"laid" and other random BE slang in the HDAS

[Wilson Gray]

On Jul 25, 2004, at 9:56 AM, Jesse Sheidlower wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jesse Sheidlower <jester at PANIX.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "laid" and other random BE slang in the HDAS
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> On Sat, Jul 24, 2004 at 09:11:32PM -0400, Wilson Gray wrote:
>>
>> On the other hand, "jump sharp" itself, which I've always considered
>> to
>> be - in olden times, at least - in universal use, appears to be
>> missing. I say "appears" because it's dark and I'm working without my
>> reading lamp. If I turn it on, one of our cats will come and stretch
>> out on top of the HDAS in order to catch some rays.
>
> It's there. There's an entry for _jump_ 'to behave (in a
> specified manner) suddenly', and while we pull out several
> common phrases, _jump sharp_ is found in the list of cites.

I was impressed that the HDAS had "jump smooth." That's a new one on
me, but I like the sound of it. It's something that I'd add to my
active vocabulary, except that the "jump [...]" formations - and I
myself - are now so old-school that I'd probably never have occasion to
use it.

-Wilson Gray

>
>>  "Mother for you" [muthuhFUHyuh is only trivially distinct from
>> muthuhFUHkuh] and "My Friend" (because of initial "M" & "F") are other
>> euphemisms for "motherfucker" and at least as old as the song, "Bad
>> Mother For You" by Dirty Red.
>
> The entry for _motherfucker_ does indicate "Forms such as
> _motherferyer, -fuyer_ are euphem.". I thought there was
> more discussion of these forms, but I seem to be mistaken.

There may very well be more discussion, but don't forget that, to
Americans - and especially to one who has learned "standard" American
English as a second dialect - if a word is spelled with an "ahruh,"
that "ahruh" is meant to be pronounced. So, "motherferyer" or -fuyer,
even had I noticed them, would, nevertheless, have struck me as
irrelevant, unfortunately.

-Wilson Gray

>
> Jesse Sheidlower
> OED
>