[Ads-l] full butt, affected "how do you do"?

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Thu Jan 13 15:01:05 UTC 2022


Maybe a transitioning "you all" too:

1817 _Alexandria [Va.] Herald_ (Apr. 4) 4: Profitable Advice...Listen to
the two gentlemen who have met at yonder street.-- One says, "how do you
do? I am very glad to see you. How do you all do at home?" &c. &c. The
other says, "how do you do?  I am very glad to see you. How do you all do
at home?"  By the way, "how *do* you *do*," however idiomatic it is, is a
very uncouth phrase. When you come, or find yourself coming *full butt* as
it is called, against another person, you endeavour to get out of his way.

JL
--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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



More information about the Ads-l mailing list