pneumonia in the lungs

[Laurence Horn]

And Hank's "My bucket's got a hole"--

My bucket's got a hole in it
My bucket's got a hole in it
My bucket's got a hole in it
I can't buy no beer.

--wouldn't scan.  Or it would fall together with "There's a hole in my bucket", which is quite a different song altogether.

LH

On Apr 12, 2012, at 9:20 AM, Charles C Doyle wrote:

> Yes:  Redundancy for emphasis, for poetic effect, for no particular reason at all.  It's a common feature of the language.  Would anyone wish that Alice Walker had titled her novel, simply and concisely, "Purple"?
>
> --Charlie
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] on behalf of Laurence Horn [laurence.horn at YALE.EDU]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:14 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To me, the observation that "She has PNEUMONIA in the lungs" seems fairly natural, more or less equivalent to "Her lungs have pneumonia."  Similar sentences would be "She has *hepatitis* in her liver" (with destressed "in her liver") or "I have a *stye* in my eye" or "She has 5 broken *bones* in her body" (with destressing on "in her body").  Or even "I need a new *engine* and four new *tires* for my car".  None of these strike me as particularly odd.  What I would find odd is "She has pneumonia in the LUNGS."
>
> LH
>
> On Apr 11, 2012, at 4:57 PM, Dan Nussbaum wrote:
>
>> Heard on NPR today, "She has pneumonia in the lungs."
>>
>>
>> I would like to know where else pneumonia can occur.
>>
>>
>> Daniel Nussbaum II, MD, FAAP
>
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