hypercorrection/grammatical evolution (was: murky days)

[Laurence Horn]

At 7:28 PM +0000 3/28/02, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>>   One
>>example I remember being brought up was 'to cuckold', which
>>could--although it doesn't have to--be regarded as derived from 'to
>>have sex with the wife of', thereby violating the complex NP
>>constraint.
>
>Yep, I know it's supposed to be about single words, but what does this mean
>for approaches which claim a continuum between lexicon and grammar?  Do
>single words still have special status?
>
Well, if any word does, "cuckold" must--cf. _Sex and the Single
Word_.  (Or am I misremembering that title?)

L