Re: Re: "Windy City" wrong in NY TIMES BOOK REVIEW(3-9-03)

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

I agree. It could be a great PADS volume. I would LOVE to be Barry's editor 
for a book like that (I AM SERIOUS). If Barry doesn't have time to pull it 
together himself, how about if someone like Jerry collaborate with him? 
(Please, though, not TOO much about the myths of cheese names!)

In a message dated 3/10/03 7:50:51 PM, laurence.horn at YALE.EDU writes:


> At 6:45 PM -0500 3/10/03, Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> >    Could someone write on my behalf to the NEW YORK TIMES?  The NEW
> >YORK SUN?  How many years must this go on?  My work was/is in the
> >WALL STREET JOURNAL, the Straight Dope web site, World Wide Words
> >web site, the Weather Doctor's web site, and the USA TODAY weather
> >guy's web site.  And, especially, here on the American Dialect
> >Society site.  MUST THIS HAPPEN EVERY DAY????
> 
> It does seem to happen every day, to Barry and in a sense to all of
> us.  If Barry weren't so diligent about turning up these cites, it
> would be less painful, I'm sure.  But there must have been almost as
> many references to the umpteen words for snow in Eskimo before Geoff
> Pullum published his book _The Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax, and
> other irreverent essays on the study of language_ (U. of Chicago
> Press, 1991).  I'm not sure the appearance of the book has made a
> sizable dent in the citation practice, but at least when it happens
> now there's a place to refer culprits to for enlightenment.  (I just
> did so to our Unitarian minister, and she seems pleased to have been
> set straight on the subject.)  A book (perhaps with apposite
> illustrations) including the "Windy City" and "hot dog" follies and
> countless others, presented as a case of linguistic detective work,
> might be just the thing.  At least when a solid demonstration is
> offered in book form published by a major house, it's nothing to be
> sneezed at.  And consider, as another parallel, the wonderful and
> very well received recent compilation _Language Myths_, edited by
> Laurie Bauer and Peter Trudgill (Penguin, 1998).  So how about a book
> on false attributions--Barry?  Jerry?  anyone?
> 
> larry
>