Re: Re: Trick or Treat

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

In a message dated 7/3/03 11:44:24 AM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> What's especially odd here is the order, which if memory serves is
> attributed by Cooper & Ross ("World Order", 1975) to a priority of
> the phonology over the semantics.  The problem with the latter is
> that it suggests "If I don't perform some mischief on you, you will
> give me (have given me?) a treat", when of course the idea is the
> other way around--so "Treat or trick" would make more sense
> 

If so, after that the semantics were then sometimes reshuffled: when I was a 
child I remember adults saying to me, "OK, so show me your trick and I'll then 
give you your treat." We were then expected to sing a little song, do a 
tap-dance, or pull a rabbit out of the mailbox.