Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme! (UNCLASSIFIED)

Mullins, Bill AMRDEC Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL
Thu Jul 22 19:03:27 UTC 2010


Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

So let me make sure I understand.

"S" (or possibly "S#"?) is a phoneme.

"S#*!" as pronounced by CBS announcers is a phoneme; as pronounced by an
average 9 year old, it is a lexeme.

"S#*! My Old Man Says" is "led by larger-than-life star William Shatner"
(per CBS) and is bound to be the new comedy laff riot of the season.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 11:09 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme! (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
---------------
> --------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> By my count, even "bip" contains three significant contrastive sounds,
> Three
> phonemes.
>
> A vocal imitation of an electronic "beep" (more like "eeeee" actually,
> but
> audibly distinct in pitch from / I / or even / I:: /)  contains just
> one.
>
> JL
>
> On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> > Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> >
> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > Caveats: NONE
> >
> > So if Rowan and Martin had said, "You bet your sweet bip" then it
> would
> > be okay for William Shatner to talk S#*!.  As it is, Shatner is a
> > trailblazer and edgy.
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > > Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > > Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 10:30 AM
> > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >  > Subject: Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > ---------------
> > > --------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> > > (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> > > --------
> > >
> > > "Bippy" has too many sounds to be a phoneme. It's a lexeme, and
> > they've
> > > always been a dime a dozen.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 10:36 AM, Mullins, Bill AMRDEC <
> > > Bill.Mullins at us.army.mil> wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill AMRDEC" <Bill.Mullins at US.ARMY.MIL>
> > > > Subject:      Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> > > (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > > >
> > > >
> >
---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > ----------
> > > >
> > > > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > > > Caveats: NONE
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]
> On
> > > > > Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > > > > Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 7:27 AM
> > > > > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > > > > Subject: Re: Bad Taste Breakthrough! PLUS New Phoneme!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Pronounced the same as _S#*!_ ?
> > > > >
> > > > > No kidding, if people do start saying (*Beep!*) to euphemize
> > > certain
> > > > > monosyllables, it will have become a phoneme of English.
> > > >
> > > > As did "bippy" -- "you bet your sweet bippy", from Laugh-In,
late
> > > 1960s.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > A very bizarre one, but a phoneme nonetheless.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > > > Caveats: NONE
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle
the
> > > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > Caveats: NONE
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

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



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