Military jargon

[Dennis R. Preston]

>He borrowed me a pen but only after he learned me to spell.

dInIs



>Q: Am I losing it or did I once know a guy (in the late '70s) who
>used "borrow" in a similarly "reversed" way to mean "lend" or "loan".
>
>"Could you borrow me that pen for a minute?"
>
>A: I am losing it, but I did know him, and I'm pretty sure he used
>to say this.
>
>JL
>
>Wilson Gray <wilson.gray at RCN.COM> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Wilson Gray
>Subject: Re: Military jargon
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>On Aug 18, 2004, at 6:32 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>  Subject: Re: Military jargon
>>  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  --------
>>
>>  Seems to me that the usual actions designated by "selling" and
>>  "buying" are here reversed.
>>
>>  JL
>
>Yes. That's probably why it got weird for Doug when he started to think
>about it.
>
>-Wilson Gray
>
>>
>>  "Douglas G. Wilson" wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>  -----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
>>  Subject: Re: Military jargon
>>  -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  --------
>>
>>>  Q. I'm selling [willing to pay you to work] my burn-bag detail. Want
>>>  it?
>>>  A. Yeah. I'll buy it from you for [do it for you if you pay me] ten
>>>  dollars.
>>>
>>>  I assume that paying someone else to do your work was an Army-wide
>>>  custom. But was this particular style of language in common use?
>>
>>  I don't know, but I've used this exact "sell [a burdensome duty, for a
>>  negative 'price']" myself freely in recent years. Generally it has been
>>  understood, but once it wasn't, and when I thought about it I wasn't
>>  able
>>  to remember where I first encountered it or indeed whether I might have
>>  generated it independently (although I've surely heard it from others
>>  too).
>>  Anyway, it seems natural enough ... at least until I look at it too
>>  closely. I'm pretty sure that I did not encounter it first in a
>>  military
>>  context.
>>
>>  -- Doug Wilson
>>
>>
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>
>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
        Asian and African Languages
Wells Hall A-740
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
Office: (517) 353-0740
Fax: (517) 432-2736