Kryponite and garlic

[Wilson Gray]

Does *anyone* think that? If *I* had thought it, Larry's post would
have been enough to disabuse me of that notion. In view of the fact
that I've been challenged, I choose TO/FOR as my weapon and A(N)/THE
as yours. ;-)

-Wilson

On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 5:49 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Kryponite and garlic
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Sun, Jan 3, 2010 at 5:37 PM, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>> > At 9:29 AM -0500 1/3/10, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>> >>A man was invited to a new friend's house for drinks.  When he
>> >>arrived, he noticed strings of garlic hung at the door and all the
>> >>windows, and asked his host why he had put them up.  His host
>> >>replied, to keep out the elephants.  "G'wan!  Vampires maybe, but
>> >>garlic wouldn't deter elephants."  His host replied, "Well, have you
>> >>seen any elephants around _my_ house?"
>>
>> So, *that's* what "the elephant joke" is! I've read and, perhaps, even
>> heard, this expression for dekkids, without having the foggiest.
>
> Well, it's *an* elephant joke. I don't think the joke cycle has a
> single ur-joke.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_joke
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
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>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

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