"ho ho ho" should be in the dictionary [was Re: Ho ho ho!]

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:08 AM -0500 1/30/05, Thomas Paikeday wrote:
>As a lexicographer, I'd say "ho ho ho" should be a dictionary
>entry/definition because of its distinctive meaning. If it's relevant, here
>is something that I wrote some time back in a trademark affidavit:
>
>". . . iteratives like "Bang-Bang" and "Hear, Hear" may be repeated
>indefinitely, but the lexeme, or meaningful linguistic unit that qualifies
>as a dictionary entry, is composed of the same word repeated once. . . . The
>odd triple formation, as in "Oyez, oyez, oyez!" is usually a rhetorical,
>poetical, or similar use, as in "the tintinnabulation of the bells, bells,
>bells" (Edith Sitwell?),

I thought it was Poe, "The Bells".

LH