" Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?

[Dennis Preston]

Coco,

As all pundits know, the treasures of the tongue are very
idiosyncratically selected.

dInIs, who finds no treasure in the pin-pen distinction, but will arm
wrestle anyone who fails to observe the horse-hoarse one.



>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       ronbutters at AOL.COM
>Subject:      Re: " Olive,             the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling"
>               for "Trawling": An             Eggcorn?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Dennis,
>Whilst thou art mindful of "preserv[ing] such treasures of the
>tongue" as that which distinguisheth cot & caught, why neglect "lie"
>versus "lay"?
>
>Or DID you really mean that those shepherds were laying their sheep?
>Yr friend,
>Coco
>Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Dennis Preston <preston at MSU.EDU>
>
>Date:         Thu, 2 Aug 2007 19:32:14
>To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] " Olive,
>               the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An
>               Eggcorn?
>
>
>Once years ago I stood in front of  a used car lot in Calgary
>wondering why Otto's Auto's struck me as mildly funny; then I
>realized that for almost ahl Canadians they are homophones. (And
>nearly everybody west of the Mississippi, nearly everybody in New
>England, and a passle of folk in a band through the middle of the US.)
>
>dInIs, who preserves such treasures of the tongue, by virtue of age and region
>
>
>>--------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: " Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for
>>                "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Attack of the "awe" droppers.  They substitute the sound "ah" for "awe"
>>wherever it occurs, and thus "all of" becomes "ah luv" (Olive).  They must
>>be stopped.
>>
>>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
>>authorhouse.com.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>>Subject: Re: " Olive,              the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling"
>>>for "Trawling": An              Eggcorn?
>>>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 15:05:05 -0700
>>>
>>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>>Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
>>>Subject:      Re: " Olive,              the other reindeer"; was Re:
>>>"Trolling"
>>>                 for "Trawling": An              Eggcorn?
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>This has got to be a joke, not a trfue misunderstanding, as the relevant
>>>lines are,
>>>
>>>     "All of the other reindeer,
>>>     Used to laugh and call him names.
>>>     THEY wouldn't let poor Rudolph
>>>     Play in any reindeer games."
>>>
>>>     Even if your own name is Olive, and all your female relatives are named
>>>Olive, and your favorite character is Olive Oyl, you will understand "all
>>>of" as  meaning "all of," at least if your attention span is long enough to
>>>get to the operative pronoun.
>>>
>>>     Though you might pretend otherwise.
>>>
>>>     JL
>>>Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
>>>     ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>>-----------------------
>>>Sender: American Dialect Society
>>>Poster: Charles Doyle
>>>Subject: Re: " Olive, the other reindeer"; was Re: "Trolling" for
>>>"Trawling": An Eggcorn?
>>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  >>
>>>Wilson, it's "All of the other reindeer," mumbled by those sad folks bereft
>>>of the "open o."
>>>
>>>--Charlie
>>>___________________________________________________________
>>>
>>>---- Original message ----
>>>   >Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2007 17:36:42 -0400
>>>   >From: Wilson Gray
>>>
>>>   >
>>>   >Is "Olive, the other reindeer" a mishearing of "Oh, how the other
>>>reindeer"? It's the only thing that I can think of that comes close to
>>>making sense. Even so, I get the nonsensical "Oh [laiv] the other
>>>reindeer"' more easily than "Olive."
>>>   >
>>>   >-Wilson
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>---------------------------------
>>>Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
>>>Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo!
>>>Games.
>>>
>>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>>_________________________________________________________________
>>Tease your brain--play Clink! Win cool prizes!
>>http://club.live.com/clink.aspx?icid=clink_hotmailtextlink2
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org