[porsh] and other British English (was: Coup de grace)

[Page Stephens]

When I grew up coop dee grass was used as a joke.

Page Stephens

----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: [porsh] and other British English (was: Coup de grace)


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: [porsh] and other British English (was: Coup de grace)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> At 12:25 PM -0500 6/10/04, Sally Donlon wrote:
> >
> >P.S. I also have always thought "coup de gras" had no pronounced "s"
> >on the end.
>
> "coup de gras" wouldn't.  "coup de grace", on the other hand...
>
> >We're so used to pronouncing "Mardi Gras" without that "s" that I
> >guess it just
> >carries over for us.
>
> But we (sometimes) call the latter "Fat Tuesday".  Do people really
> think of the "coup de grace" blow as having some connection with fat?
> I'm not trying to be prescriptive, just wondering what the intuitive
> connections are.
>
> L