[Ads-l] How do people turn clich=?UTF-8?Q?=C3=A9s_?=bottomside upward?!

ADSGarson O'Toole adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM
Fri Jul 10 19:10:47 UTC 2015


William Maxwell Evarts on June 24 1885; reprinted in Modern Eloquence, Volume 2

[Begin excerpt]
An eminent lawyer of our city was once detected and exposed and
applauded for being seen standing with his hands in his own pockets
[laughter]
[End excerpt]

Max O'Rell attributed a version of this joke to Mark Twain in 1889 as
noted in the Yale Book of Quotations. There are some earlier versions
before 1885, too.

Garson

On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 3:01 PM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: How do people turn clich=?utf-8?Q?=C3=A9s_?=bottomside
>               upward?!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Maybe the idea is that the Koch Bros. (or other corporate moneybags) are =
> hiding in the pockets of the Justices (or other [sic] politicians) like =
> little dolls or puppets rather than that they (Kochs) have their hands =
> in the politicians' pockets, which I assume is the source of the =
> original metaphor.   So when the Justices/politicians appear to speaking =
> (at a rally or in a decision favoring the businesses), it's really the =
> little corporate pocket-dolls that are the ventriloquists.  Now I'm =
> getting confused.
>
> LH
>
>> On Jul 10, 2015, at 2:41 PM, Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>=20
>> I had the same thought, the idea being that the Koch brothers are
>> lining the pockets of the Justices, or at least have their hands in
>> said pockets.
>>=20
>> Similar inversions (though they seem pretty rare online):
>>=20
>> =
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.opensecrets.org_=
> news_2011_06_opensecrets-2Dblogs-2Dpolitiquizz-2D6-2D13-2D2011_&d=3DAwIBaQ=
> &c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaL=
> Q&m=3DHu8dBhEdqaAyg3rA6MRGzRZ0VTu8BUT1orbfFuC4vwA&s=3DHcEfEnimOjyUcDe0nJSt=
> VjSDh9dvyZ-_dg0dZG62iz0&e=3D=20
>> "Which Industries Are in the Pockets of Both Rand and Ron Paul?"
>>=20
>> =
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.nbcsandiego.com_=
> news_local_California-2DCourt-2DRuling-2DMedical-2DMarijuana-2DLocal-2DBan=
> -2D206293491.html-23comments&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp=
> 3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DHu8dBhEdqaAyg3rA6MRGzRZ0VTu8B=
> UT1orbfFuC4vwA&s=3D8-X6Tt1eNCDLblPZkoAySKkcZ_UXpCBqer4p1VpW22k&e=3D=20
>> "YOU KNOW 'BIG CIGARETTE COMPANIES' ARE IN THE POCKETS OF MOST OF OUR
>> POLITICIANS."
>>=20
>> =
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__hamptonroads.com_201=
> 5_04_chesapeake-2Dcouncil-2Dvotes-2Ddown-2Dplan-2Dcut-2Dproffers&d=3DAwIBa=
> Q&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFa=
> LQ&m=3DHu8dBhEdqaAyg3rA6MRGzRZ0VTu8BUT1orbfFuC4vwA&s=3DCDZt0VaUJMcmZXjNvPj=
> 6eIcG1upxih9CH8tbCi2A5PA&e=3D=20
>> "I concur with many of you that developers are in the pockets of city
>> council members."
>>=20
>>=20
>> On Fri, Jul 10, 2015 at 1:46 PM, Joel Berson wrote:
>>>=20
>>> Possibly the utterer is thinking of the Kochs brothers' money in the =
> Justice's
>>> pockets. More literal, and less metaphorically mysterious, than the =
> Justices
>>> being in the Koch brothers' pockets?
>>>=20
>>>      From: Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
>>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU=3D20
>>> Sent: Friday, July 10, 2015 1:20 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [ADS-L] How do people turn clich=3DC3=3DA9s bottomside =
> upward?!
>>>=20
>>> Nice.=3DC2=3DA0 Yup, another reversal.=3DC2=3DA0 Make room, =
> "substitute",
>>> "let alone", "much less", and friends...=3DC2=3DA0 (The Justices in =
> question would
>>> need deeper pockets than we know about if they're going to fit the =
> Kochs in
>>> there.)
>>>=20
>>>=20
>>>> On Jul 10, 2015, at 12:30 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>>>=20
>>>> Facebookery:
>>>>=20
>>>> "The Koch brothers are in some of the Justices' pockets!"
>>=20
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - =
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=3Dhttp-3A__www.americandialect.=
> org&d=3DAwIBaQ&c=3D-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=3DwFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsS=
> xPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=3DHu8dBhEdqaAyg3rA6MRGzRZ0VTu8BUT1orbfFuC4vwA&s=3Dn_0-Og=
> MB9nBd5W-lvJ87573egzr6zOlwCBogPlyZ-ao&e=3D=20
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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