blend: "slowly by s lowly"

[James Smith]

Or Italian "pian pian(o)(ino)", which can be "little
by little" or "slowly slowly" or "softly softly".

--- Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> At 9:36 PM -0500 1/13/04, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
> >In a message dated 12/17/03 8:17:30 PM,
> gcohen at UMR.EDU writes:
> >
> >
> >>     For those interested in syntactic blending,
> here's one I heard the other
> >>  day.
> >>  A fellow named Rick Francona was being
> interviewed on MSNBC about
> >>  interrogating Saddam Hussein. Getting him to
> reveal his secrets
> >>  involves a gradual process of wearing him down,
> and during Francona's
> >>  explanation, he said that "slowly by slowly"
> (something will happen,
> >>  I forget just what).
> >>
> >>     This is clearly a blend of "slowly" and "step
> by step."
> >>
> >>  Gerald Cohen
> >>
> >
> >or "little by little"
>
> Curiously, I was just earlier this evening reading
> Brian Joseph's
> "Editor's Department" at the start of my newly
> arrived copy of
> Language (79:4, p. 681), in which the author refers
> to a variety of
> expressions in different Balkan languages (Turkish,
> Macedonian,
> Greek, Albanian, Bulgarian), all glossed literally
> as "slowly slowly"
> (or perhaps "slowly by slowly"), implying a more
> negative outcome
> than "slowly but surely".  Actually the Greek is
> closer to "quietly
> by quietly", but with the same force.  Maybe
> Francona's use was
> influenced by the Balkan formula?  Probably not, but
> you never know.
>
> Larry



=====
James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.

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