at YALE.EDU
Sun Dec 4 22:01:45 UTC 2005


>For the historical record, I heard that one in NYC in 1964-65. At
>that time, though, Ernest was not dead.
>
>   JL
>
>Michael McKernan <mckernan at LOCALNET.COM> wrote:
>   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Michael McKernan
>Subject: Re: Inner Prescriptivism
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Dennis R. Preston wrote
>
>>the discovery of a closet preference for dead
>>white European male authors
>
>Can't help but be reminded of the infamous 'Tom Swiftie' which ends:
>
>'....said Tom, only half in dead Earnest.'
>
>Michael McKernan
>

Only half?  Hmmm.  I can't quite drag that one back into memory,
although I seem to recall another Swiftie along the lines of

"OK, so I'm a homosexual necrophiliac", said Tom, in dead earnest.

No specific E(a)rnest in mind there, though.

L



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