Superfluous wheels again

[victor steinbok]

Has anyone looked into "fifth leg on a dog"?

VS-)
On Nov 8, 2013 7:47 PM, "Neal Whitman" <nwhitman at ameritech.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> Subject:      Superfluous wheels again
>
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>
> My column at Visual Thesaurus (by subscription) picks up the discussion
> of "third wheels" and "fifth wheels" that Charlie Doyle began here
> (http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ADS-L;55bc4661.1303E).
> Garson's 1949 antedating of "third wheel" still stands. COHA has "fifth
> wheel" back to 1839, always in a simile comparing someone's utility to
> that of "a fifth wheel to/on a wagon/cart/coach."
>
> There's also some information about "friend zone" the verb: past
> participle "friendzoned" from 2007; unmistakable preterite "friendzoned"
> from 2009.
>
>
> http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/dictionary/third-wheeling-it-in-the-friend-zone/
>
> Neal
>
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