intransitive "hail as" = 'be; count as'

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:56 AM -0400 4/19/04, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>Over my morning coffee I was startled by this sentence:
>
>"She currently hails as chief librarian of the Moorland-Spingarn
>Research Center..."

Amazing!  Just what we've always wanted, a new copula.

Isn't language wonderful?  There are all these new constructions or
construals out there, just dying to be picked up on.  1620 hits, and
I'd never heard one use of this either.  Next time someone asks me
how I'm doing, I'll tell them I hail as fine.  (Well, actually, it
does seem to be a bit more constrained than that, as Mark points out.)

Larry

>
>(_Rolling Out - Philadelphia_ v3n02, April 15, 2004., p. 8? (many pages
>not numbered)  Column:  Work in Progress. [focus on Jean Currie Church,
>Chief Librarian, Howard University])
>
>This use of "hail" was new to me. I took it as an extension, possibly
>erroneous, of "hail from" 'be from [a place]'.
>
>I Googled for "hails as". There were "about 1,620" hits. Twelve of the
>first 50 were examples of this construction. I've listed them below,
>with URLs and occasional notes on date or possible dialect. Most of the
>others were of the form "<noun phrase>, which so-and-so hails as <words
>of praise>" or "So-and-so hails as <w.o.p.> <NP>", with the occasional
>surname thrown in to keep me on my toes: "with So-and-so Hails as
><role>".
>
>Most of these usages refer to the subject as a superlative (first,
>biggest, best) or one of a small group of such ("the club's third
>double-digit scorer"), and could also be understood as "... rules!" or
>"... reigns". The Rolling Out citation that started me off is in the
>same category. But the second Google hit ("new server hails as
>Merlins_Rook") is AFAICT equivalent to "is called, is named".
>
>Anyway, it's new to me, and I don't see it in the online versions of MW
>or OED.
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel, Research Administrator
>    Information Extraction from the Biomedical Literature
>    University of Pennsylvania
>
>===
>
>http://www.amstat.org/pressroom/president2001.html
>
>[ambiguous: could refer to his statement]
>
>RICHARD L. SCHEAFFER HAILS AS 2001 PRESIDENT OF THE AMERCIAN STATISTICAL
>ASSOCIATION
>
>ALEXANDRIA, VA- The American Statistical Association (ASA) is pleased to
>announce that Richard L. Scheaffer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus,
>University of Florida, Department of Statistics, Gainesville, Fl. has
>assumed the office of President of the American Statistical Association,
>the nation's preeminent professional statistical society
>
>===
>
>http://www.dstinson.com/techsupp/network/
>
>The new server hails as Merlins_Rook and is a dual-Pentium III with
>512Mbytes of memory and running Windows NT4 Server.
>
>===
>
>http://www.rhymerecords.com/staff.aspx
>(Staff evidently of Indian origin or descent; postal addresses in US,
>Canada, & India.)
>
>Srikumar hails as the grossly respected music director within our pool
>of talent responsible for the creation of the musical soundscapes that
>appeals so much to your senses.
>
>===
>
>http://www.arts.arizona.edu/band/prospective/history.html
>
>Jack Lee, who directed the band from 1952-1980, composed Bear Down
>Arizona which hails as the school's beloved fight song to this day.
>
>===
>
>http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=25530
>[DECEMBER 10, 2002]
>Although WorldCom still hails as the nation's No. 2 long-distance
>communications company and one of the world's largest Internet carriers,
>
>===
>
>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/uac/tutoring/tutorbios_htoo.html
>[Last modified on 12/01/03]
>[Singapore native, junior at Stanford]
>  I also enjoy savoring desserts, and apple cobbler hails as my all-time
>favorite.
>
>===
>
>http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/hellfs.html
>[last modified on March 1, 2003]
>Inhabiting only two of New York State's river drainages, the eastern
>hellbender is an intriguing and bizarre animal and hails as the
>Americas' largest aquatic salamander.
>
>===
>
>http://www.cityathletes.com/advertising.php?nav=reg&cnl=
>
>San Francisco hails as the most wired city in the U.S.,
>
>===
>
>http://www.uapb.edu/source/culture/culture_blues_review.html
>[March 18, 2004]
>Music forever hails as the universal language
>
>===
>
>http://ccaccwinnipeg04.ca/english/Keynote%20Presentations.htm
>[Last modified: 04/07/04 ]
>Her book Healing Through the Dark Emotions is a regional bestseller and
>hails as one of the best spiritual books of 2003.
>
>===
>
>http://www.elliotthester.com/column_stpetersburg_01.html
>[8/24/03? see "8/24" in left-hand pane, and text of "1/26" column]
>[not Singaporean; US-based travel writer]
>Orchard Road hails as Singapore's most alluring thoroughfare.
>
>===
>
>http://www.mstateathletics.com/0,5604,1__0_52881,00.html
>[Mar 11, 2004]
>junior Winsome Frazier hails as the club's third double-digit scorer
>
>
>-- Mark A. Mandel, Research Administrator
>    Information Extraction from the Biomedical Literature
>    University of Pennsylvania