because info

Thu Jan 9 16:38:49 UTC 2014

I've also seen the usage used on libertarian blogs making fun of leftish commentators ('because BOOOOOSHHH' as an explanation for why the Obama administration was not responsible for something). But it will be interesting to see what the relative chronology actually turns out to be.

I should mention also that some folks at the ADS meeting claimed their early teen children use it with totally unmarked pragmatics, so we may have actual language change in progress, apparently

Geoff

Geoffrey S. Nathan
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and Professor, Linguistics Program
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----- Original Message -----

> From: "Victor Steinbok" <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Sent: Thursday, January 9, 2014 12:56:47 AM
> Subject: Re: because info

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster: Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: because info
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> I've suggested previously that this usage has become fairly popular
> with
> left-leaning bloggers and related personalities. Maddow certainly
> falls
> into that mold. I first noticed the usage from Josh Marshall at TPM
> and
> Steve Benen (then of the Washington Monthly blog) in "because 9/11",
> mocking "9/11" and related nonsense as stock response to absolutely
> everything from conservatives. The phrase saw particularly heavy
> usage
> in the run-up to the 2012 Presidential campaign, essentially from
> late
> 2010 through the primaries (roughly June 2012).

> VS-)

> On 1/8/2014 3:33 PM, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
> > Oops. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow a few days ago said "...because North
> > Korea." =
> > You need to know the context to have it make sense.
> >
> > Tom Zurinskas

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