waxing_____________?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Alison Murie wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Alison Murie <sagehen7470 at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      waxing_____________?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 'But his overall tone is a gentle one, as he tries to demystify his
> diet by devoting a chapter to "A Day in the Life of a Vegan," in which
> he characterizes himself as "cooking-challenged," while waxing about
> the nutty flavor of organic avocadoes.'
> --from an article in  Salon on Jeffrey Masson.
>
> Subtle effort to engage the reader by making him(her) supply the
> "eloquent" or "poetic" or whatever??
> AM
>
-

Seems to me this "wax" has been mentioned before but I can't find it in
the archives.

The post-literati apparently have heard (I was about to say "read" ... I
suppose that's possible too) things like "wax eloquent", which is
assumed to mean "talk eloquent", thus "wax" must mean "talk". Or
something like that.

One can Google <<"waxing on about">> and see hundreds and hundreds of
examples with "wax" apparently meaning "talk"/"babble"/"rant"/etc.

One can switch to G. Books and see dozens of published examples of this
collocation, mostly in recent years (since the books have stopped being
edited, I suppose, or since the editors have come to be chosen from the
post-literati?).

-- Doug Wilson

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