obscene words from "Deadwood"

[Lynne Murphy]

> At 8:59 PM -0800 3/10/04, Kim & Rima McKinzey wrote:
>>> ... People around here often refer to themselves or another
>>>  > person as "Outraged of Chichester" or "Miffed of Glynde"--...
>>> The classic example of this type is "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells",
>>
>> Why is it "of" and not either "from" or "in"?

'Of' is a pretty common designator of place in British English (didn't
strike me as strange when I came here, though, so can't be too far from my
American sensibilities, such as they are).  For example, a local carpet
shop is "Blatchingtons of Hove" and a music store "Chappell of Bond
Street".

And then you have folks like Anne of Cleves.

If you were to say 'in' it wouldn't sound like you lived there or were from
there--you'd sound like a reporter who's gone there to have a look around.
'From' indicates a place of origin.  But 'of' associates you with the place
more fully (and it with you, I'd say).

Lynne



Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics

Department of Linguistics and English Language
Arts B133
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9QN
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