discourse harassment

[Dennis R. Preston]

Since considerable time is spent on this list establishing origins of
words and phrases, I thought I would recount the creation  of the
phrase "discourse harassment" so as to save future scholars the
difficulty of tracking it down.

My assistants and I were having a discussion in our office (but with
the door ajar). A colleague in a nearby office (an "unratified
overhearer" in Goffmanesque terms) took a turn in our conversation,
and we immediately accused him of "discourse harassment."

This neologism was created during the week of May 5 (alas, the
specific day appears to be lost to history), in room A-740 Wells Hall
at Michigan State University in East Lansing, MI USA by Dennis R.
Preston (Professor of Linguistics) and Erica Benson and Chunhua Ma
(Administrative Associates for the 2003 LSA Summer Institute and
doctoral candidates in linguistics). Further demographic details are
available on request.

dInIs

PS: The harasser was in Room A-739 Wells Hall at the time of the
harassment, but that information may not be relevant to those who are
interested in such matters.

--
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