Bride-Elect

[Baker, John]

        O the embarrassment.  One mistake on Gilbert & Sullivan lyrics and
it seems doubtful that I will ever live it down.  Already we have seen
corrections from Mark Odegard and now Mark Mandel, as well as a note from
Barbara Need that Yum-Yum is the daughter-in-law electED.  And, of course,
they are oll korrect.  Still, it's kind of nice to see the lyrics.

John Baker


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com [SMTP:Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com]
> Sent: Friday, May 04, 2001 1:06 PM
> To:   American Dialect Society
> Cc:   Baker, John
> Subject:      Re: Bride-Elect
>
>
> John Baker notes:
>
> >>>>>
>         And, of course, there is Gilbert's use of "mother-in-law elect" in
> The Mikado (1885).
> <<<<<
>
> I was sure I remembered that, too, but all I could find was
> "daughter-in-law elect". Here's the beginning of the song that uses the
> phrase (found at http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/mikado/libretto.txt ):
>
>                       DUET--MIKADO and KATISHA.
>
> MIK.           From every kind of man
>                     Obedience I expect;
>                I'm the Emperor of Japan--
>
> KAT.           And I'm his daughter-in-law elect!
>                     He'll marry his son
>                     (He's only got one)
>                To his daughter-in-law elect!
>
> MIK.           My morals have been declared
>                     Particularly correct;
>
> KAT.           But they're nothing at all, compared
>                     With those of his daughter-in-law elect!
>                          Bow--Bow--
>                     To his daughter-in-law elect!
>
> ALL.                     Bow--Bow--
>                     To his daughter-in-law elect.
>
>    Mark A. Mandel : Dragon Systems, a Lernout & Hauspie company
>           Mark_Mandel at dragonsys.com : Senior Linguist
>  320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02460, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com