The grammar of doge

[Ben Zimmer]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 5:40 PM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> At 7/21/2014 04:00 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >At http://the-toast.net/2014/02/06/linguist-explains-grammar-doge-wow/,
> >Gretchen McCulloch answers the question, "Why do shiba inus speak
> >ungrammatically?"
>
> "Doge" can be traced back to 1942.  From the film "Casablanca" --
>
> Mr Leuchtag [starts in standard German]: Liebchen - sweetness, ...
> Mr. Leuchtag:  what watch?
> Mrs. Leuchtag: Ten watch.
> Mr. Leuchtag: Such much?
> Carl: Hm [that is, "Wow"].
> Carl [reverting to (nearly) standard English]  You will get along
> beautiful in America, mm-hmm.

I mentioned this on Twitter back when Gretchen's Toast piece came out:

https://twitter.com/bgzimmer/status/431907037325590528

Linked therein:

http://elanchana.tumblr.com/post/66428158734/i-call-this-one-doge-ablanca

--bgz

-- 
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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