Mash-ups, Doing a Missy

[Steve Kl.]

On Thu, 9 May 2002 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

> making a bootleg as "doing a Missy" on a song.

For those of you who are interested, Herb Clark has written numerous
articles and books on constructs that assume mutual knowledge in the
creation of phrases like "do a X" where X is a person.

He uses as an example, in the context of getting your photograph taken, if
the photographer says to "do a Napoleon" -- you'll probably put your hand
inside your shirt.

His book, Arenas of Language Use contains over a dozen essays that explore
the topic of shared knowledge that cover this productive frame, among many
others. I must also say that Herb Clark writes in a very accessible style
that linguists and non-linguists alike can easily absorb.

Speaking of books, last night I picked up Gilles Fauconnier's and Mark
Turner's "The Way We Think" and I am *loving* it.

-- Steve