gobsmack

[Prof. R. Sussex]

Re transitive "gobsmack":

All of Jesse Sheidlower's quoted examples have a light pronoun object:

1991 _Daily Star_ 24 Dec. 33/1 There's Kenny Dalglish, for
example. Old Smiler himself gobsmacked us all when he hurtled
out of Anfield in '91 blaming the stress of it all for his
unexpected exit.

1991 `J. GASH' _Great California Game_ (1992) iii. 25 The
exhibition gobsmacked me. [a UK source, despite the title]

2000 _Sunday Times_ 27 Aug. (News Review section) 2/7, I was on
the road a great deal doing personal appearances or opening
supermarkets or turning up on chatshows like Wogan, Aspel or
Woman's Hour, invitations that absolutely gobsmacked me.

This suggests that the transitive use is a bit uncomfortable. It
feels less natural with a heavy object:
        ?.. invitations that absolutely gobsmacked the five
distinguished members present ...

Certainly in Australian use - which copies British in this - the -ed
formation is dominant, and the back-formed "gobsmack" is relatively
more restricted.

Roly Sussex

--

Roly Sussex
Professor of Applied Language Studies
School of Languages and Comparative Cultural Studies
The University of Queensland
Brisbane
Queensland 4072
AUSTRALIA

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