[Ads-l] "There are no backsies" -- an adult adopt's a feature of children's speech

[Laurence Horn]

Is “fronties-backsies” just a NYC thing?  No relation to “no backsies” (which my spellcheck insists should be “no backsides”).  The idea is that when you’re waiting on line (this is New York, so it’s not *in* line), you can’t let a friend in the line behind you without violating ethical rules.  But you can let them in in front of you, and then they can trade places with you.  Of course, this can be objected to by some, with the cry “no frontsies-backsies”.  Oops, just realized this rang a bell, and sure enough…

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2006-October/063223.html

But I’m not sure this made it to adult speech, or the other example I cited in that thread, “black black no back”.

LH

> On Jan 3, 2019, at 7:00 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at MST.EDU> wrote:
> 
> I'm collecting examples of children's speech influencing the speech of adults, and on Dec. 18 I heard one more.
> 
> MSNBC moderator and legal analyst Ari Melber said General Mike Flynn pled guilty to lying to the  FBI but later tried to take that plea back; Flynn implied he was really innocent due to being duped or entrapped in his FBI interview.
> 
> 
> Ari Melber's comment to all this: "You can't take it back.  There are no backsies in federal court when you plea."
> 
> 
> Gerald Cohen
> 
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org