went walkabout

[David Marc Fischer]

Might it have something to do with references to "walkabout" on the TV
series Lost?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkabout_(Lost)

Best,

David

> At 3:54 PM -0400 6/24/09, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
>>On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 3:48 PM, Laurence Horn<laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>  I wonder if "go walkabout" (or "hike the Appalachian Trail") will now
>>>  become established as a euphemism:
>>
>>The latter was suggested by a Talking Points Memo reader yesterday,
>>before the full story emerged:
>>
>>http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/06/coining_a_phrase.php
>>
> Wow, that's impressive on SP's part--coining a euphemism before
> anyone even knew what it was a euphemism *for*.  Next time I go off
> to Argentina for an illicit weekend with my lover there, I'll
> certainly know what to tell my family (and the press) I was doing!
>
> LH
>
> P.S.  I note that both SP on Talking Points and I deleted the
> preposition:  somehow, "hike the Appalachian Trail" makes for a
> snazzier euphemism than "hike on the Appalachian Trail"
>
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