good idea for WOTY for Boston

[Matthew Gordon]

To spice things up, I suggest we make up our own folk etymologies and try to get
the media to repeat them. If we're really sucessful, this would give Barry's
progeny some more things to debunk in 50 years.

"Dennis R. Preston" wrote:

> >The Folk Etymology of the Year. I love it too.
>
> dInIs
>
> >  I think this is a great idea! Are you listening, Wayne and Allan? I think it
> >would be GREAT if next year we had the members vote on WINDY CITY and BIG
> >APPLE (and OK????? and THE WHOLE NINE YARDS????) and explain where the
> >conventional wisdom is wrong.
> >
> >
> >In a message dated 1/7/03 1:22:47 PM, dave at WILTON.NET writes:
> >
> >
> >
> >>  > -----Original Message-----
> >>  > From: American Dialect Society
> >>  > [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
> >>  > Of RonButters at AOL.COM
> >>  > Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2003 9:57 AM
> >>  > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >>  > Subject: Re:       WOTY on CNN
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  > In a message dated 1/7/03 10:16:56 AM, Bapopik at AOL.COM writes:
> >>  >
> >>  >
> >>  > > I can't understand when the same journalists are approached
> >>  > by the work of a
> >>  > > member such as me, and they don't even respond.
> >>  > >
> >>  > Surely there is a lesson here, if we could only see what it is.
> >>
> >>  Maybe if we added a WOTY category of "Etymological Debunking of the Year"
> >>  the media would take notice of at least some of Barry's work.
> >>
> >>  Or maybe ADS ought to issue periodic press releases of significant
> >>  linguistic and etymological discoveries (or Barry could create an
> >>  "institute" and do it himself). Most reporters don't do any real research
> >>  or
> >>  fact checking. They just regurgitate press releases. (Or to be charitable,
> >>  the editors get story ideas from press releases and then tell reporters to
> >>  investigate.) Don't attempt to correct them when they're wrong--no one
> >>  likes
> >>  to be shown up. You have to get in front and create a story that they can
> >>  report on--the story isn't that they have been wrong about "Windy City" all
> >>  these years, it's that someone has just discovered the true origin; never
> >>  mind that the truth has been known for over fifty years. That's how the
> >>  White House and public advocacy groups manipulate the media.
> >>
> >>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics & Germanic, Slavic,
>       Asian & African Languages
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027
> e-mail: preston at msu.edu
> phone: (517) 353-9290