gobsmack

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Wed, Nov 17, 2004 at 03:22:26PM +1000, Prof. R. Sussex wrote:
> 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.

Googling does turn up some examples of transitive _gobsmack_ with
non-pronomial objects:

* Bush's long awaited speech on the Middle East gobsmacked the
world. [from a message board]

* Its success has completely gobsmacked the duo. [from an Australian
newspaper]

* They've gobsmacked the world of golf. [a British golf magazine]

* This has really gobsmacked the Aussies. [something from NZ]

* Oh, and if you still don't know the origin of his surreal
"When the seagulls follow the trawler" statement that so
gobsmacked the world's media, look no further...

* Murdoch gobsmacked the market by announcing blithely that he
expected to lose #100 million a year for 10 years. [NZ source]

Clearly this is not very common, but examples do exist.

A few heavy transitive examples with _gobsmacking_:

* After gobsmacking the Sunday bikers on a couple of beauty
spot jaunts its next public outing was...

* His characters are not spectacularly well-drawn, but are
serviceable, malleable pawns in the bigger game of gobsmacking
the reader.

* JUPITERS on the Gold Coast has been gobsmacking the gourmets
for TEN BIG YEARS! [Aussie]

* Will the now apparently neutral to positive portrayal in the
media end up gobsmacking the objecting Senators when some one
nails them with the question...

Best,

Jesse Sheidlower
OED