"go bazooka"

[Dennis Preston]

Even likelier in those areas (or for those individuals) who have [z]
rather than [s] in 'berserk.'

dInIs

PS: Ooop! Forgot to indicate that the AE standard (i.e., my speech)
is with [s]. I believe r-less BritSpeak has [z].

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: "go bazooka"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Feb 25, 2008, at 7:21 AM, i wrote:
>
>>  ... "go bazooka" (roughly, 'exploded') was new to me, though you can
>>  google up other examples.  presumably extending the weapon sense of
>>  "bazooka", perhaps influenced by "go ballistic" and "go bananas".
>
>and, as jesse sheidlower has now suggested, "go berserk".
>
>>  so now we have another use of "bazooka", in addition to the musical
>>  toy and weapon senses (and, of course, Bazooka bubble gum).
>
>and "bazookas" 'breasts', discussed here a while back.
>
>arnold
>
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--
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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